"The objective, to quadruple the country's 1980 gross domestic product (GDP) so that it would reach 2.8 trillion yuan (US$337.3 billion) by 2000, sounded like an impossible feat at that time," recalls Qian, who is a delegate to the on-going 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Economist Hu Angang, who is following the congress, admits that when the objective was first proposed, the rest of the world did not seem to believe it was achievable. "Even we (economists) dared not think of it in our study."

Twenty years on, Jiang Zemin's report to the 16th Party Congress puts forward yet another goal, that of building a well-off society in an all-round way by the year 2020, when the country's GDP is expected to exceed a whopping 35 trillion yuan (US$4.2 trillion), quadruple the 2000 figure.

While Hu deems the grand goal possible, Qian shows a more qualified acceptance.

"It can very well be achieved, by a healthy margin even, if efforts are put into it," said Qian, who is now Party secretary for Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Northwest China's Xingjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Given the guidance from Deng Xiaoping Theory and Jiang Zemin's important thought of the Three Represents, and the experience accumulated from the economic development of the last 20 years, the foundation laid by that development, as well as a socialist market economy well-adapted to Chinese conditions, Qian said he is full of confidence that the objective can be accomplished. Particularly, Qian added, the period in which the objective is to be accomplished offers important strategic opportunities.

According to an analysis from Hu, director of the Centre for Chinese Studies at Tsinghua University, the fairly high rate of domestic savings in China will accordingly bring about a high rate of domestic investment. In addition, the rise in the average education level over the past 10 years and an expected improvement in education quality in the years to come, as well as a more vigorous State-owned economy and improved non-public economies, will join forces with market-oriented reforms to propel the economic growth.

This is confirmed by Dai Xianglong, governor of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank.

Dai said the country's high savings rate, which puts it ahead of other countries, is a guarantee of sufficient credit capital. He said the central bank will apply various monetary policies to increase monetary supply.

He also predicts that the future rise in monetary supply in China will exceed by a fairly big margin the growth of the economy and commodity prices put together.

"China is capable of raising funds from diverse channels to sustain the building of a well-off society in an all-round way," he said.

Xinhua

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