Interview: China provides strong support for South-South cooperation, says UN official

Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-19 14:13:35|Editor: ZD
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by Xinhua writer Ma Jianguo

UNITED NATIONS, May 18 (Xinhua) -- A UN South-South cooperation official said Friday that although China's per capita income is still lower than that of many developed countries, the rapid development over 40 years of Reform and Opening Up policy has made China a leader in promoting South-South cooperation.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Wang Xiaojun, deputy head of the South-South Cooperation Office of the UN, said though China's economy has grown extremely rapidly over the last 40 years, its per capita GDP is still around 70th place in the world, as per capita GDP is an effective tool to understand a country's economy.

According to official statistics, China's per capita GDP was only 309 U.S. dollars in 1980. That has changed significantly during the Reform and Opening Up period. In April, the International Monetary Fund's data showed China had caught up to 10,090 U.S. dollars per capita.

Nevertheless, China still lags far behind major developed countries.

Luxembourg, the highest, reached 120,060 U.S. dollars per capita, followed by Switzerland, the second highest, with 86,840 U.S. dollars. The United States ranked ninth, reaching 62,150 U.S. dollars.

A more comprehensive development indicator is the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures three major aspects: life expectancy, education and income. Its score is segmented into four levels as very high, high, medium and low.

According to a 2016 report by the UN Development Programme, Norway ranked highest, with HDI reaching 0.949, and the United States ranked tenth with 0.920.

China ranked 90th with 0.738, which is considered to be on the high level. But there is still a large gap compared with many developed countries.

Yet she hailed China's own efforts to eradicate poverty, which have played a positive role in the development of the global economy.

Though a developing country, China in the past four decades made remarkable achievements in eliminating poverty, and in this process contributed to more than 70 percent of the total global poverty reduction, Wang noted.

Moreover, the Chinese government has set a new goal to ensure the rural poor are alleviated from poverty based on current standards by 2020. In other words, 55.75 million people will be lifted from poverty in the next few years.

She took China's Belt and Road Initiative for example. "This initiative has received a positive response and support from more than 100 countries and international organizations around the world."

Another example she took is China's concept of building a community of shared future for mankind has manifested China's idea for South-South cooperation and global governance.

Wang recalled UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' congratulatory letter on China's launch of the Center for International Knowledge on Development last August, an organ dedicated to studying and sharing development theories and practices between nations.

She said Guterres was pleased with "China's implementation and progress on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda," quoting him as saying "China has made tremendous efforts and strong commitments to achieving sustainable development, home and abroad."

"The UN chief praised China's role as a true leader in promoting South-South cooperation to achieve the sustainable development goals," Wang said. Enditem

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