China is in a transformative era. The public hopes for a better change, and the ruling Party is striving to make a breakthrough. As the government pushes forward comprehensive reform plans, the proposal of establishing a special zone for political reforms has been hotly discussed.

Most people agree on the urgency and importance of political reforms. But what kind of reforms should be carried out and how? Do we need a special zone for political reforms?

If we take a look at the path of China's reforms in the past three decades, we may get a clue. In China's social development, there were always problems that urgently needed to be solved. The public called for these problems to be solved as soon as possible, and decision-makers made reform plans to meet the public demand.

To sum it up, reforms have been the result of problems, and these reforms might be deepened amid the process of problem-solving.

In regard to whether to establish a special zone for political reforms, we can look through the following aspects.

The urgency and importance of political reforms have been stressed since the 1980s, and various leaderships have shown anxiety and expectation toward these reforms.

What are the problems in China's political system and its political framework? Why is a special zone vital for solving the problems? Only when we are clear about these questions, can we have some basic understanding of such a special zone.

And only when we reach an agreement about what problems need to be solved urgently, can we agree about the solutions.

At the moment, different people have different opinions upon what political reforms should target. In such circumstances, there are naturally divergences about what kind of experiment should be conducted in the special zone.

The special zone can also draw from the country's past reform experience. The government has adopted the approaches of making a place an experimental field to carry out reforms and then promoting it to the whole country.

The establishment of a special zone for political reforms will touch upon the top political system and the sensitive relationship between the Party and the government.

While there is almost no experience we can refer to, we need not just political wisdom but also political courage so as to plan and build a pilot zone for political reforms.

The author is a research fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn