China’s Economic Achievements and the

Prospect for China-Ethiopia Relations

　　This year marks the 55th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Soon after New China came into existence in 1949, the Chinese people put much energy into large campaigns for a powerful and prosperous country, including eliminating poverty and revitalizing the economy. During that period, the people experienced many difficulties, but they were taking the first step to rid China of the extreme poverty and backward state of the past.

　　At the end of the 1970s, the great Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping pointed out that the most important goal for China is development, getting rid of backwardness, increasing the strength of the country, and helping the people move towards a better life. He said reform is the strongest motive force for development. The Chinese Government since then adopted the reform and opening-up policies covering the rural villages as well as the urban areas, the economic fields as well as political, cultural, and social spheres.

　　The past 26 years of reform and opening-up have been 26 years of rapid development in the Chinese economy. The average economic growth rate has sustained 9.4%, which is 6.5% higher than the yearly growth rate of the global economy in the same period.

　　The past 26 years have also been a significant rise in the overall strength of China. In 2003, China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was US$1.3289 trillion, with the per capita GDP passed the important benchmark of US$ 1000.

　　During the last 26 years of reform and opening-up, China has instituted a large-scale system restructuring, including changing from centralized planning economy to market-orientated one, from an agricultural economy to an industrial and service economy, and from a closed or partially closed economy gradually towards becoming a part of the global economy. Economic reform in China has eradicated poverty on a large scale. The reform has helped the 400 million poor who made less than US$1 per day escape poverty. According to the half-year report of the World Bank on China’s economy, the number of poor people in China went down from 360 million in 1990 to 151.9 million in 2003.

　　In 2002, China’s grain production reached 457 million tons, 1.5 times the output of 1978 and 4 times the production of 1949. Currently, China ranks first in the world in the production of grains, cotton, rapeseed, tobacco, meat, poultry, marine products, and vegetables. China is the world leader in the production of coal, chemical fibers, yarn, textiles, clothing, concrete, televisions and steel.

　　One of the first steps the Chinese Government took to open up China to the world was the setting up of its first special economic zone in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province in 1980. Today, China has an opened structure comprising all areas, many levels, and wide-ranging fields that is formed from the combination of the coastal, river shore, border, and inland areas. These opened regions, because they have instituted different favorable policies, have opened a window in terms of developing the outwards-directed economy, making profit from exportation, and attracting advanced technology, and they have also played a radiate role in the development of China’s hinterlands.

　　Since the 1980s, China has invested human, material and financial resources into building the infrastructure and a large number of projects have been completed, creating a good environment for overseas investment. Meanwhile, the Chinese Government has published over 500 relevant economic laws and regulations to provide protection and a legal basis for overseas investment.

　　In 2002, China’s actual foreign capital utilization reached US$55 billion, out of which US$52.7 billion was foreign investment. For the first time, China became the country to absorb the most foreign investment in the world.

　　At present, over 220 countries and regions have trade contacts with China. In the world rankings of import and export trade volume, China went from 32nd in 1978 to 4th in 2003. China’s import and export trade volume was US$851.2 billion in 2003, up from US$20.6 billion in 1978. At the end of 2003, China’s foreign currency reserve was US$403.3 billion, up from US$170 million in 1978.

　　Rapid economic development has also brought many new changes to the lives of Chinese people. Currently, the average life expectancy in China has reached 71.8. The average net income for rural residents rose from US$85 in 1978 to US$317 in 2003, and the average controllable income of urban residents increased from US$217 to US$1,024.

　　The deepening of the economic system reforms and the promotion of democracy and political restructuring has brought about vast and deep changes never before seen. On one hand, over 100 million rural residents have left their villages and moved to the cities, mostly on the eastern coast, and tens of millions of scholars and other intelligent people have found complete use for their talents there. On the other hand, large-scale state-owned assets have been used more efficiently, with non-governmental capital reaching hundreds of billions of US dollars and over US$500 billion in offshore capital flowing into the country. This combination of capital and labor in China, which is 9.6 million square kilometers large, has led to the largest-scale industrialization and urbanization in human history. This combination has been the secret to China’s success in sustaining an annual average growth rate of 9.4% of rapid development since the beginning of the reform and opening-up.

　　It is true that in China’s pursuit for social and economic development in early years, winding paths were taken and certain opportunities were missed. But since the reform and opening-up policy began in 1978, China has finally found the right path to develop itself: build socialism with Chinese characteristics by Chinese people independently and with the initiative in their own hands. The heart of this path is to bring every positive factor into play, to liberate and develop productive forces, and to respect and guarantee the freedom of Chinese people’s pursuit of happiness.

　　Although great achievements have been made since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in developing the Chinese economy, China is still a big developing country. There is an obvious gap between its urban and rural areas and between its eastern and western regions. China will always place development as the number one task in enacting policies to make a prosperous country. Essentially, this amounts to making a large contribution to the peaceful development of humankind and is the road for the peaceful development of China.

　　As the new Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia, I am very glad to see that the bilateral ties between China and Ethiopia have witnessed an all-round and speedy development in recent years. Mutual understanding and trust between the two sides have been further increased, while economic and technical cooperation on mutually beneficial basis have also developed steadily and accomplished a success. Exchanges and cooperation in educational, cultural and other areas also registered new progress in the past years.

　　With the progress we have already achieved, I am fully optimistic of the broad and bright prospect of future development of China-Ethiopia relations. There is great potential for the further deepening and expansion of the existing friendly and cooperative relations. For example, China has a huge market with a population of 1.3 billion people, which provides vast opportunities for the Ethiopian products. Meanwhile, Ethiopia is speeding up and enlarging its infrastructure construction, which will also attract more and more Chinese entrepreneurs to engage in various investment and development projects in Ethiopia. Furthermore, the abundant tourism attractions of Ethiopia could also become new area of cooperation in the future, adding new momentum to the sound development of bilateral relations. During my tenure here, I will exert all my efforts to contribute to the further development of the traditional friendship and good cooperation between our two countries.