by Wang Xiangjiang and Wu Zhiqiang
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Three decades
after the advent of its reforms and opening up, China has become another engine
driving the world economy in addition to the United States, UN
Under-Secretary-General Sha Zukang has said.
China has enjoyed 30 years of continuous and rapid
development, expanding its economic aggregate by nearly 15 times and its foreign
trade more than 100 times, a sustained fast growth rare in modern world history,
Sha told Xinhua in a recent interview in his office at the UN headquarters in
New York.
Measured by gross domestic product, China's economic
aggregate now ranks the third in the world. It stands likely to become the
largest exporter and the biggest manufacturing powerhouse in 2009,said the
under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs.
"China's contributions to world economic growth in
the past few years are comparable to that of the United States," Sha said, "It
has become yet another engine driving world economic growth."
Its contributions to reducing global poverty have
also been there for all to see, he said. Over the past 30 years, about 500
million Chinese people have emerged from abject poverty, meeting the target of
halving such population as listed in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
well ahead of the 2015 deadline.
China, the world's most populous country, has been
transformed into a world economic giant, with ever greater influence on world
economy, Sha said.
Despite all the progress, he noted that China's per
capita income remains well below the world average and far behind the income
levels of many developed countries.
As a low-to-medium-income developing economy, China
faces a myriad of challenges such as bridging the widening gap between the rich
and poor and protecting the environment amid rapid economic growth, he said,
stressing that all these are problems in the process of development and can be
addressed through further deepening reforms and pushing forward wider
opening-up.
The Chinese government has in recent years come up
with such concepts as "human-oriented" governance and building a harmonious
society, emphasizing the quality of development, rather than simply pursuing
faster GDP growth, Sha noted.
These guiding principles, he said, have laid a policy
foundation for handling new problems cropping up in the process of development
and ensuring sustained growth of China's economy.
Sha attributed China's success to its emphasis on
development, its efforts to choose development path in line with its specific
conditions, and its stepwise reform and opening-up rather than the so-called
"shock therapy" championed by some.
On the relationship between China's reforms and
opening up on the one hand and the development of the United Nations on the
other, Sha said development is one of the three pillars of UN work, and it is
also the foundation for the other two pillars -- peace and security, and human
rights.
"China's achievements in its 30 years of reforms and
opening up accord with the United Nations' tenets of promoting common
development in the world," Sha said.
One of the key factors behind China's success in its
reforms and opening up has been its adherence to proceeding from the country's
actual conditions, he said.
"A country has to mainly count on its own efforts to
develop," Sha said, "You may draw on other countries' experience in development,
but cannot be copied or 'transplanted' it"
"It is imperative to study and explore in line with a
country's actual conditions. There is neither ready 'blueprints', nor
shortcuts," he said. "Overseas investments and foreign trade can all be
utilized, but a country bears primary responsibility for its own development."
On China's cooperation with other developing
economies, Sha said China has all along attached great importance to such
cooperation and actively promoted cooperation among developing nations through
frameworks such as the Group of 77 and China mechanism in a bid to safeguard the
rights and interests of developing countries.
Sha also praised the assistance offered by the United
Nations to China in its reforms and opening up, mainly in the areas of policy
advices, information, and technical assistance and cooperation.
As China's economy grows stronger, the modalities and
priorities of UN support are also changing, moving gradually from mainly
assistance, as was the case in the past, to mainly exchanges and cooperation, he
noted.
At a time of ever more profound economic
globalization, Sha said, both China and the rest of the world have become
increasingly indispensable to each other.
There is a solid foundation and broad vista for
cooperation between China, the world's largest developing country and fastest
growing economy, and the United Nations, the most authoritative and broadest
represented intergovernmental world body, in the field of development, Sha said.
Wen: China's financial system sound
and safe
NANNING, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
said here Sunday that China's financial institutions have generally increased
their strength, profitability and risk-resisting ability, and the financial
system as a whole is sound and safe in face of the international financial
crisis.
Wen made the remarks during an inspection tour to Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region in southwest China. Full story
Impact of global financial turmoil on
China seen as limited
BEIJING, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing global financial
turbulence will have a limited impact on China's banks and financial system in
the short run, according to officials and experts.
"We feel China's financial system and its banks are, to
the chaos developed in the U.S. and other parts of the world, relatively
shielded from those problems," said senior economist Louis Kuijs at the World
Bank Beijing Office. Full story
Premier: China's strong growth is
greatest contribution to world economy amid financial crisis
TIANJIN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Amid the global financial
crisis, the greatest contribution China can make to the world economy is to
maintain the country's strong momentum of a steady, rapid economic growth and
avoid any major ups and downs, said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao here on
Saturday.
"What we can do now is to maintain the steady and fast
growth of the national economy, and ensure that no major fluctuations will
happen. That will be our greatest contribution to the world economy under the
current circumstances," said Wen during a brief question and answer session at
the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Davos forum in north China's Tianjin
Municipality. Full story
