"By 2000, the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in China had exceeded 800 US dollars and ordinary people were leading a generally comfortable life. By 2001, per capita GDP had exceeded 900 US dollars," says Qiu Xiaohua, deputy director of the National Statistics Bureau (NSB).

Bai Hejin from the Macro Economy Research Institute under the State Development Planning Commission says, "Establishment and improvement of a socialist market economic system is a major breakthrough in China's economic reform since the 15th CPC National Congress."

In the last five years, Bai says, the non-pubic economic sector has become an important force in the national economy, whereas the market has been playing an unprecedented regulatory role. By the end of last year, the market had decided prices for 90 percent of all merchandises and services.

Over the last five years, efforts on poverty elimination have also proved effective. By 2000, the poverty rate in rural China had been brought down to around three percent.

Returning state-owned enterprises running in the red to profitability is a major objective set by the 15th CPC National Congress. This object had been achieved by the end of 2000, according to the State Economic and Trade Commission. In 2000, profits from state-owned enterprises and enterprises in which the state has a controlling stake reached 239.2 billion yuan (US$28 billion), 1.97 times over the 1997 figure. In addition, a modern corporate system had been established in 84 percent of state-owned companies and companies where the state has a majority stake.

A stable, fast-developing China has won international acclaim. In the year 2001, Beijing won the right to hold the Olympics in 2008. In the same year, China joined the World Trade Organization. 　　

"All these have had a significant and far-reaching impact on the country's development as well as the prestige of the Party," says Li Shousheng, a senior official with the State Economic and Trade Commission." They have not only inspired the Chinese people with a patriotic sentiment and national pride but also let the rest of the world see a growing China full of hope."

Chinese communists regard the reunification of their motherland as their sacred mission. In the last five years, great progress has been made in this regard. Hong Kong has remained stable and prosperous after its return, and Macao has come back to the embrace of the motherland. Increasing economic exchanges and other interactions across the Taiwan Strait show that the policy of "peaceful reunification and one country, two systems" is gaining acceptance by increasing numbers of Taiwan people and that reunification of the motherland is an unstoppable trend and a common aspiration of the Chinese people.

(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2002)