China Daily Weekly - 02.08.2019

ByWANGKEJU

[email protected]

C

onstructionofBeijing Da-

xing InternationalAirport

hasbeen completed after

fiveyears offrenzied activ-

ity.Whenthe mega-airportbegins

operationon Sept30,itwill bethe

world’slargest single-terminal air-

portat700,000 squar emeters—the

sizeof98soccerfields.

The 8 0 billionyuan ($11. 7 billion)

facility,which is 46 kilometers south

ofdowntownBeijing,willserveas

asecond international airportfor

the capital. Itisdesignedto relieve

the pressureofr isingdemand for

airtravelonCapital International

Airportin northeasternBeijing.

Withsevenrunwaysplanned,

includingone formilitary use,the

newairport willultimatelyhandle

morethan 1 00 millionpassengers

ayear,matching Hartsfield-Jackson

AtlantaInternationalAirportinthe

United States.TheUSairportiscur-

rentlytheworld’sbusiest,receiving

morethan 1 00 millionpassengers

peryear,butacross two terminals.

GuoYanchi, chief engineerin

chargeofconstructionworkatthe

newBeijing facility,said: “The Da-

xing airportistheworld’slargest

integratedtransportationhub. The

terminal building isalso theworld’s

largestbuiltwithaseamless steel

structure, boastingtheworld’sfirst

designofdouble-deck departureand

double-deck arrival platforms.”

Inbarelyseven decades,China

hastransformed fromanation

with a handfulofshabby,makeshift

airports tobeing hometoaviation

superhubs—theresultofthe coun-

try’srapid economic development

and greateropenness to theoutside

world.

AccordingtotheCivilAviation

AdministrationofChina,therewere

36 airportsin 1949, most ofwhich

could handleonlysmall aircraft.The

numberhadsoaredto 236bythe

endofJune,withabout seven new

airports opening eachyearoverthe

pastdecade.

BeijingCapital InternationalAir-

port,the firstairportforcommer-

cial flightsafterthe foundingofthe

People’sRepublicofChina in 1949,

featured just one 2 ,5 00 -meterrun-

waywhen itopened in 1958, and had

aterminal covering about 100 , 000

squar emeters.

“Even during peaktime,the air-

port wasonlyabletohandle fewer

than 250 passengersperhour,most

ofwhomweregovernmentofficials,”

said LiuZhaolong,aconsultantwith

theChinaCivilAirports Association,

addingthatordinarycitizensatthat

timehadtobuy tickets to visitthe

airport.

Last year,the airport,which now

hasthreeterminalsbutishitting

full capacity, handled morethan 1 00

millionpassengers, making itthe

second-busiestintheworld after

Atlanta’sair port.

China hasbeen gearingupto

boostitsgeneral aviation industryas

the country undergoesahuge expan-

sioninto theworldofflying,withan

increasing numberofChinesetaking

to theskies.

Chineseairportshandled 1. 26 bil-

lionpassengertripsin 20 18,com-

paredwith48 6 million10yearsago,

ayear-on-yearincreaseof11percent,

said Zhang Rui, deputydirector of

the administration’sAirportDepart-

ment.Thirty-sevenofthe country’s

airportshandled morethan 1 0 mil-

lionpass engersinjust oneyear,he

added.

“Aburgeoning domestic market

hasbeen a majorforceofthe growth,

but theoverseas routes’ impressive

increasehasalsopushedthe boom-

ing industry,” Zhangsaid.

China hasbuiltan international

airnetworkwith 844routes,con-

necting 167 citiesin 6 1countries.It

hasalso signed intergovernmental

civil airtransportationagreements

orestablished civil aviationconnec-

tionswith1 2 5countriesandregions,

accordingto the administration’s

statisticsinSeptemberlast year.

“Historically,China’sdomestic

marketdwarfed internationalser-

vices,butairlineshave beenrapidly

stretchingtheirwingsinthe past

decade,thankstothe country’s

reform andopening-uppolicy,aswell

aspeople’ssoaringoutboundtourism

demands,”said Li Xiaojin, a professor

ofaviationeconomicsatCivilAvia-

tionUniversity ofChina in Tianjin.

Accordingto the International

AirTransport Association’sforecast,

Chinawill becometheworld’slarg-

estcivil aviationmarketby2024- 2 5,

andthe airpassengervolume inthe

Chinesemarketisexpectedto reach

1. 6 billionby 2037.
   Dong Faxin,the director ofthe
   administration’sDevelopmentand
   Planning Department,said in a civ-
   il aviationdevelopmentguideline
   issued in Decemberlast year:“Ser-
   vice hasimprovedsubstantially,but
   existing airportsarefarfrom ade-
   quate and areunevenlydistributed
   throughout the country.”
   Accordingto the guideline,Chi-
   na aimstobuild morethan 200
   additionalairportsinthe next two
   decadesand isexpectedtohavea
   totalofaround 45 0 by 2035.

Beijing’snewmega-facilitytohandle

over100millionpassengersayear

Daxingairport

construction

nowfinished

ByJINGSHUIYU

[email protected]

Expertsexpressedstrongopposi-

tionto the United States’intention

to unilaterallychallengethe devel-

oping-nationstatus ofsome World

Trade Organization members.

Thewordscame asthe White

Houseissued a memorandumon

July26aimed atchangingtheWTO

approachtoflexibilitiesassociated

withdeveloping-nationstatus.

Itclaimedthatnearlytwo-thirds

ofWTOmembershave been able

to usethespecialtreatmentandto

seekweakercommitments under

the WTO frameworkbydesignating

themselvesasdevelopingnations.

The memorandumcitedChina as

an example.

Wei Jianguo,formervice-minister

ofcommerce,said itisan indisput-

able factthatChina hasyettobecome

adeveloped country,althoughthe

countryhasbeenstrivingtoachieve

thisstatus.

“C hina’saggregateeconomic data

points tocontinued growth, butits

percapita GDP isstillrelativelylow,”

said Wei,whoisnow vice-president

oftheChinaCenterforInternational

Economic Exchanges,amajorgov-

ernmentthinktank.

China’spopulationismorethan

fourtimesthatofthe US, basedon

2018 statistics.Percapita incomeof

the US is6. 38 timesgreaterthanthat

ofChina in nominalterms,accord-

ingtoStatisticsTimes.

Weisaidt hecountry’seconom-

icstructurehasundergone major

adjustments,butitsindustrialstruc-

turestill illustratesalarge gap com-

paredwithdeveloped countries.

Judging fromvariousfacts,Chi-

naremainsthe largestdeveloping

countryintheworld,saidYang Wei-

yong, an economicsprofessoratthe

University ofInternationalBusiness

and EconomicsinBeijing. Yangsaid

China hassignificantlyenhanced

integrationbetweenurban andrural

areas,but thereisstillunbalanced

development.

HesaidChina, asa WTO member,

hasneverabusedthespecialand dif-

ferentialtreatment—provisionsof

the WTO agreements thatgivedevel-

oping countriesspecialrights.China

hasalwaysassumedtheresponsibili-

tiesthatarecompatiblewithits own

developmentle vel,hesaid.

Since itsaccessionto the interna-

tionalorganization,China hasful-

filled itscommitments,andby20 10

the countryhad fulfilled allofits tar-

iffreductioncommitments,reducing

the averagetariff level from15. 3 per-

centin 2001 to9.8percent,according

toagovernmentwhite paper.

Forinstance,the countrycut the

averagetariffrateofagricultural

productsfrom 23. 2 percentto15. 2

percent,about one-fourthofthe glob-

al average and farlowerthanthose

imposedbythe WTO’sdeveloping

members(5 6 percent) and developed

members( 3 9percent),the papersaid.

Cheng Dawei, an international

trade professoratthe Schoolof

EconomicsatRenmin University of

China,said: “The US memorandum

arbitrarilylistsclausesthatthreaten

othercountries.Itlinksmanyissues,

likethestatus ofdeveloping coun-

tries,withnationalsecurity.Itseri-

ouslytramplesWTOrules.”

Shesaid, “China, alongwithother

developing countries,will never

allowthe USto useasimpleway

to redefineothercountries’sta-

tus.Existing WTOrulesneedtobe

respected,while USunilateralism

should beresolutelyopposed.”

Accordingto Cheng, “When

reformingthe WTO, development

should besoughtasagoal,witha

f ocusonsolvingthe deficitsissue.”

The emphasisondevelopment

reflectsabroadrespectfor the basic

needsofhuman beingsandtheulti-

mate call formajorparadigmshifts

inthe international economicsys-

tem,she added.

ExpertsopposeWashington’sintentiontochallengesomemembers’developing-nationstatus

USstatementonWTOreformcriticized

Staff members and people posing as passengers pictured in the terminal ofBeijing Daxing International

Airport on July 19 during a test of operations. The airport will open on Sept 30.TAORAN/FORCHINADAILY

CHINADAILY GLOBAL WEEKLY August 2-8, 2019 CHINANEWS 9