"China has experienced earthshaking changes as a result of 30 years' opening-up and reform," renowned Canadian scholar on China affairs Jiang Wenran told Xinhua during a recent interview.
Jiang, acting director of China Institute of Alberta University, has been tracking China's re-emergence as a global power for the past 20 years.
"I was born and raised in China. I went to university there in early 1980s when the opening-up and reform policy was just launched," Jiang said. "I have been doing research on China since I came to Canada for the past two decades."
China's opening-up and reform policy resulted in the rapid development of its economy, Jiang said. As it gradually shifted from a planned economy to a market economy, China has witnessed a sustainable and rapid growth, doubling its economic output every seven or eight years.
In terms of gross domestic product (GDP) measured in U.S. dollars, China is now the fourth largest economy in the world. China is expected to catch up with the United States in short time, Jiang noted.
Meanwhile, the living standard of the Chinese citizens has improved quickly with their earnings on constant rise. Infrastructure has been strengthened considerably in both rural and urban areas.
China has been immersed fully with the international community and is playing an increasingly larger role in global political and economic affairs, Jiang said.
He said that China has also made significant achievements in the fields of democracy, human rights and legal system. It is unfair for some Westerners to criticize China in this regard, as China is trying very hard to improve. China still has some problems, but people should also view these issues from a historical perspective, Jiang said.
Jiang noted that China's increasing influence is also illustrated in increasing popularity of China studies in Canada. Especially when the United States and Europe are hard hit by global economic crisis, people now are more interested in how China will develop and what influence it will have in shaping the new world order.
Jiang noted that many Canadian universities have set up research programs on China affairs. Canada's most famous international affairs think tank, The Canadian International Council, launched recently a research program to study China's rise and its influence on the new world order.
"Canada is giving more and more attention to China and the China research here is getting increasingly detailed and advanced," he said.
Source: Xinhua
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