China's Competitiveness Rises to World's 33rd Place

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 30, 2003

China's Competitiveness Rises to World's 33rd Place

According to the "Report on the 2002-2003 Global Competitiveness" released by the World Economic Forum, China's economic competitiveness further rose by six places last year.

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The annual meeting of this year's World Economic Forum ended in Davos, Switzerland on January 28, local time. During the six-day period, 1,300 business leaders, 177 scholars, 24 heads of state, 82 cabinet ministers, 67 heads of international organizations, 13 labor leaders, 74 leaders of non-governmental organizations as well as 282 media elite had full exchanges and discussions on five major issues of common concern, namely, commercial challenges, global economy, company management, geopolitical, confidence, and concept of value.

According to the "Report on the 2002-2003 Global Competitiveness" released by the World Economic Forum, China's economic competitiveness further rose by six places last year.

Possibility for US Economic Recession Still Exists

At the annual meeting of this year's World Economic Forum, the grand occasions of fashion models which are usually like shadow following the body, film stars, large groups of bankers and banquets all disappeared and were replaced by enterprises managers on the tenterhooks who were present at the meeting. What they were concerned about was, under the present complicated, feeble and menacing circumstance, how to solve the predicament confronting enterprises and their leaders and enhance their competitiveness.

Economists at the meeting were not optimistic about this year's world economic prospect, they held that due to the stagnant US economic growth appeared in the fourth quarter of last year and the growing possibility of a US-Iraqi war, the growth of US and world economies will become more sluggish and even worse.

China Will Surely Become a New Engine of World Economy

It seems there is no way out for US and world economies though, economists and leaders of international business and political circles present at the meeting unanimously held that China would be the only hope this year and even next year for global economic boom and recovery and would become an engine in the future world economy. This view confirms that the "Report on 2002-2003 Global Competitiveness" published by the World Economic Forum shows that China's microeconomic competitiveness in 2002 ranked 38th among 80 countries, rising by five places over the previous year, while the placing of its competitiveness in global economic growth rose from 39th in 2001 to 33rd in 2002. These two indexes were better than its previous global competitiveness ranking, demonstrating the further rise of China's global competitiveness.

Due to the fact that the economic growth in most parts of the world is at a standstill whereas China's economy has a bright prospect, lured by the "tremendous potential" of China's market, foreign companies have vied to enter China to seize a niche, they have not only shifted the manufacturing departments of their companies to China, but have also set up some research and development departments in China, thus forming a so-called China honeymoon by integrating foreign enterprises with China. On this basis, some people raised the question as to how long could "China honeymoon" last at the annual meeting of this year's Davos Forum.

The East-West Gap Concerns the Reserve Strength for China's Development

Regarding this, a university professor from Japan pointed out that China needs huge amounts of technology and capital, whereas Japan needs ample human resources, therefore China and Japan can fully complement each other economically. He maintains that as far as Japanese enterprises are concerned, they and China's "honeymoon" will be able to last long. The CEO of a well-known American IT company who was not to be identified indicated that although he was not fully sure of the profitability of his company in China, he looks at China's prospect as extremely promising. With the gradual optimization of China's environment and China's opening to more foreign competitors, China will attract the eyes of more and more foreign investors.

A celebrated American financier and former US President Bill Clinton indicated while interviewed by a reporter that the biggest challenge facing China was the problem of the gap between eastern and western regions, this was not only an economic issue, but also a political and security question, if this problem was not properly solved, it would hinder China's economy, and affect the endurance of China's "honeymoon period".

After the Enron event, whether or not an enterprise has the civil awareness and the sense of social responsibility has become a hot topic of conversation among the people, entrepreneurs present at the meeting indicated that after the exposure of the scandal of a series of companies including Enron and Anderson & Co. of the United States, the public credibility and civil awareness of an enterprise have, like the management and innovative capability of a company, become an important component of the competitiveness of an enterprise and have become the goal large enterprises vie to pursue.

After the conclusion of the annual meeting of the present World Economic Forum, the World Economic Forum will hold sub forums in main countries and regions around the world, of which the China Conference will be held in Beijing April 14-15 this year, with its theme being "China under the Leadership of Its New Leaders: the New Motivation of Development".

By People's Daily Online

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