Chinese economic miracle will continue under the new leadership

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping made his debut as the new leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on  November 15^th, 2012, with a strong mandate to continue the country’s economic miracle and improve the lives of the 1.4 billion Chinese people. Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang are expected to formally take over the presidency and premiership from Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao respectively at the National People’s congress in March 2013. They have promised to deliver the arduous task of leading the Chinese people in building a moderately prosperous society. As it pushes for a more balanced development with the new leaders, China will continue to serve as a global economic powerhouse.

Convened at a time when the world’s economic future is tied to China’s growth, the 18^th CPC National congress gave a report of its work in the last decade and made plans for delivering economic prosperity and equity to all Chinese people. The report gave priority to improving the people’s livelihoods and enabling them to benefit substantially from China’s development. With the bar having been raised, the new leadership will be under pressure to deliver on the daunting task ahead. There are great challenges of inequality, social cohesion and an unpredictable global environment and for the new leadership; these challenges will only grow in complexity as China becomes a middle income country.

The report also set the goal of doubling China’s GDP of 2010 and the per-capita income of urban and rural residents by 2020. This is the first time that the CPC has included per capita income in its 2020 development blueprint of a moderately prosperous society. Previous targets only focused on GDP growth. This is an ambitious goal but considering China’s economic miracle in the last decade, it is possible that the Chinese leadership will deliver. The per-capita disposable income of urban residents in China rose 8.4 percent in 2011 from a year earlier while the per-capita net income of rural residents grew 11.4 percent over the same period.

Despite the global economic slowdown, the CPC has promised to make this goal a reality by 2020. When the goal is realized, the 1.3 billion Chinese people will join the group of fewer than 2 billion people worldwide who currently enjoy the standard of living as envisioned in a moderately prosperous society.

China’s new leaders are devoted to this economic goal and have vowed to build on the achievements of their predecessors to scale the new heights. In a report published by the Paris based Organization for economic cooperation and development, it is expected that China will overtake the United States by 2016 to become the world’s largest economy.  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also predicted that than China’s economy will be bigger than that of the United States in terms of purchasing power parity.

Mindful of the opportunities and the Challenges lying ahead, the new leaders will put the policies agreed upon at the 18^th National Congress into practice. While placing emphasis on economic growth, the CPC will spearhead a Change in China’s development model to ensure that the wealth divide is bridged. As China rebalances its economy, there are global implications. China’s important role in the global economy means that its success is a success for the world and its failure is a failure for the world.