Milestone Year for China’s Economic Development -11th Five-Year Program to be the Crucial Turning Point

Melbourne, Australia — A study published in the March/April 2006 issue of China & World Economy reported that 2006 may be the crucial turning point in China’s economic history.

President Hu Jintao has made it known that he understands a shift of gears is vital in order to inject a boost in China’s macroeconomic policies. The Hu-Wen leadership is poised to embark on new development strategies, with Hu’s much-vaunted concept of “scientific development” set to address the problems previously associated with the nation’s strong economic growth. With President Hu’s 11th Five-Year Program (2006 – 2010) due to be formally adopted this month, China’s new development paradigm puts the nation at the brink of a new turning point.

Published by Blackwell Publishing, in partnership with the Institute of World Economics and Politics and authored by Professor John Wong, Research Director at the East Asian Institute in Singapore - the paper provides a comprehensive analysis of China’s pro-growth policies and developmental plans.

Although fears of an economic ‘hard-landing’ after a breakneck growth rate of 9.5 percent in two consecutive years subsided midway through 2005, the negative consequences of two and a half decades of spectacular economic growth had began to show. The people awoke to the questionable growing social side-effects of financial progress and issues such as inefficient energy usage leading to mounting environmental degradation, poverty and income disparity as well as the vast urban-rural divide begun to surface.

A shift in China’s economic discourse has begun, with the emphasis on high GDP rates moving to the very nature of growth itself - the nation’s economic focal point was now focused on the importance of ‘sustainable growth’ and ‘balanced development’.

Despite international pressures on China for further revaluation of the renminbi and political demands on its monetary authorities to recycle its foreign reserves back to the international arena, inflation rates remained low and 76 percent of the Chinese reported to having an optimistic view of their future.

With China’s economic growth uniquely driven by investment and its export engine operating not only as a source of its own economic growth but also as a catalyst for regional and global integration, the ‘lower middle-income economy’ definitely has the capacity to deal with the negative consequences of its economic growth. 2006 looks to be the year for Chinese policy-makers to commence re-orienting their development policies, and in the process enabling this industrial powerhouse to begin another journey towards ‘developed society’ status.

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This study is published in the March/April issue of the China & World Economy (93- 104, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2006). Media wishing to receive a PDF, please contact alina.boey@asia.blackwellpublishing.com


About China & World Economy
China & World Economy was launched in 1993 by the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Originally self-published, the journal begins its official publishing partnership with Blackwell Publishing in 2006.
Published six times a year, this journal combines original academic research works with policy review articles – many of its authors are distinguished Chinese economists from both academic and governmental circles. As the only English language journal in China devoted to the topic of Chinese economics, readers can expect objective, analytical and up-to-date quality content. With distinguished contributors such as economists from both the government and academic circles, the journal will provide an informed and balanced window on China, and will undoubtedly become essential reading for all those interested in China’s development.
Blackwell Publishing in China
Since beginning its publishing program in China in November 2000, Blackwell Publishing has been involved in several partnerships with leading academic institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, the Institute of Zoology, the Institute of Botany and the Chinese Society of Gastroenterology, and the Chinese Medical Association Shanghai Branch.

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