Interviews

CHINA: The Dragon on the Move    

Diplomats of the People's Republic of China abroad have always been known to be very polite and good spokesmen and representatives of their country. One good example among these scions of one of the oldest extant civilizations is H. E. Zhang Keyuan, the Ambassador to Ghana.

As if embarrassed by the phenomenal Chinese economic success story, diplomats of this most populous nation on earth have apparently been doing their best against flaunting their new-found success. As good diplomats they obviously know what damage could be caused with unguarded statements and they find a solution in the low profile.  

Ambassador Zhang Keyuan, China's top diplomat in Ghana, obviously disagrees with the many experts around the world who see China as the near future's economic super-power.   And he doubts that China is anywhere near overtaking the United States. For, although her GDP has grown to be the fourth highest in the world, says Mr Zhang, China is still a developing country; her per capita GDP of US$1,500 ranks lower than 100th - lower even than those of some African countries.   

Ambassador Zhang points out also that in 2004 China's GDP was US$1.9 trillion - only one sixth that of the US.  "So we do not expect to overtake the United States in the foreseeable future," he says.  One tends to agree, if only by comparing China's massive population with that of the United States.

Yet, even as a "developing country" China has, for many years, behaved and acted like a rich and powerful country, even if on a much modest scale. The many Chinese-designed, funded and constructed public facilities scattered around the Third World are a clear testimony to this.

Ambassador Zhang agrees with the notion that China has made tremendous economic and social progress within the past 27 years, noting, in particular, that during this period "the number of rural poor in China has dwindled from 250 million to 26 million."   But he disagrees that China's exports of cheap consumer goods are creating economic distortions around the world and says what is taking place in China is a good thing for the world economy.   For, China is not only a major exporter, she is also a major importer of both raw materials and consumer goods.  

In 2004 China's import bill amounted to as much as US$561 billion. No wonder, says Ambassador Zhang, more and more traders around the world now go to China "to exploit this gold mine," while a large number of Chinese businesses are investing in other countries. He proudly points out that there are more than 200 Chinese investments in Ghana, ranging from fisheries to pharmaceuticals - the second highest from any one country.

Moreover, he says, as China's economy grows, so does her capacity to support the world's least developed countries. She has, thus, extended preferential tariff treatment to 39 of these countries; reduced or cancelled some debts and will be providing US$10b in concessional loans and preferential export buyers' credit over the next three years. 

China is also to enhance its programme for providing anti-malaria and other medicines to African developing countries, in particular, and to help them set up and improve medical facilities and train staff.  In addition she will be helping a number of developing countries speed up their human resource development with the training of some 30,000 professionals in the next three years.

China prides herself as a friend of the developing world and is quick to point out that she is herself a developing country.  Yet, from the arguments currently raging among some Western economic experts, China's economic statistics are perhaps grossly understated and, therefore, most unreliable. China's figures simply don't add up, they argue. Otherwise, with such unprecedented, phenomenal growth, the Dragon is surely headed for the top. 

At the moment, it appears, China is not overly impressed by those arguments.      

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