Since the initiation of its reform and opening-up programme in the late 1970s, China has seen its social and economic landscapes undergo profound changes.

The country has so far realized, on a preliminary level, its transition from a planned economy to a market-oriented one. The initial formation of an all-dimensional pattern of opening-up has already turned the Chinese economy from a closed or semi-closed system to an open one.

The country's economic clout in the international community has dramatically increased, and the standard of its people has also significantly improved.

Yet, despite the historic progress China has achieved, the situation of its economic and cultural underdevelopment has not fundamentally changed, and the rapid growth of its overall economic muscle has not changed the lower level of its per capita incomes either, said Wang Mengkui, Director of the State Council Development Research Centre, at the Fourth Meeting of the China-UK Forum which concluded on Friday in Beijing.

"The current financially well-off situation the country is enjoying is still staying at a lower level, and its development is incomplete and unbalanced," he said.

Now the country is advancing toward the drafted grand goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way by 2020. Such a society will mean that the Chinese people will not only enjoy a comparatively high-level material life, but also a high quality of political and spiritual growth.

To achieve this alluring but practical goal, China will strive to quadruple its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020.

Despite potential uncertainties existing in its economic development and the possible slowdown of its growth pace in the coming years, China's goal of quadrupling its GDP within 20 years is still achievable, according to Wang.

Over the past two years, the country has gained dramatic economic achievement, and its economic growth rate is expected to be around 8 per cent this year.

"The basic direction of China's economic development in the first 20 years of the 21st century is for industrialization, urbanization and marketization," said Wang.

To this end, China will insist on driving industrialization through developing information technology and spurring the advancement of information technology, in an effort to pursue a new type of industrialization featuring high technology, excellent economic performances, low resource consumption and pollution, and an ideal environment for human resources.

Urbanization is a historical process which goes along with industrialization.

"In China, the step of urbanization has always lagged behind that of industrialization. Thus, the country is now actively pursuing urbanization and carrying out a strategy of co-ordinating the development of large, medium-sized and small cities," Wang said.

Urbanization has also been a powerful force driving the sustainable growth of the economy.

Migrant labour forces have contributed about 1.5 percentage points to the 9 per cent annual average growth rate of the country's economy in the past two decades, and will continue to be an important factor pushing forward economic growth in the years to come, according to Wang.

It is estimated that around 55 per cent of the country will be urbanized by 2020. The large-scale migration of farmers into non-agricultural areas in the process will gradually change the old pattern of the divided urban-rural dual economic structure.

"The country will continue clinging to market-oriented reforms aimed at building a more mature, vigorous, and open socialist market economic system," Wang said.

China's accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO) has not only facilitated its opening to the outside world, but also accelerated its economic restructuring.

However, large rural populations and limited arable land make it difficult for China to develop the scale economy in rural areas.

And it is a painstaking and protracted process to transfer hundreds of millions of farmers to non-agricultural sectors, which in turn makes it difficult to modernize agriculture and increase the incomes of rural residents.

The country's large population and its transitional period of economic restructuring will bring enormous employment pressure in both urban and rural areas, he said.

Different regions in the country have also developed in an unbalanced way, and the income gap between the rich and poor and between different areas may continue to widen.

As well, imperfections still exist in China's social security and financial systems.

Low economic efficiency and heavy pressures faced in international competition due to economic and technological disadvantages, as well as the possible impact from international economic crises, will also serve as great challenges facing China, Wang said.

(China Daily HK Edition November 3, 2003)