One of the most remarkable outcomes of the global financial
crisis has been the remarkable resilience of the Chinese
economy. There was widespread belief that China would suffer extremely from
the crisis as it depends heavily on exports. However, defying all predictions,
China has continued to grow rapidly even in 2009 with GDP at 8.7%. The year
also marks a turning point away from export-led toward
consumption-led growth, a goal that it has adopted
for five years. The global manufacturing hub has emerged as a major factor
in the world economy today. Since 1999, the share of global exports has
risen from 3% to 10% in 2010. In 2009, it surpassed Germany as the world's
leading exporter and is slated to overtake Japan as the second largest economy.
In terms of purchasing power parity, China's output is already 55% of the
US and twice Japan's ratio in the 1970s. Automobile sales advanced beyond
one million per month, overtaking the US for the first time and becoming the
biggest auto market in the world. The same is happening with mobiles
and LCD TVs. These trends reveal that such growth is occurring in all forms
of consumption.
With a mammoth $586 bn stimulus package, it managed financial crisis
decisively and enjoyed a rapid recovery which has delivered important
benefits for the rest of the world economy. The dragon's rapid economic growth
has given rise to many winners around the world—the resource-based
economies of Central Asia, Latin America, Africa and Australia are foremost
among them. Since 2001, overall GDP of China has increased by $3 tn, which is
tantamount to creating two new UKs or two new Frances. Reports indicate that
in the next eight years, Chinese will create another Japan. This is the reason why
it is being widely touted as a major locomotive for global economic growth at
a time when the traditional leader, the US is dillydallying.
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