After three decades of spectacular growth, China passed Japan in the second quarter to become the world's second-largest economy behind the United States, according to government figures released early Monday August 16.
Tokyo said on Mnday that Japan's economy was valued at about $1.28 trillion in the second quarter, slightly below China's $1.33 trillion. Japan's economy grew 0.4 percent in the quarter, Tokyo said, substantially less than forecast. That weakness suggests that China's economy will race past Japan's for the full year.
Experts forecast that China will pass the United States as the world's biggest economy as early as 2030. America's gross domestic product was about $14 trillion in 2009.
Just five years ago, China's gross domestic product was about $2.3 trillion, about half of Japan's. China has roughly the same land mass as the United States, but it is burdened with a fifth of the world's population and insufficient resources.
China's rapid growth suggests that it will continue to compete fiercely with the United States and Europe for natural resources but also offer big opportunities for companies eager to tap its market.
Although its economy is still only one-third the size of the American economy, China passed the United States last year to become the world's largest market for passenger vehicles. China also passed Germany last year to become the world's biggest exporter. (Source: New York Times, Aug 16, 2010).