by Xin Ping
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the "PRC Is Not A Developing Country Act" (PRC Act), clamoring for China to be redefined as a developed country and opposing the continuous treatment of China as a "developing country" in international treaties and agreements signed by the U.S..
Overnight, China was "stamped" as a "developed country" by the "almighty" U.S. parliament. One cannot help but wonder, who gives the U.S. the super power to dictate whether a country is developed or not? Why did it suddenly award China such a "glorious" title?
The fact is no unified definition of "developing country" exists. The World Bank chooses GDP as a measurement and defined a high-income country as one with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of $13,205 or above in 2022. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) uses the Human Development Index (HDI) according to which those reaching 0.8 are considered developed countries. In 2021, China's HDI was 0.768, ranking 79th in the world, while the U.S. ranked 21st.
GATT and WTO adopt the method of "self-declaration". ROK, Brazil and Ukraine, among others, identify themselves as developing countries when they joined GATT. China was explicitly identified as a developing country at its accession to the WTO.
By any standard, China has not yet reached the threshold of developed countries, and this is recognized by the vast majority of countries and major international organizations. The PRC Act is arbitrary and unjustified in shoving China into the group of developed countries.
Moreover, a large GDP does not necessarily make a country a developed one. Many of China's economic indicators, especially in per capita terms, still linger at global average. Its per capita GDP in 2022, for instance, was $12,741, only 16.6 percent that of the U.S..
One single indicator is insufficient to determine whether a country is developed or not, and graduation from the developing world would take more than just hitting certain numerical targets. Even with sound economic performance, China, with its huge population, remains a "top student" in rather than a "graduate" from the developing world.
Then why did the U.S. take such an unusual move to label China a "developed country"? There are three things the U.S. is trying to achieve.
First, to undermine China's legitimate rights and interests by stripping it of the "special and differential treatment" (S&DT) extended to developing countries. By denying China's status as a developing country recognized by the United Nations, the U.S., under the pretext of "rules-based international order", unilaterally creates higher trade barriers to collect more tariffs for its own gains.
Second, to burden China with duties exceeding its capacity. With a population of more than 1.4 billion, China's development is still unbalanced and inadequate. To impose more obligations on China beyond its capacity is neither fair nor responsible.
Third, to weave a "narrative trap" for further containment. It is not difficult to foresee the U.S. will further hype up the "China threat" once China is defined as a developed country, which will make it easier to cut China's close bonds with other developing countries.
No matter how hard the U.S. tries to create confusion, one thing is for sure: a country's economic status cannot be decided by America's own rules based on its own interests. There should be no place in the international community for any policy that benefits a single country at the expense of others. The U.S., of all countries, does not have the final say on whether a country is a developing or a developed one.
(The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Global Times, China Daily etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.)
