January 15, 2009
Article from:
The Australian
CHINA'S economy overtook Germany's in 2007 to become the world's third-largest after the US and Japan.
Gross domestic product rose 13 per cent from 2006 to 25.731 trillion yuan ($5 trillion). That topped Germany's E2.424 trillion ($4.75 trillion).
China's economy is 70 times bigger than when leader Deng Xiaoping ditched hard-line communism in favour of free-market reforms in 1978.
"If China continues to grow at its average rate in the past 20 years and if the US does the same, China will overtake the US in 20 years," said Tim Condon, head of Asia research at ING in Singapore. "There's no doubt that that will happen -- it's just a matter of time."
Bloomberg
