CHINA is expected to become the world's second most competitive country - behind only the United States - by 2050, a report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicted yesterday.

Although China leapfrogged Japan to become the world's second-largest economy this year, it ranks far behind many developed countries in terms of competitiveness.

The 2010 Report on National Competitiveness of China said China was listed 17th in the world. This was based on 2008 data from public sources, including the World Bank. The ranking was up from 73rd in 1990.

Despite this progress, China has a lot of ground to make up on countries and regions such as the United States, the European Union and Japan, which were ranked the top three in the report.

The ranking took five main indices into consideration: the scale of economy, productivity, economic structure, development potential and innovation capabilities.

"These results are a timelyreminder for people who pay too much attention to China's economic strength," said Jing Linbo, deputydirector of the Institute of Finance and Trade Economics under the academy, a major think-tank in China.

"We hope for fair, cooperative growth in China's competitiveness, or what we call 'inclusive growth.' Also, our rising competitiveness is designed to benefit our people and the world, not to threaten anybody."

The report said it may take China a decade to enter the top 10 on the list, but to get into the top three requires much more time because of the wide gap.

Becoming the world's second-largest economy this year highlighted the tremendous economic growth in China in recent years. Back in 1990, China was the world's 13th largest economy.

The country's gross domestic product expanded 10.6 percent year-on-year to 26.8 trillion yuan (US$4 trillion) in the first three quarters, further securing its economic position in the world.

But the report also highlighted China's weaknesses. It noted stagnation in the services sector where development lags behind manufacturing. In manufacturing itself, the report said the balance was skewed, with too much emphasis in low value-added products and not enough in more profitable goods.

Also, China is much less efficient in productivity compared with developed countries: China has to spend three days to make what the US produces in one day, the report said.

China requires more innovative personnel and specialists in core business sectors, the report said, while acknowledging that the country has made significant improvements in this area.

Conscious of these weaknesses, the Chinese government is expected to steer a middle way between a rapid economic growth and expansion that stresses quality.

The model of "inclusive growth" seeks to spread the benefits of economic globalization and development among all countries, regions and people, and realize balanced economic and social progress through sustainable development.

To this end, in the proposed 12th Five-Year Plan for 2011 and 2015, the Chinese government has pledged to increase the spending power of its people by 15 percent a year in each of the next five years.

It also aims to raise household incomes on a more equitable basis, easing imbalances between rich coastal cities and inland areas.

The top 10 most competitive countries/regions are: The US, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland and France.

• academy [ə´kædəmi] n.专科学校；学会；协会 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• despite [di´spait] prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)
• european [juərə´pi:ən] a.欧洲的 n.欧洲人 (初中英语单词)
• consideration [kən,sidə´reiʃən] n.考虑；原因；体谅 (初中英语单词)
• structure [´strʌktʃə] n.结构，构造；组织 (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə] n.指导者；....长；导演 (初中英语单词)
• institute [´institju:t] n.学院 vt.建立；设置 (初中英语单词)
• finance [´fainæns] n.财政；金融 vt.资助 (初中英语单词)
• threaten [´θretn] v.恐吓；有....的危险 (初中英语单词)
• tremendous [tri´mendəs] a.可怕的；巨大的 (初中英语单词)
• domestic [də´mestik] a.家庭的；本国的 (初中英语单词)
• conscious [´kɔnʃəs] a.意识的；自觉的 (初中英语单词)
• potential [pə´tenʃəl] n.&a.潜在的；可能的 (高中英语单词)
• deputy [´depjuti] n.代理人；代表 (高中英语单词)
• decade [´dekeid] n.十年(间) (高中英语单词)
• emphasis [´emfəsis] n.强调；重点 (高中英语单词)
• profitable [´prɔfitəbəl] a.有益的；有用的 (高中英语单词)
• efficient [i´fiʃənt] a.有效的，有能力的 (高中英语单词)
• significant [sig´nifikənt] a.重要的；意义重大的 (高中英语单词)
• expansion [ik´spænʃən] n.扩大；膨胀；发展 (高中英语单词)
• inland [´inlənd, in´lænd] a.&n.内地的 ad.在内地 (高中英语单词)
• switzerland [´switsələnd] n.瑞士 (高中英语单词)
• competitive [kəm´petitiv] a.竞争的，比赛的 (英语四级单词)
• economics [i:kə´nɔmiks, i:,-] n.经济学 (英语四级单词)
• cooperative [kəu´ɔpərətiv] a.合作的 n.合作团体 (英语四级单词)
• innovation [,inə´veiʃən] n.改革；革新；创新 (英语六级单词)
• timely [´taimli] a.及时的；适合的 (英语六级单词)
• reminder [ri´maində] n.提醒物；纪念品；暗示 (英语六级单词)
• personnel [,pə:sə´nel] n人事(部门)；全体人员 (英语六级单词)