Introduction

Aly Song/Reuters

China’s economy is, by one measure, bigger than that of the United States. As the ”China Factor” series in The Times makes clear, its global ambitions and power are enormous. But by per capita income it isn’t in the top 100 countries, as many as 200 million Chinese may live below international standards of poverty, and the sickening plunge in its stock market indicates that its gains may be fragile.

So does it deserve the benefits of being classified as as a ”developing” country, which provides it with trade and fiscal relief and allows it to avoid tougher carbon emission standards?