China is a developing country by any economic or political criteria, said former European Union (EU) Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy at a Chinese financial forum in Beijing Tuesday.  

Lamy said China's economy is growing very rapidly. The country shows two faces to the world, and the view that China has become a developed country is false.

On one hand, China is highly dependent on the international trade to drive the domestic economy, which is a typical feature of a developing country. But on the other hand, China now is also a big economic powerhouse to the world, which makes many people, most of which are Westerners, believe that China has became a developed country.

Lamy, now serving as a visiting professor in a French political institute, said that China is now adopting stable and power economic strategies for its economic construction. China's domestic investment environment has improved remarkably since the country joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001.

More and more foreign investors see China is trying to establish a legal system with great transparency, Lamy acknowledged.

Lamy said China now is also facing some challenges such as intellectual property protection, reform of the financial system, the development gap between East and West and environmental destruction.

"But I think the signal China is giving to the world in the year of 2004 is positive," Lamy said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2005)