China’s Progress in 40 years: Robust economic growth granted by policies

World
Europe

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up. To better understand the significance of the subject, CGTN guest commentator, Dr. Summer, shares his findings of the major achievements China has made during the past four decades. Summer examines the country’s progress in the political, economic, social and diplomatic fields.

China’s progress in 40 years: Strong leadership the foundation.

PART TWO

I think one way to judge China’s economic achievement is to look at its GDP figures summarized in Table One below.

Table One: China's GDP growth and ranking changes between 1952 and 2017.

During China's first development stage, spanning some 30 years, the country's GDP increased by 5.4 percent since 1952. In the second stage of development, lasting for about three decades, China witnessed an 86.85 percent increase of GDP. And the country’s ranking jumped from 15th to third place, landing among the world’s largest economic powers.

The most recent development, covering only the past five years, witnessed a 1.59 times increase of China’s GDP. The rate may seem small, but the base number is much more significant than those of the past years.

China has maintained its status as the world’s second-largest economy. The latest expansion is a difference of 30,780 billion RMB, leading China to narrow its distance from the top.

Researchers have attributed China’s rapid economic growth to four factors: exports, investments, policies, and consumptions. I think the function of these policies is vital to China’s economic success. By adopting various systems, the Chinese government combines the visible hand of government regulations with the invisible hand of market mechanism to encourage a sound economic development.

For example, when China began opening up, it adopted favorable policies for attracting overseas investment to build infrastructures and joint-ventures. Which, in turn, enabled the country to become the world’s leading exporter of daily articles.

Now, after decades of fast economic development, the Chinese government has adopted policies to encourage high-quality growth for green development.

Chinese Vice Commerce Minister and Deputy China International Trade Representative, Wang Shouwen attends the annual session of China Development Forum (CDF) 2018 in Beijing, China, March 25, 2018. /VCG Photo

In the time of a global economic slowdown, the structure of the country’s economic development has been shifting from export and investment-oriented model to a domestic consumption driven model due to policy incentives. This change has prepared China to better deal with the current challenges resulted from trade protectionism.

(With a doctoral degree in communications from the Communication University of China, the author has been working in the field of international journalism for 30 years. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the view of CGTN.)