Illustration: Tang Tengfei/Global Times

In the US, some anti-China politicians will not easily let go of using China's status as a developing country to fabricate lies and contain China's development. The more vigorously US politicians act in suppressing China's rise, the more resolutely China needs to adhere to its own development path and safeguard its legitimate interests while integrating into the world.

Legislation to strip China of its developing country status in international organizations was passed by a US Senate committee in June, but whether a country is a developing one or not is not something that can be decided by any single country, such as the US, based on unilateral actions. US legislators have no right to play referee in revoking China's developing country status.

The US is practicing unilateralism and hegemonism by hyping this topic and trying to pin the label of "developed country" on China in a critical period in its wide-scale crackdown on China. In recent years, the US has tried various ways to suppress China's development, including hiking tariffs on imports of Chinese products, limiting China's access to high-tech chips and using national security as its excuse to clamp down on Chinese companies. 

However, elites in Washington think all that is not enough. The US is attempting to make international organizations a tool to exert pressure on China, and meanwhile politicizing China's developing country status recognized by those organizations. The real motive behind this is to hold back China's development by depriving the country of the rights it should enjoy as a developing country in some international organizations and treaties.

China's status as the world's largest developing country is rooted in facts. It is true that China is the world's second-largest economy, but for most Chinese people, uneven development among different regions and their country being a developing economy are the realities. 

In 2022, China's per capita GDP was $12,741, only one-fifth of the level of developed economies and 16.6 percent of the US. The services sector accounted for 52.8 percent of China's GDP, lower than the average of 70 percent in developed countries. GDP alone cannot fully reflect a country's economic development situation. Only by looking at it from multiple perspectives and comprehensively examining it can we objectively evaluate a country's actual development level.

China has always actively assumed international responsibility and played an important role in promoting global development. China is not only a developing country but also a responsible major country, having made positive contributions to the world's development within its capabilities. 

As a responsible major country, China has always acted as a firm supporter of free trade, a defender of the international order and a provider of public goods. The country has pledged to reach peak emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. It is ridiculous to see some US politicians criticize China for using its identity as a developing country to "evade international responsibility."

As a developing country, China's priority is its own development. US restrictions and suppression cannot stop China's development but only serve to strengthen its determination and ability to pursue sustainable economic development. The US trick of stripping China of its developing country label is just a small part of its wide-scale containment, but no matter what the US does, we believe China will adhere to its own development path, accelerate economic development, strengthen international cooperation and conscientiously fulfill its international responsibilities.

Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed that the country's GDP for the first half of this year grew by 5.5 percent year-on-year, making it the fastest among major global economies, based on published data. As the US-initiated tech war against China drags on, the Chinese economy has become more resilient, and technological innovation has been greatly spurred. 

China will continue to move toward its goal of becoming a developed country, creating enormous development opportunities and providing sustained momentum for the global economic recovery in the process. China's economic development will not be interrupted by the US trick of stripping China of its developing country label.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn