Topic: China’s Rise in the World Economy

Date: February 01, 2011

Speaker Profile :

Arun Kumar Sahu, Counsellor (Political & Culture), Embassy of India, Beijing joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1996. Earlier, he served in Indian Embassies in Beijing , London and Tehran . In the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi , he served as Under Secretary from January 2002 – July 2004 looking after China .

He holds a Master’s Degree in War Studies from King’s College London and a Master’s degree in Linguistics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is an alumnus of Ravenshaw College and Ravenshaw Collegiate School at Cuttack .

Details:

Mr. Sahu in his highly informative speech about the growth of Chinese economy said that times have changed and we cannot afford not to know about things around us. The People’s Republic of China is the world’s second largest economy both in nominal and PPP terms after the United States. What has happened in the last 30 years is not only interesting but shocking as well. China’s ongoing economic transformation has had a profound impact not only on China but on the world .

Making an analysis of Indian vs. Chinese economy he said both the countries are among the most ancient civilizations and their economies are influenced by a number of social, political, economic and other factors. However, if we try to properly understand the various economic and market trends and features of the two countries we can see that there are a number of factors that has made China a better economy than India. Such as:

• Global position in PPP
• World per capita income ranking
• Population growth rate
• Total population in global terms
• Percentage of global trade
• Length of coastline etc.

Talking about the difference in infrastructure and other aspects of economic growth Mr. Sahu said China has a much better developed infrastructure. Some of the important factors that have created a stark difference between the economies of the two countries are manpower and labor development. Humans being reduced to labour force can be seen in China. Chinese labour force is four times more productive than Indian labour force. China is still investing in huge amounts towards manpower development and strengthening of infrastructure.

The growth of the Chinese economy in the past few decades since economic reform in 1979 has been one of the wonders of modern economic development However, as with all economic ‘miracles’ there has also been a negative side to this development, and such huge growth has had an impact upon many areas of society and the environment. But still t he Chinese economy is looking forward to even stronger growth in the coming years and shall continue to provide foreign investments with tremendous business potential.