Nation rising in peace
Zheng BijianChina Daily  Updated: 2004-11-23 09:10

China's recent boom has prompted a lot of tongue-wagging in the international community.

This makes it particularly necessary to glean a proper perception about the country's achievements and its development route in the first half of the 21st century.

Since it adopted its reform and opening-up policy in 1978, China has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, as evidenced by a 9.4 per cent average annual GDP growth.

China accounted for less than 1 per cent of the world economy in 1978. Its share has now grown to 4 per cent.

In 1978, China's total foreign trade volume was US$20.6 billion. Last year, it was US$851.2 billion, 40 times as much and ranking fourth in the world.

But economic growth alone cannot clearly show the real picture of a country's development.

China has a population of 1.3 billion. Any small difficulty in its economic and social development, multiplied by this figure, could become a huge problem. Any considerable amount of financial and material resources, divided by the 1.3 billion also makes only a tiny handful in per capita terms.

As a economic power with a tangible growth rate, China's economy in 2003, however, was still just one-seventh of that of the United States in aggregate terms, and one third of that of Japan. In per capita terms, it is still a low-income developing country ranking 100th in the world. Its impact on the world economy is still limited.

All China's efforts to resolve problems of development are mainly devoted to creating better lives for its large population and an increasingly prosperous and civilized environment suitable for development.

This goal alone will keep several generations of Chinese people quite busy.

While the country's economy is sound on the whole, its structure still needs to be improved. Major problems in agriculture, energy, environment and investment are cropping up in the course of development.

In the second half of last year, the Chinese Government adopted a series of macro-regulation measures to address the problems in the country's economic structure. The measures have so far yielded initial results.

China's path to a peaceful rise is its route towards socialist modernization. It expects to span 70 years from the end of the 1970s, when the policy of reform and opening-up was adopted, to the mid-21st century, when modernization is expected to be basically realized. That is to say, China still needs another 45 years before it can be called a basically modernized and medium-level developed country.

As an emerging power, China will acquire capital, technology and resources for its modernization drive through peaceful means, such as opening up to the rest of the world - namely, integrating itself into, instead of detaching itself from, economic globalization.

As a result of its all-round reforms and market economy, China has attracted more than US$500 billion investment from overseas. Domestic non-government investment has amounted to over 10 trillion yuan (US$1.209 trillion).

The huge pool of State-owned assets has also been revitalized.

Continuous rapid development China has witnessed over the past 25 years has proved to be its success in pursuing this path to peaceful development.

As it opens up and becomes globalized, China is upholding its principle of self-reliance in building socialism with its own characteristics.

On one hand, the country needs capital, technology and resources in the world market through mutually beneficial competition on an equal footing. On the other, it must not depend too much on the world market.

The country can address its own issues in the course of development by depending on its own strength - institutional innovations, industrial restructuring, exploring the growing domestic market, transferring huge personal savings into investment, and developing human resources in greater depth and magnitude.

As China enters the 21st century, whether it can continue to stick to the path of participating in economic globalization is a big concern.

As far as development is concerned, China faces three big challenges.

The shortage of resources poses the first potential problem. Currently, China's per capita oil and natural gas reserves, water and arable land is below the world average. The second is the environment. Serious pollution, waste and a low rate of recycling all mean bottlenecks for sustainable economic development. The third challenge is a lack of co-ordination between economic and social development.

China is now at a new critical juncture. To build "a well-off society in an all-round way," the country needs to continue pressing ahead reforms in all dimensions - in all economic, political and cultural institutions.

An overall plan is needed to co-ordinate development between rural and urban areas, between the economy and society, between man and nature, and between domestic development and opening up.

The Taiwan question poses another big challenge for the country's development. Peaceful reunification between the mainland and the island must be achieved. The country should spare no effort to achieve this goal, but it will at the same time not stand any moves for "Taiwan independence" or interference by other nations.

In other words, the use of force will by no means be ruled out. It will be used to safeguard national unity and territorial integrity against separatist activities.

In striving for a peaceful international environment and a reasonable international order, China is turning its back on old practices characterized by the model that emerging powers break up existing international systems through war and seek hegemony through bloc confrontation.

China does not seek hegemony and predominance. It advocates a new international political and economic order through reforming and democratizing international relations. China's development needs world peace, and its development will in turn reinforce world peace.

As a major emerging country, China has transcended the old path of industrialization, with rivalry and war as the main way that resources were wasted. It has also transcended the Cold War mentality, which rejects peaceful development and co-operation merely because of differences in social systems and ideologies.

In its bid to build a socialist society with Chinese characteristics, China is steadily reforming its economy ready for integration into the rest of the world's markets.

Accompanying China on its route to this destination will be international community opportunities, not threats.

Last year, the country's imports increased by more than 50 per cent from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Republic of Korea, nearly 40 per cent from Japan and the European Union, and 24.3 per cent from the United States. This market for the international community can only become broader. By 2020, when China's per capita GDP is expected to reach US$3,000, its market will present even bigger potential.

China is not the only country that is rising peacefully. In the first half of the 21st century, a number of countries are doing the same through different means, following different models and at different paces. At the same time, the developed countries are further developing themselves. This is a new trend to be welcomed in today's world.

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