HYDERABAD, March 22: Noted scholar and former ambassador Najmul Saqib Khan delivered a talk on “China as an emerging economic superpower” at the Area Study Centre for Far East and Southeast Asia of the University of Sindh, on Tuesday.

He said China was the emerging superpower and it had attained the status without entering any arms race.

He said China’s annual growth rate since 1980 had been around nine per cent which had lifted 300 million people out of poverty. At present, only 10 per cent of its 1.3 billion population were living below the poverty line.

Referring to an international study, Mr Khan said the acceptable rate of inflation was two per cent whereas China had maintained 2.5 per cent rate of inflation.

He said the total size of national economy of China was 2.24 trillion dollars and its foreign exchange reserves were $818 billion, excluding foreign exchange reserves of Hong Kong.

He said exports of China were above 600 billion dollars and in terms of trade volume, China had eclipsed Japan and had become the third largest trading nation of the world, after the US and Germany. Its foreign direct investment was around 50 billion dollars a year, he said.

Mr Khan said China had become the manufacturing hub of the world because of wages of labourers.

He said China had also undertaken land reforms and it had a high level of literacy.

He said there were also work ethics in China and people worked from 9am to 6pm with devotion.

He said China needed foreign investment for higher skills and technology from the West to have production according to foreign specifications. Nevertheless, he said, China had trade surplus with the US.

He said China needed fossil fuel and other raw material.

The dean, faculty of social sciences, Dr Rafia Ahmad Shaikh, presided over the function.