Call to focus on knowledge-based economy

No one can deny that China's economic success story in the past three decades has largely relied on its manufacturing clout. The country has been churning out Made-in-China products every day and exporting them to every corner of the world.

So it came as no surprise for many when a recent forecast showed that China is set to overtake the United States as the world's largest producer of manufactured goods, four years earlier than expected.

The Financial Times on Monday heralded it as a "great leap" when citing the forecast by US consultancy Global Insight as saying China will account for 17 percent of the global value-added output of $11.78 trillion next year, ahead of US' 16 percent.