China is likely to become a developed country in the second half of this century, according to the China Modernization Report 2005, compiled by scholars affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and published on Friday.

The 790,000-character report, released at a seminar organized by CAS's China Center for Modernization Research, indicates that the country's advancement will take place in three stages.

Researchers believe that before 2050, China will shift from its current primary development phase to a state of moderate development -- one of the world's top 40 -- as a result of its ongoing modernization drive.

Around 2080, sustained economic growth will make China a fully developed country. It could be at the top of the world's most industrialized countries within the two decades following that.

The report's authors indicated that the nation must coordinate development of industry and agriculture while simultaneously improving the environment and adopting appropriate advanced technologies.

The experts also warned that China will be presented with both opportunities and critical challenges in the years to come.

While benefiting from economic and cultural globalization, it will have to work hard to maintain sustainable economic and environmental development, ensure the stability of power supplies, guarantee financial stability and protect national interests.

According to the report, China's economy lagged those of the G7 nations by about a hundred years in 2001.

The report, the fifth of kind, took CAS-affiliated scholars a year to complete. Data used to compile it came from the World Bank, international economic cooperation organizations and official Chinese statistics yearbooks.

(China Daily February 21, 2005)