The US House of Representatives on March 27 passed a bill to revoke China’s “developing country” status. Sponsored by Republican US Representative Young Kim and Democratic US Representative Gerry Connolly, the bill, titled “The People’s Republic of China is Not a Developing Country Act,” was passed by a unanimous vote of 415-0.
It aims to prevent China benefiting from provisions and special treatment in treaties and international organizations, and to undercut its development by recategorizing it as a high-income economy or developed country.
A developing country, also called a less-developed country or emerging market, has low living standards, and an undeveloped industrial base and skills relative to developed countries. More than 120 countries around the world fall into the category, and account for 70 percent of the global population and land area. Until recently, China was considered among them.
However, it is apparent that all of the developing countries and even some developed countries are far behind China in terms of military prowess and economic strength.
In March 2019, then-deputy US trade representative Dennis Shea said during a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, that it no longer makes sense for China to receive developing-nation privileges.
“There is nothing special or differential when a member that has landed a rover on the dark side of the moon ... insists on the same treatment as one of our poorest members,” Shea said.
In June the following year, then-chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific Ted Yoho said that China should no longer be considered a developing country.
As the second-largest economy in the world, China has built five aircraft carriers, developed the Belt and Road Initiative, and has dedicated itself to space projects. Yoho’s points have underscored China’s growing threat to the US and the global community.
For the past decade, China has been directing its economic strength toward its military, endowing its People’s Liberation Army with modern warfare capabilities, such as joint operations, cyberwarfare and space warfare, as well as developing state-of-the-art strategic arms, including stealth aircraft, hypersonic cruise missiles and anti-satellite weapons.
Meanwhile, China has not slowed down its development of nuclear weapons, submarines and the capability to conduct information warfare. The efforts accumulated over the years have enabled China to transform its military into a modern fighting force on a par with those of leading European powers like the UK, France and Germany.
Ranked third for its military strength and second for military spending, China, aside from its military prowess, also demonstrated exceptional capabilities in developing new energy resources, high-speed rail, supercomputers, quantum networks and artificial intelligence.
As China accounted for 18.6 percent of the global economy last year, second only to the US, it cannot continue receiving privileges and treatments in international organizations.
US representatives unanimously passing the bill to deprive China of its developing country status is a wake-up call to the rest of the world: In view of China’s overall power, it should no longer be treated as a developing country, but an authoritarian regime that poses a lethal threat to global security and the economy.
Yao Chung-yuan is an adjunct professor and former deputy director of the Ministry of National Defense’s strategic planning department.
Translated by Rita Wang
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