Dragon vs Elephant

China is fast outpacing India in terms of national competitiveness, but needs to learn from India's legal system and protection of “vulnerable” groups, the country's top think-tank has said in a report.

A report on “national competitiveness” released by the official Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), which is China's leading think-tank, also forecast that China would become the world's second-most powerful nation after the United States by 2050, and overtake the U.S. to become the largest economy in 2030.

CASS publishes “blue books” ranking countries in terms of national power, which are widely read by academics and officials here. Many CASS scholars advise the government on policy issues.

The findings of this report, which measured economic factors, were published in many official newspapers on Tuesday. While the rankings are a subjective assessment by Chinese scholars, who assigned points on criteria ranging from progress in science and culture to technology and workforce talent, they are a reflection of how academics here view their country's position with respect to other nations.

The report ranked China 17th overall in terms of national competitiveness in 2008. India was ranked at 42, one spot below Bulgaria and ahead of Kazakhstan.

“China's overall national competitiveness is slightly stronger than India, but India is ahead of China in some areas,” said Ni Pengfei, the editor of the report.

The report pointed to the rule of law, protection of vulnerable groups and the preservation of traditional culture as areas where China ranked lower than India.

The study featured a detailed comparison of China's and India's respective advantages. It said before the year 2000, the two countries were “at a similar level,” but in the last decade China made “quick adjustments” that had resulted in a widening gap in competitiveness, since 2004.

India had “obvious advantages” in industrial structure, the report said, pointing to a services sector which accounted for 52.94 per cent of economic growth, compared with China's 41.89 per cent. It forecast “a more intense level of competition” for resources between “the world's two fastest growing countries.”

“China's comprehensive competitiveness has seen a leapfrog promotion over the past two decades, and it has huge potential and strong capability to catch up with and surpass developed nations in the future,” said Mr. Ni.

China, however, lagged behind the U.S. and Europe when it came to higher education, technological talent and cultural appeal. The report particularly stressed that China needed to do more to boost its soft power, amid increasingly negative perceptions of China's rise both in the West and among its neighbours.

“We should think of a country's cultural power when talking about its national competitiveness,” Chen Shaofeng, a scholar at Peking University, told the China Daily.

China should learn from India by encouraging religious beliefs and promoting democratic values, a retired official of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has said in a commentary that has stirred debate in Chinese cyberspace.

China also needed to follow India's example in strategic affairs, devoting more attention to its navy to project power across the oceans and being steadfast in enforcing its territorial claims — as India was over Arunachal Pradesh — wrote Song Zhongping, a retired military instructor at the PLA's influential Second Artillery Force and now a widely-followed military strategist.

His article, titled “China should be humble and learn from India”, has sparked debate in China's thriving online community, receiving more than 250,000 views within just two days of being posted on the news website of Hong Kong-based Phoenix television.

“We should not only learn from the West, but India as well,” Mr. Song argued, pointing to five specific areas where he felt China could learn from India. Most Chinese, he said, tended to “look down upon India”, showing “contempt for a poor, democratic country” when they saw images such as huge crowds on trains that often circulated on Chinese blogs.

However, “China should be humble and learn from India since each country has her merits and faults,” he said. Most of the comments in response to his piece supported his views.

The first lesson, Mr. Song said, was to learn from a government that encouraged religious beliefs, in contrast to China where “a national grief” was that “people regard money as their only pursuit”. “Our nation attaches primary importance to economic development and everything else should give way to it,” he said. “As a consequence people are morally bankrupt.”

He also pointed to India's more balanced economic model, amid a challenge faced by China's export-driven growth to stimulate domestic-driven demand and innovation industries. “India has enjoyed strong economic growth without overdependence on foreign trade,” he said.

Mr. Song said India was also better at “protecting the national core interest.” While India had ensured it had strong claims to Arunachal Pradesh — which China refers to as “southern Tibet” — China had “lost control over this area of over 90,000 square kilometres”, he claimed.

India also projected its power better across its borders. He viewed India's growing presence in the Indian Ocean region as favourable in comparison to the protracted disputes China faces with many of its neighbours across the South China Sea. India was developing and modernising its navy rapidly, acquiring three aircraft carriers, while he viewed China's progress as being slow with fears in Beijing of reinforcing a “China threat” perception. “We should realise the value and interests of the sea, because others are already one step ahead of us,” he noted.

A fifth area was in diplomacy and soft power, with the world, according to him, welcoming India's rise but fearing China's. India's democratic values were largely behind the positive reception accorded to its rise, and also acted as an enabler by giving India access to technologies that the West denied China.

“If we are to make friends with Western countries, we should have the same values,” he said. “China is trying to improve its democratic value system, but there is still a long way to go.”