By Nitya Chakraborty
An analytical article recently published in The Wall Street Journal on the latest trends in Chinese economy has led to an intensive discussions among the think tank and the Communist Party leadership in China. Finally the official position is that China is happy to remain as a developing country as a part of Global South, it does not want to be labelled as a developed country.
The World Street Journal said in its article that China is on the cusp of becoming a high income country by the World Bank’s classification. But China does not want to join the ranks of the developed countries. The argument WSJ gave was that China benefits from its present status as a developing country and wants to avoid additional international monetary obligations as a developed country.
While agreeing that China will soon be classified as a high income country and may be labelled as a developed country, Beijing argues that China must be vigilant against certain narratives that deliberately obscure China’s developmental stage, impose obligations that exceed its current phase of development, constrict China’s developmental space and create rifts between China and other developing countries.
According to World Bank estimates, China’s gross national income (GNI) per capita stood at $14,230 in 2025, slightly below the high-income threshold of $14,375. It is worth noting that this World Bank classification is based solely on GNI per capita, rather than a comprehensive assessment of a country’s level of modernization, industrial development and public services. In recent years, countries such as Chile, Uruguay, Panama and Costa Rica have crossed the World Bank’s high-income threshold. However, they are still widely regarded by the international community as developing countries or emerging economies, rather than automatically being classified as developed countries simply because they have reached the high-income threshold.
So China’s argument is that reaching the high income level as per World Bank classification, should not automatically put China in the category of developed countries. China’s official English daily Global Times argued in its editorial on October 14 as Chinese modernization steadily advances, China has made historic achievements in economic and social development, with its GDP firmly ranking second in the world. However, multiple indicators show that China’s status as a developing country remains unchanged. For example, there is still a significant gap in per capita GDP compared to developed economies like those in Europe and the US, regional development imbalances have not yet been fundamentally resolved, and disparities persist between urban and rural areas.
By contrast, the development process of Western developed countries is a comprehensive state formed after highly mature industrialization, urbanization, and modernization. This is reflected not only in the scale of their economies but also in various dimensions such as per capita wealth, social security systems, public service capacity, and scientific and technological innovation systems.
According to Global Times, China, its status as a developing country carries special political significance. China has always been a member of the Global South. This “South” is not merely a geographical or economic concept but an identity formed by emerging market countries and developing nations based on similar historical circumstances, current stages of development, common developmental goals, and shared political aspirations. Those who are eager to label China as a “developed country” are not truly seeking China’s “graduation,” but rather its “exclusion,” aiming to detach China from the Global South camp. In this regard, China is very clear-minded and will not fall into this trap.
Interestingly, China’s stance on its economic positioning among nations, is at variance with the attitude being taken by the Narendra Modi government and the official economists. At regular intervals, stories are floated from official sources India will soon emerge as a middle income country or soon emerge as the fourth largest economy. If India attains the status of a high income economy some day, the ruling elite will be happy to include India among the category of developed.
What is the reality of Indian economy in 2026. India has presently GDP at the level of US$ 4.15 trillion and the per capita GDP at around US$ 2800.India is a lower middle income country, according to the World Bank classification. Our neighbouring country Bangladesh will soon be classified by the World Bank as a middle income country, much above India. It is time Indian government concentrates more on expanding the economic sectors which help in job generation and income growth. A vigorous expansion of economy in India ensuring growth with equity will automatically catapult India to middle income category without trumpeting by our ruling elite. (IPA Service)
