Shanghai, China
Beijing/Washington: Should China be called a ‘developed’ nation? Beijing says no!
A day after the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved ending China’s Developing Nation Status Act, Beijing today retorted saying its developing country status is not something that can easily be wiped out by a US Congressional bill. The bill would require the US Secretary of State to pursue changing China’s status as a developing nation in international organizations.
A similar bill was passed by the House of Representatives in March by 415-0 votes.
“The United States is not labelling China a “developed country” out of appreciation or recognition for China’s development success. The real motive behind ending China’s developing country status is to hold back China’s development,” the Chinese foreign office stated.
The United States Senate Committee had asked for ending the treatment of China as a developing nation. Beijing claimed its status as the world’s largest developing nation is rooted in “facts and international laws”.
Claiming that some United States lawmakers are concerned that China would use its developing country status to evade international responsibilities, the Chinese foreign ministry said that was “completely unnecessary” and that the rights that China was lawfully entitled to as a developing country “will not be deprived” just because a few politicians on the Capitol Hill say that China is now a developed nation.
“It’s not up to the US to decide whether China is a developing country. The US can neither deny the fact that China is still a developing country nor stop China from moving towards national rejuvenation, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said here today.
In the process of stressing that it is a responsible developing nation, China though acknowledged that its contribution to global economic growth and the United Nations regular budget and peacekeeping assessments far outweighs that of most developed countries. However, protesting the US Senate’s move, it said that rather than try to figure out how to pin the label of “developed country” on China, “the US might want to think about how to remove its own label of a bully and hegemon”.
– global bihari bureau
