ISLAMABAD: China’s annual Two Sessions kick off in Beijing on March 4th this year, providing an opportunity for the rest of the world to better understand China’s development and its political system.
“It will be very useful for countries like Pakistan to learn more about the experience of China’s development, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and building infrastructure through attracting private capital,” said Haroon Sharif, former Minister of State and Chairman of Board of Investment in Pakistan.
He said that China’s modernization has become a model for global development, and “China’s development has global implication.”
China’s growth and how China partners with the world crucial to global economy recovery
China’s GDP hit 126,058.2 billion yuan in 2023, an increase of 5.2 percent over the previous year. However, some media in western countries keep badmouthing China’s development.
Previously, the IMF updated its World Economic Outlook (WEO) that growth in emerging and developing Asia is expected to reach 5.2 percent in 2024, 0.4 percentage points higher over the October 2023 projections. The change is attributable to China’s economy.
Moreover, growth in China is projected to be 4.6 percent in 2024, with an upward revision of 0.4 percentage points for 2024 since the October 2023 WEO. “And now even IMF’s revision of 0.4 percentage points should give signal to the Western media that China’s economic growth is an upward trend,” Sharif said.
According to a white paper entitled “China and the World Trade Organization”, since 2002, China’s contribution to global economic growth has approached 30 percent on average. The Chinese economy has become a major engine for global economic recovery and growth.
From Sharif’s points of view, the recovery of the global economy mainly depends on the growth from emerging Asian economies.
“When we speak of Asia, the major economy obviously is China,” he stressed.
Chinese modernization provides a model for the world
“Although China’s per capita income is lower than the US, the (level of) equality in China is higher than the US, so that China’s growth has reached out to many people. Whereas the US model of growth, the capitalistic model of growth, has basically widened the divide between the rich and the poor,” Sharif’s observed.
Statistics show that from 2012 to 2018, an average of 10 million people in China were lifted out of poverty annually.
With the highest number of people moving out of poverty, China was the first developing country to realize one of the UN Millennium Development Goals for poverty reduction, with China’s efforts accounting for 70 percent of the global poverty reduction endeavour.
“Now, China has a shining example of poverty reduction and reaching out to people, but that knowledge needs to be shared,” said Sharif.
The article was published in GDToday, China.
