From Chinese Press

What does it imply after China becomes world's No. 2 economy?

By Wu Liming, Ye Shuhong (Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-05 10:01

Analysts forecast it would be not until 2050 that China's per capita GDP reaches the 2009 level of the per capita GDP of developed countries.

In short, China has a long way to go.

"China is still a developing country, and we should be wise enough to know ourselves," Yi has said.

With an economic structure far from perfect, China still faces numerous challenges, such as additional work on the balance of its development and the growth of its scientific innovations and high value-added industries.

China is obviously behind Japan in the process of economic development. The shares of agricultural, industrial and service industries in Japan's overall economic pie stand at 2 percent, 30 percent and 69 percent, respectively. That compares with China's 12 percent, 48 percent and 40 percent.

Japan draws its strength from high-tech and high value-added industries, whereas many of China's industries are labor intensive.

Gross national product (GNP) can often be a better gauge of the overall economic strength of a nation. Statistics show that China's GNP was around 4,129 billion U.S. dollars, while that of Japan was more than 5,751 billion dollars. China is even farther behind in per capita GNP.

China has to re-adjust its economic structure and change the models of development to have growth quality and efficiency, Yi said.

We should also beware of the pressure and demand on China for unrivaled responsibilities advanced by certain media and politicians, who have spoken loudly about China's overall economic size.

Several western media recently slapped China on energy consumption,emissions and what they see as an exchange rate policy issue. They also demanded that China take on more political and international responsibilities, such as climate control, that are beyond the country's capacity.