China: The New Super Power

The fast growth of China's economy shall keep its momentum. China's economy has maintained rapid growth for almost 30 years. The economy expanded by more than 10 percent in each of the last four years, at an average of 10.4 percent. That is more than double the average growth rate of the world economy during the same period, and is higher than any period in China since reform and opening up in the late 1970s. The economy remained stable as it steamed ahead. In the last four years, the growth rate never fluctuated by more than 1.1 percentage points. Meanwhile, consumer prices have also remained stable at about 2.1 percent per year. China's overall economic volume was the world's fourth largest in 2005. It was the sixth largest in 2002. The gap between China and the US, Japan and Germany the top three world economies has also narrowed in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). As its economy has grown, China now contributes more than 5.5 percent of the world's GDP, up from 4.4 percent in 2002. China's booming economy also saw its per capita income cross the threshold of $2,000 for the first time in 2006. According to World Bank standards, China should no longer be considered a low income nation, as its per capita income now resembles that of a middle-income country.While enjoying such rapid and stable economic growth, China has restructured its economy to increase the weight of its service sector in poorer western regions,China has registered a solid growth track since 2003, and its economy has expanded quickly and in a stable manner. Living standards have also improved considerably, as income levels have steadily increased since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China convened in 2002. The pursuit of peace, development and cooperation is the trend of times and this has made it possible to secure China a long term peaceful international environment. Being in a stage of rapid industrialization and urbanization, China has the material and technological foundation to sustain economic growth, growing market demand, an abundant and increasingly well trained labor force, a large number of dynamic companies which have emerged in the course of reform and by pursuing innovation, and it enjoys social and political stability. China is not engaged in a tough ground war in southwest Asia so they have the freedom to modernize forces that are not current. China is modernizing its military and its air defenses are now nearly impenetrable to all but the newest of American fighters. China, is rapidly filling the skies with newer, Russian-made Sukhoi Su-27 "Flankers" and Su-30s, along with the domestically built J-10, a state-of-the-art fighter that Beijing just rolled out in January. China has also improved its ballistic missile defenses and its ability to take the fight into space — as it proved in January by shooting down an old weather satellite at an orbital height similar to that used by the U.S. military. China is spending for its People's Liberation Army, the world's largest standing army with 2.3 million members, grew 17.8 percent this year to nearly $45 billion.