Considering the high average economic growth that is planned to continue throughout the period to 2050, it is easier to imagine the immense task that the Communist Party of China and the government have undertaken. As economic resources grow the social structure is being gradually developed. A progressive tax system has been introduced, while such services as a comprehensive national health system and national benefits system are being established. Economic development in the early stages has been concentrated in the big cities, in the coastal regions, and along the big rivers. Now, a process of levelling up economic development has begun with a concentration on growth in outlying regions.
China is significant in the world today for two main reasons.
Firstly, because of its big population and vast geography, China is central to world economic development. Secondly, it stands out as a bulwark of socialist development, and is an enduring refutation of the assertion that socialism is dead. In its relations with the rest of the world, China observes an attitude of peaceful coexistence. In particular, it seeks to develop trade on a mutually advantageous basis. In its negotiations over admission to the WTO, it insists on being treated as a developing country, because this would be to its advantage.