Signed Article Analyzes Asia-Pacific Economies

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 31, 2003

Signed Article Analyzes Asia-Pacific Economies

A signed article Xinhua News Agency published Thursday noted the dissimilarities among the economies of the Asia-Pacific Region economies and analyzed the causes for the dissimilarities.

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A signed article Xinhua News Agency published Thursday noted the dissimilarities among the economies of the Asia-Pacific Region economies and analyzed the causes for the dissimilarities.

The article, written by She Ke, says from 2000 to 2002, the world economy grew at an average annual rate of only 2 percent, with countries around the world registering wildly disparate economic growth rates.

For example, the US economy grew at a rate of 2.5 percent annually, while that of Japan remained sluggish at 0.5 percent. Southeast Asian countries enjoyed a growth rate of 4.7 percent, and the Chinese economy, widely recognized as the locomotive of the world economy, hit a growth rate of more than 7.5 percent.

The article attributes the disparities to the different political and economic circumstances in various countries.

At present, the US economy is experiencing mild recession characterized by sluggish investment and strong consumption.

Although the US economy began to rebound in the fourth quarter of 2001, the world's most developed nation is still suffering fromseveral die-hard economic headaches including the heavy debt burden shouldered by American citizens and bubbles in the real estate market.

The US economy is expected to experience further fluctuations and slow growth in the near future, according to the article.

The Japanese economy is in an even more critical state with a huge amount of non-performing bank loans. Since commercial banks in Japan are stockholders in local enterprises, as well as lenders,the bad debts are damaging the performance of both enterprises andcommercial banks.

The article predicts that the future of the Japanese economy depends largely on the success of the on-going reforms.

According to the article, Southeast Asian countries are highly vulnerable to external factors since these export-oriented economies are closely tied to economic powers such as the United States and Japan.

Dependence on Western developed nations and the failure to reduce the number of bad debts will continue to slow down economicdevelopment in these countries.

While most of the Asia-Pacific countries are confounded by sloweconomic growth and problems in their economic structures, China has enjoyed a robust economy for the past three years, following adecade of high-speed economic growth.

According to the article, an increasingly mature socialist market economy, economic development strategies that are formulated and implemented according to specific Chinese circumstances in various stages, and effective measures to expand internal economic demand have contributed significantly to the country's outstanding economic performance.

At the same time, the Chinese government continues to attach great importance to promoting social and economic development while deepening reforms and strengthening cooperation with other countries.

However, the article points out, China still has a long way to go in its industrialization and modernization drive, due to its low general development level, comparatively large poor population,increasing aging population, and growing contradictions between the ecological environment, natural resources and socio-economic development.

Only by striving to maintain a relatively rapid economic growthrate, can China overcome the difficulties occurring in the process of development and keep pace with global development, the article says.

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