This is phenomenal by all standards. When I came to the United States in 2002, I heard the stories of desperate Chinese people who paid between $10,000 and $20,000 (that in itself is a lot) in order to escape poverty and iron-fist rule in their country and travel on the high sea with all the attendant risks, to settle in the US, a land flowing with honey, milk and freedom. Between 2000 and 2009, according to the Migration Policy Institute, 637,400 Chinese born immigrants obtained the US green cards.
All the liberation-seekers could see in their homeland was despair, poverty, limitations and hopelessness.
China, as it seemed or projected, was on the road to perdition until its leaders recalibrated and started taking critical steps towards redemption, internal confidence-building, growth and now dominance.
The biggest trigger for the Chinese economic turnaround was its decision to open its economy to the world about 41 years ago. It was a smart move as China would later become the supply chain hub for the world's manufacturing.
Initial baby steps turned to giant strides in 2013 when China set a target to eliminate poverty by 2020. This was a decade shorter than the date of 2030 set by the World Bank in April 2013 when the global financial institution announced a new goal to end extreme poverty in a generation. Even that target of having not more than 3% of the world's population living on just $1.90 a day by 2030 is comedic but like they say in leadership, it is better to take an action, no matter how suboptimal, rather than failing to lift a finger.
Today, though over 1.4 billion people live in China, the country has fewer poor people than the US, the world's largest economy with a population of 300 million people and just about a quarter the size of the Chinese population.
Adopting a philosophy of "no state left behind", China mobilised national resources to support all the regions of the country lagging behind in development. It devoted its energy to providing road infrastructure, housing and other amenities in the rural areas.
China stoked the development of tourism in the regions as a vital step towards resuscitating the rural economy. Simultaneously, it also pumped resources into the development of rural agriculture, knowing as a conservative welfarist state that food security is fundamental to sustainable growth.
In ticking the boxes, China also provided universal health insurance coverage for its entire population and started relocating its poorest of the poor from rickety shelters to state-built brand new apartments.
An emerging global champion in technology, China's broadband coverage extends to over 98% of its rural villages. Whether you are in the Gulin Hills or in Tuvas village in Kanas, Xinjiang, you can be sure of having high-speed internet access.
Learning from its recent bitter trade war with the US, China has now emphasised domestic consumption as a strategic national weapon. With the economic success of China came a rising middle class with a passion for foreign cars and other imported goods.
Mainland China is now mobililising its citizenry to concentrate on local consumption of goods and services to stimulate the economy as part of the Made-in-China 2025 strategy. Where it fell short, it is quickly ramping up local production. For instance, China used to import tubes from Europe to meet up local demand for vaccines. China swiftly set machinery in motion to address the shortcoming and is now self sufficient in that regard.
Its focus is now fully on the technological space where it has served notice of its intention to stop being a mere imitator to becoming the global leader. It is an intention that is becoming increasingly evident to the world. China is the undisputed leader in 5G technology and is making enormous waves in Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT).
China has also emerged in 2020 as the largest aviation market in the world. International Air Transport Association (IATA) says China is leading the global aviation industry recovery after the coronavirus pandemic. Though, the first case of new coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, China in December, 2019, China has managed to outsmart the virus.
Beijing has also successfully broken the duopoly of Boeing and Airbus by becoming the third country in the world to have the capacity to produce passenger aircraft in commercial quantity. The Chinese government pumped $45 billion to propel Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) to make the C919 series which now has 815 orders from 28 countries.
According to an analysis by Boeing, China would need 8,090 new passenger aircraft deliveries and allied services in the next 20 years valued at $2.9 trillion. By smartly investing in the development of its own aircraft and other technologies, China will keep the bulk of that fund in its local economy. That is how to be the next superpower.
