Loans aided China's development

Chairman of Dalian Wanda Group Co Ltd Wang Jianlin said at an official news conference on Sept 15 at the World Economic Frorum in Dalian, Liaoning province:

China has had two major achievements since the three decades after the reform and opening.

In my opinion, the first has been emergence of private business. In the past, only state-owned businesses existed, but now more than 50 percent of businesses are non-state-owned.

The second is urbanization. At the beginning of the reform and opening in 1978, the country had a population less than 300 million. Last year, about 900 million people were living in cities, including 680 million citizens and up to 240 million migrant workers. The development has been significant.

What is the foundation of China's speedy (urbanization) development? I believe it is the innovative model – use capitals from the whole society, which means using loans in the construction of roads, bridges, and airports, and charging fees later to repay the debt.

The disadvantage with this model, as reported a month ago by CCTV, is that it causes a rise in logistic expenses, and added weight to everyone’s burdens.

But don't forget that, if the loans were not used, the country would have never developed at its current pace. For example, the length of the country’s expressways are topping the world, the total length of the high-speed rails is more than double the length of high-speed rails in other countries.

Without social capitals in infrastructure construction and only treasury funds, China may never have developed at the current pace.