China Now World's Second Largest Economy

An announcement just made by a top China finance official claims that China has just surpassed Japan as the world's second largest economy. This statement comes seemingly so soon after last year's announcement that China had surpassed Germany.

"China, in fact, is now already the world's second-largest economy," states chief currency regulator Yi Gang in an interview posted on China Reform, the official site for China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Considering that China didn't even consider opening up to the world until after President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972, the country has only enjoyed breakneck growth within the last two decades. With a population exceeding 1.3 billion people and the infrastructure to support it, China is readily able to support itself through sheer size. With international trade as a supplement, China has enjoyed annual growth in GDP of at least 8% in some years, with rates skyrocketing as high as 13% in others.

Further Steps In Growth Taken Cautiously

In spite of such rapid growth, both China's people and economy are relative youngsters to the world market. When asked whether the time had finally come for the yuan to

become an international currency, regulator Yi states, "China is still a developing country, and we should be wise enough to know ourselves."

China's Growth Tempered By Internal Challenges

While Yi's statement typifies China's traditionally cautious stance on the promotion of its currency as a standard in the world financial market, his statement is also tempered by an intimate knowledge of China's many internal challenges.

While China and its success as a rising economy is indeed to be lauded, the mainland finds challenge in the many by-products of its success.

Population and Food Supply Challenges

One of several issues the People's Republic of China (PRC) faces is food supply. The Chinese word for "population" is renkou (人口), which translates indirectly as "people's mouths". In China's case, well over one billion of these mouths need feeding − a challenge within itself, even under ideal circumstances.

Another issue is the displacement of China's working population. With the passing of every year, citizens from rural lands make the move to more upscale urban work prospects, and thus leave fewer workers to plant and harvest staple crops such as rice, wheat, soy and other essential foods. This accentuates the challenge of feeding China's many mouths.

Environmental Challenges

While the bulk of China's manufacturing plants resides outside urban districts, industry's effect upon the population has risen as a ubiquitous factor regardless of location. A recent report issued by the PRC's Ministry of Environmental Protection discloses that readily half of China's main water resources are unacceptable for human consumption.

While China is indeed to be lauded for its progress in recent decades, the mainland finds continued challenge in the many by-products of its success - some of which come at a dear cost.

Sources:

Beyond Lead in the Paint: China Has Its Own Problems, Too
John Melendez's other China Articles
www.cnbc.com

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Melendez is a freelance writer reporting on technology, the environment, sustainability, alternative energies and "green" issues. John Melendez is a writer for hire. To email him, go to http://www.emailmeform.com/fid.php?formid=19595

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