http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2005/12/30/232530/China_to_create_80m_world_jobs.htm
China to create 80m world jobs
2005-12-30 Beijing Time
CHINA will create 80 million jobs for other nations in the next
five years as the country's imports are expected to exceed US$4
trillion during the period, renowned economist Hu Angang
predicted.
Hu, an expert on macroeconomics at Tsinghua University in Beijing,
yesterday forecast that China will provide tremendous business
opportunities and create many jobs for the world market, especially
the United States, Japan, the European Union and Southeast Asian
countries between 2006 and 2010.
His prediction was based on the country's rapid economic growth and
increasing trade, especially the expanding import volume.
Between 2001 and 2005, he said, China's accumulated import volume
surpassed US$2 trillion, creating around 40 million jobs for other
countries.
In 2005, China's foreign trade volume will hit record US$1.4
trillion, with imports standing at US$700 billion dollars.
According to estimates by relevant departments, China's trade
volume will rise to US$2.5 to US$2.8 trillion dollars in coming
years. Hu expects it to go higher.
"China has not only become a world major export country, but also
an important import market ever since it adopted the reform and
opening-up policies in 1978," said Hu.
In 1978, China's imports stood at US$10.9 billion. The figure rose
to US$148.47 billion in 2004, making China the world's
third-largest importer after the US and Germany.
The country's imports have kept growing by a yearly 16 percent
since 1978.
Hu noted that fast-expanding foreign trade is beneficial not only
to China itself, but also to its trading partners.
For example, he pointed out that 70 percent of Chinese products
exported to the US, Japan and the EU are labor-intensive products.
Eighty percent of the products imported by China from the US, Japan
and the EU are capital-, technology- and knowledge-intensive
products, Hu said.
"In fact," the economist said, "nearly 300 million US consumers
have benefited from the unbalanced China-US trade."
"Over the past decade, China-made products have saved US consumers
hundreds of billions of US dollars," he said.
Hu said China should take measures to promote not only export
growth, but also import growth in the next five years.
"A rising China will not only benefit the 1.3 billion Chinese, but
also the 6.5 billion people in the world," said Hu.
