China’s middle-income earners had reached 400 million and is still growing.

Charlene Barshefsky, former US chief trade negotiator and China “Because it’s always important to be reminded that the ultimate aspirations most people in the world have are pretty much the same,” she said.:

 

“Then he took my arm and he waited till someone passed who spoke English, and as translated by this lovely fellow who stopped, he said, ‘I wanted to thank you. My son will have a better life’,” Barshefsky said, appreciating his politeness and how an average Chinese would anticipate the opportunities arising from the country’s entry into the WTO.

“I’ll never forget this,” Barshefsky said. It was the moment she realized the Chinese, too, have common aspirations, including a better life for their children. “He knew what WTO meant…This was completely astonishing to me, he equated economic improvements with personal improvements,” she said.

That equation is what’s missing in the United States, where economic improvement of the country is no longer viewed as personal improvement, she said. It is partly because of the absence of domestic policy measures to distribute US national wealth in a more equitable way, whether through better education, retraining or other measures, which would equate the rest of the country with national growth, she said.

“But this gentleman simply equated economic improvement with personal improvement…,” she said. And in China, “this is the case－there’s been extraordinary degrees of improvement in the lives of the people”.

via In US, national and personal progress are different things – Opinion – Chinadaily.com.cn