President Hu Jintao said China hopes to quadruple its gross
domestic product by 2020 and urged other nations to seize
development opportunities.
Meanwhile, he warned that the road to a fully well-off society
still requires a long, uphill battle.
"We will quadruple the 2000 GDP to US$4 trillion with a per
capita GDP of US$3,000, and further develop the economy, improve
democracy, advance science and education, enrich culture, foster
greater social harmony and upgrade the texture of life for the
people," Hu said in his Saturday speech at the Boao Forum for Asia,
the only non-government international organization in Asia that
fosters economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
China, the second largest economy in Asia, has maintained a
sustainable average annual economic growth rate of 9.4 percent over
the past 25 years. Although this has helped China's per capita GDP
reach a high of US$1,000 last year, it still ranks behind 100th in
the world.
Many acute problems still exist, Hu acknowledged, noting the
nation's on-going issues with overpopulation and underdeveloped
productivity.
Hu said China, now the largest importer in Asia, will generate
important opportunities for Asia. "China's development cannot be
achieved in isolation, and Asia's prosperity also needs China.
"China's economy will integrate still more closely with the
Asian economy, giving rise to a new type of partnership
characterized by mutual benefits and mutual assistance."
Hu's remarks were echoed by his audience.
"China is really trying her utmost to cultivate relations with
ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) despite the setback
ASEAN has experienced since the financial crisis in 1997," said
Jusuf Wanandi, co-founder of Center for Strategic and International
Studies.
"ASEAN is thankful about the support from China," Wanandi
said.
Commenting on the economic competition, Wanandi said it is not a
"zero-sum" game. "China is willing to assist others as she has
shown to ASEAN," Wanandi noted, "by importing their goods, creating
networks, in developing partnerships and in the proposal for a free
trade pact to be completed in 10 years."
As an observer, former US President Gorge Bush also agreed that
China's peaceful rise is "very reassuring and very, very important
to the Asian horizon and Asia's landscape."
Bush made the remarks in his 20-minute speech at the forum on
Saturday. He said the country has become wealthier, more confident,
and full of color and vitality.
Bush, who has visited China many times in the past decades,
attributed the change mainly to the reforms and opening-up drive
initiated by the Chinese Government.
The concept of China's "peaceful rise" was raised by Zheng
Bijian, chairman of China Reform Forum at the last annual
conference in facing growing worries from the world over China's
rapid economic growth.
The topic was again included in this year's conference, which is
regarded as a sign of heated interest in China's development among
nations in the region.
Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who is also
a guest of the forum, told China Daily in an interview the
forum is in step with growing economic and trade activity in the
region and has good potential to serve as an instrument of economic
integration in various areas of Asia.
The two-day third annual conference which closed yesterday
offers a stage for "heavyweight" figures to discuss closer
collaboration among Asian countries and the rest of the world.
It attracted more than 1,000 high-profile political leaders,
scholars and entrepreneurs from Asia and across the globe.
(China Daily April 26, 2004)