China is the world's second largest economy, ahead of Japan

In 2009 the Chinese economy grew to a volume of 4900 billion U.S. dollars, equal to the volume of the economy of Japan in 2008. Tokyo’s 2009 data will be available next month, but a contraction of around 6% is expected. As a result it can be claimed that today China has replaced Japan as the second world economy.  

In the deep global crisis, China can be considered the engine for the planet’s economic growth. Yesterday the World Bank revised global growth upward to 2.7%, linked to the 9% growth in China. Just one example: in the fourth quarter, the mining company Rio Tinto has increased production by 49%, thanks to Chinese demand.

But statistics do not tell the whole truth. It should be remembered that since China is 10 times larger than Japan, the Japanese are in fact richer than China.  

Jiangtang, head of the statistics, also noted that it is very difficult to compare China to Japan. "According to the UN standard of one dollar a day - he said - in China there are still 150 million poor people ... Therefore, despite growth and economic power, we must recognize that China is still a developing country" .

Another element of fragility is the fact that the 2009 growth is mainly the result of a government stimulus package against the crisis (4 thousand billion Yuan, about 400 billion dollars) released through bank loans to businesses. This has led to a boom in the housing market and a fear of inflation. Days ago Premier Wen Jiabao asked for greater control of credit, inflation and real estate speculation.