Chronology of a lasting relationship

World Bank President Robert McNamara in April 1980 led the bank's first official mission to China in the wake of the establishment of full diplomatic relations between China and the United States on January 1, 1979. Late leader Deng Xiaoping received the mission and said: "We have lost touch with the world. We need the World Bank to catch up. We can do it without you, but we can do it quicker and better with you."

On May 15, 1980 the bank's board approved Beijing's request to resume its representation on the board of the World Bank.

In July 1980, a World Bank mission reached an agreement with China on the need for an overall study of the Chinese economy to prepare for economic reforms.

In the fall of 1980, 32 World Bank staff - economists, agronomists, engineers, health experts, education experts and other specialists - participated in the first economic mission to China and conducted an extensive survey of the Chinese economy.

The bank board approved the first $200 million China project in June 1981, to provide finance for equipment and materials to upgrade 26 major universities and a large number of scholarships for study abroad.

The World Bank organized a conference, the so-called Moganshan conference, in 1982 in Zhejiang province, which proved to have had far-reaching influence on China's economic reform process.

The World Bank compiled its second major economic report on China in 1985. Thirty-one World Bank experts concluded that a quadrupling of national income by 2000 was possible under certain conditions, which proved to be right.

The World Bank set up its China office in Beijing in 1985, but the bank's country director for China remained in Washington.

In 1993 China became the World Bank's largest borrower and remained so until the late 1990s. The bank extended a total of $3.17 billion loans to China that year, supporting 18 projects.

In 1997, the World Bank started its decentralizing drive, with its country director for China moving from Washington to Beijing.

In the early 1990s, the World Bank participated in discussions prior to several key market economy reforms in China.

In December, 2007, China for the first time became contributor to the International Development Association under the World Bank.

The World Bank in February of this year appointed Justin Yifu Lin, director of the China Center for Economic Research, as its chief economist.

By the end of June, 2007, the World Bank had extended a total of $42.2 billion loans, supporting 284 projects ranging from transportation, urban development to energy and human development. Seventy projects are still underway.

(China Daily 03/03/2008 page6)