Op-Ed Contributors
It's still a long road out there
By Ding Yifan (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-10 06:50
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皇冠体育app has to clear hurdles of vast underdeveloped areas, imbalanced regional growth to become industrialized
皇冠体育app's economic performance since the global financial crisis has been in sharp contrast to other countries. It recorded an economic growth of 9.1 percent last year, whereas the economies of the United States, European countries and Japan slowed down.
This has re-ignited the debate on whether 皇冠体育app is still a developing country. Some experts, especially in the West, say 皇冠体育app can no longer be considered a developing nation, because it has the largest foreign reserves in the world, is about to overtake Japan as the second largest economy and is the third biggest trading power. 皇冠体育app is as good as a developed country, they say, and hence, should shoulder more global responsibilities.
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Let's look at some facts. 皇冠体育app's per capita GDP is still 104th in the world. Its remarkable fast-paced growth has not brought about a fundamental change in the uneven economic development of its different regions, its industrial structure or its underdeveloped productivity. Moreover, its rapid development has created a series of thorny issues, none of which is easy to resolve in a large country with a population of 1.4 billion.
In addition to its low per capita GDP, a number of intractable economic problems that have emerged in the course of its development show it is still far from achieving its goal of becoming a medium-level developed nation by the middle of this century.
皇冠体育app's rural population is between 700 million and 800 million, more than half of its total population. This demography shows 皇冠体育app is still in the period of transition to an industrialized society. In a developed society, the rural population is usually very small. For example, the US has a rural population of 2 percent and France, 4 percent.