(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-10-29 11:57

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) spokesman may have been a little conservative when saying "it will not be too difficult" to quadruple the country's 2000 per capita gross domestic product by 2020.

That goal will be achievable as long as per capita GDP grows at 5.4 percent annually, according to the official.

NBS figures show an even more inspiring picture - the country has accomplished more than 40 percent of what was projected for a 20-year period in the past six years. Given that our economy has been outperforming expectations for consecutive years, as well as the rather rosy prospects economists predict, there is little doubt we will be on schedule.

But let us not take it as a mathematical game. We may fulfill the quadrupling target years ahead of schedule, if the current pattern of growth persists.

However, we must make a choice now. We must ask ourselves what we really want - high growth at any cost, or healthier growth at slower speed?

Sticking to the existing mode of growth is a ready formula for maintaining the pace. But its threat to future growth potentials is increasingly evident. It may be too sensational to call it a suicidal course, but it is unsustainable at the very least. Its squander of resources and damage to the environment will drag us into a real dead end in the not too distant future.

So, instead of racking our brains for ways to sustain the current speed, we should shift attention to the quality of growth. One major benefit of consecutive decades of high growth is that we do not have worry too much about speed. So we can take our time, and make necessary adjustments.

It is unrealistic to lower annual growth to 5.4 percent in the immediate future. But such a low threshold indicates we do not have to focus on speed.

In defining our pattern of growth, we have to look beyond 2020.