Over the past 30 years since its reform and opening-up, China has showed its ability to overcome poverty and has set a "successful model" in developing a balanced economy, a Brazilian expert said.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Argemiro Procopio, professorof international relations professor at Brasilia University, lauded China's reform and opening-up drive initiated by late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, saying it has not only lifted the overall life quality of its own people but has a far-reaching impact on the entire world.

Domestically, according to the professor, more than 400 million Chinese have been enriched by the country's economic development, more than doubling the Brazilian population.

And externally, China's development has also benefited many.

"In the world today, poor people, who did not have money to buy shoes, buy Chinese shoes and clothes now. And those who did not have money to buy toys for their children, are now buying Chinese-made toys because they are cheap," Procopio.

However, he does not see China as "the world's factory", but rather "a successful model which can bring a lot of perspectives on the world economy."

"The Chinese model has a value that has not been imitated," the professor went on to say.

"China is the success of an integrated harmonic model, which comes from the Chinese Confucius' tradition of balance," he said, noting that China has managed to maintain a balanced development of various social aspects, including security, health and education, in the course of economic development.

"The good thing about those changes is that they have kept the Chinese way of seeing the world, and moved along the way in a careful, step-by-step manner."

Another factor that has contributed to China's economic success is that China has diversified its trade partners, opening itself to big countries as well as small countries, Procopio said.

But he pointed out that China's dynamic economic ties with the United States has created a "mutual dependence", which can be dangerous in certain circumstances.

For that, he added that China is now bent on expanding the internal market, which could help counter risks resulting from close commercial links with foreign countries.

(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2008)