Chinese economy
China’s socialist market economy is the world’s second largest economy by nominal GDP, and the world’s largest economy by purchasing power parity according to the IMF; the accuracy of the IMF’s report on China’s purchasing power parity has since been questioned. It is the world’s fastest-growing major economy, with growth rates averaging 10% over the past 30 years. China is a global hub for manufacturing, and is the largest manufacturing economy in the world as well as the largest exporter of goods in the world. China is also the world’s fastest growing consumer market and second largest importer of goods. China is the largest trading nation in the world and plays a vital role in international trade, and has increasingly engaged in trade organizations and treaties in recent years. China became a member of the World Trade Organization in 2001. China also has free trade agreements with several nations, including China–Australia Free Trade Agreement, China–South Korea Free Trade Agreement, ASEAN–China Free Trade Area, Switzerland and Pakistan. On a per capita income basis, China ranked 82nd by nominal GDP and 89th by GDP (PPP) in 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The provinces in the coastal regions of China tend to be more industrialized, while regions in the hinterland are less developed. As China’s economic importance has grown, so has attention to the structure and health of the economy. Xi Jinping’s Chinese Dream is described as achieving the “Two 100s”: the material goal of China becoming a “moderately well-off society” by 2021, the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, and the modernization goal of China becoming a fully developed nation by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. The internationalization of the Chinese economy continues to affect the standardized economic forecast officially launched in China by the Purchasing Managers Index in 2005. At the start of the 2010s, China became the sole Asian nation to have a GDP (PPP) above the $10-trillion mark (along with the United States and the European Union). Since 1980, China has established special economic zones that spread successful economic experiences to other areas. The development progress of China’s infrastructure is documented in a 2009 report by KPMG. China has been criticized by Western media for unfair trade practices, including artificial currency devaluation, intellectual property theft, protectionism, and local favoritism due to one-party oligopoly by the Chinese Communist Party with Socialism with Chinese characteristics.