Quality rather than size

Several characteristics of the Chinese economy have long been evident: it grows fast but has a very weak base; it has good manufacturing industries but lags behind in R&D; it has a large GDP but per capita GDP is very low. An article in The Wall Street Journal got it right: China's GDP per capita calculated at PPP ranks the 99th in the world.

The data show even if China's GDP does exceed that of the US one day, its per capita GDP and average income will still lag far behind and its comprehensive capabilities will be far inferior.

The gap with the US in R&D is even wider. The US occupies the upper stream in many fields such as medicine, computer science, communication networks and military technology. China, is still known as the "world factory", because it produces shoes and plastic toys for the world. A good example of this is the iPhone, which is designed and researched in the US with full intellectual property rights, all Chinese workers do is assemble the various parts.

A deeper look will show that the Western media has always been fond of speculating on China's growth in this way. As early as this April, the World Bank had already predicted that China would become world's largest economy. In a popular book, When China Rules the World, Martin Jacques even prophesied that China's production might exceed that of Europe and US combined in 2030.

The theory is different from the "China threat theory", but such speculation does China no good. Some of those making such speculation hope China will shoulder more international responsibilities, while some consider a growing China as a kind of negative competition. Those who fabricate the theory have their own interests.

China should recognize that it remains a developing country and its comprehensive capabilities are inferior to that of its developed counterparts. Although, at the same time, confidence about sustainable growth is also necessary, because China is still developing and aims to improve its people's living standards and benefit the world. Only when China and its people are mature enough not to care about its ranking, will it be one of the biggest economies with the best qualities.

The author is a commentator of People's Daily.