World Bank's forecast for China

World Bank Chief Economist Justin Lin said on March 24th that China "has the potential to achieve 8 percent annual growth for the next 20 more years and overtake the U.S. as the world's largest economy by 2030" (http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/03/25/2011032501188.html).  A quick search yields the following three articles:
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/03/25/2011032501188.html (Korean newspaper)
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/03/24/world_bank_china_can_grow_at_8_for_20_years (Foreign Policy, US-based magazine)
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/25/47985971.html (Russian newspaper)


All three articles reported on the speech made by Justin Lin at the China Economic Development Forum in Beijing.  


The first article by Chosun Ilbo summarizes the key points Lin made concerning China's economic prospects, but also notes Lin's concerns for Chinese market's need for reform.  This article is more traditional, using soundbites to articulate a story.  Their word choices also tend to be more neutral and focuses on macro-level statistics and framing.


The Foreign Policy blog post by Joshua Keating uses Lin's statement as a launchpad of comparing Mexico and China's economy in 1995, noting that Mexico's has stagnated while China's is still growing, but in terms of GDP per capita Mexico is still richer.  While article still uses macro-level statistics, it does briefly mention the impact of such statistics on the Chinese population, noting that " for China's 1.3 billion people, the day when they're as rich as Mexicans may be more significant."


The third article by the Voice of Russia offers more insights into the mechanics behind China's rise.  The article talks briefly about the Chinese currency and praises their conservative financial system as reasons for China's growth, but notes that inflation could be a worry.  


The main thing that struck me about all three articles is the lack of paranoia concerning China's rise.  The neutrality of Chosun and Voice of Russia's article is understandable as neither are American, not the current hegemon, and are therefore not threatened by China's economic rise.  The lack of paranoia in Keating's post is interesting.  Perhaps he is one of the few who is able to put macro statistics in perspective?