A Crucial Decade for the Growth of National Strength
By NORIYOSHI EHARA
TEN years are like a blink of an eye in China's 5,000-year-long history. But in the past ten years huge and unprecedented changes have taken place in the China that have impressed the entire world and will determine the country's future.
Going for Economic Gold
In sports, athletes from all countries and regions, no matter what social systems, religions and beliefs they are governed by, follow the same rules in international competitions. At the London summer Olympics in August this year, China ranked at the top of the medals table. Four years earlier, at the 2008 games held in Beijing, China again won the most gold medals.
But how is China's performance in the world economy? In 2010, China's GDP exceeded that of Japan, and the country became the second largest economy, essentially winning economics' silver medal. When in another four years the next Olympics brings the world's nations together once again, there is a strong possibility that China will have knocked the U.S. economy from its position at the top.
When talking about the many achievements China has made in the past decade, people may cite the huge increase in its GDP, which has made China a world economic power. China's GDP per capita in 2003 was just US $1,000, but reached US $ 5,414 in 2011, a more than five-fold increase. This has elevated China to the level of medium-income countries, though its GDP per capita is still only one eighth of Japan's. The 2008 Olympics and the Shanghai Expo in 2010 would also be noted. As China's newspaper People's Daily remarked, the world has become accustomed to China being the center of attention and has become part of the world, not merely a bystander.
Now its economy and its people are moving toward the world.
The Shenzhou spacecraft, the Chang'e space program, and the high-speed railway network are all the proof of the achievements made in these ten years. When I first came to Beijing in 2001, China was still discussing about importing high-speed railway technology. But in less than ten years, it has developed the necessary technologies and built high-speed railways on its own, and is even building them for other countries. In June this year, the Shenzhou 9 carried China's first female astronaut into space and docked successfully with the Tiangong 1 space station. America's The Atlantic monthly described the event as "Hu Jintao's Kennedy Moment". Moreover, the government plans put a man - or woman - on the moon, though its implementation schedule is not known.
Of course, these ten years are not solely filled with positive advances. Unprecedented crises and incidents have also occurred in China during the decade, such as the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province, the floods and landslide in Zhouqu in Gansu Province, food security issues, environmental damage, and the 2003 outbreak of SARS. The worldwide economic crisis originating from the financial crisis in the U.S. and the debt crisis in Europe have put China through yet more tests.
In July, the CPC Central Committee organized a consultation meeting attended by non-Party personages, where President Hu Jintao suggested six aims for economic work in the latter half of 2012: to strengthen and improve macro-control; further the modernization of agriculture; speed up the transformation of the mode of economic development; carry forward the policy of reform and opening up; guarantee and improve people's quality of life; and prevent economic risks. These aims were drawn in the light of the past ten years and directed the development priorities for the incoming new generation of leaders.
Quality of Life Top Priority
The years starting from the founding of New China in 1949 until 1978, when opening-up was embarked upon, were dominated by political and ideological concerns. Since then the focus has shifted towards economic growth.
In 1992, Deng Xiaoping went on his famous tour to southern China and made a series of talks on the month-long trip stressing the importance of economic reform in China. His "South Tour Speeches" heralded a brand new phase of development which saw many foreign companies enter China. By May 2012 the number of foreign companies in China had reached 439,300, and China is now the largest destination of foreign investment among developing countries.
Compared to other decades that have passed since 1949, these latest ten years can be spoken of as a turning point in the improvement of Chinese people's standard of living, as the country switched its priority from economic growth to the well-being of its people.
Over this decade, China has stressed science guided development that would culminate in a harmonious socialist society. While back in 1992 Deng emphasized speed, today this harmonious society, whose central tenet is balanced and cordinated progress that reaches every stratum of society, is central to China's path. Many people believe that it is this combination between Socialism and the market economy, which was once considered a contradiction, that has made the fast economic progress possible. And it is thanks to the economic strength thus gained that China has been able to stabilize a world economy that has in the last few years been battered by two waves of crises.
The core of a harmonious society is the people that live in it and their standard of living. We can list many achievements in China's medical services, social welfare, education, employment, and other areas that have contributed to improvements in people's lives. The agriculture tax, which had been levied for some 2,600 years, was abolished in 2006. Universal free compulsory education was achieved in 2007, and urbanization is well under way. There is so much proof of improvement. China has made a huge progress towards shrinking the gap between different social classes.
One of Deng Xiaoping's famous development strategies was to let a few people get rich first before the attainment of common prosperity. The embarkment on the improvement of every one of China's 1.3 billion people's livelihood indicates that its development has reached the stage of striving for "common prosperity." Back in 2002 the government proposed another national strategy based on the development of human resources, and it has since poured a huge amount of time, money, and effort into education and training to improve China's vast human resources, with the expectation that these investments will result in turn in the improvement of peope's standards of living.
Globalization, Urbanization, Culture, Innovation
I believe that the strength that has emerged over the past ten years will further assert itself in China's globalization, urbanization, outreaching culture, and innovation abilities. One can see it already as more and more Chinese companies enter the international market, urbanization brings improvements in people's living standards improve, Chinese culture gains an increasing presence in the world, and innovation is encouraged as part of China's continuing reform and opening-up.
NORIYOSHI EHARA is the chief economist at Japan's Institute of International Trade and Investment.
