Op-Ed Contributors

The emergence of a growth model

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-27 07:59

Editor's Note: The discourse on the "China model" has gathered momentum among scholars both within and outside the country. Beijing's Tsinghua University, one of the premier institutions in China, chose the topic for a symposium during its centenary celebrations, where speakers came up with interesting views which could help readers get a clearer understanding of the subject.

The term "China model" was not made in China. Its birth was an outcome of the avid discussion on China's emergence among Western academia and media.

The term "China model" first appeared in a paper by Joshua Cooper Ramo, The Beijing Consensus, in 2004. Ramo, a member of a European think tank, tried to outline an alternative economic development model for developing countries as opposed to the Washington Consensus.

He implied that the "China model" would surface with the country's emergence as an influential world power: "What is happening in China at the moment is not only a model for China, but has begun to remake the whole landscape of international development, economics, society and, by extension, politics."

It is still debatable whether there exists a "China model", but the debate itself will help us better understand the emergence of China.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/27/2011 page9)