An influential Russian political newspaper on Tuesday published a commentary entitled "Year of China," in which it hailed the economic achievements of China during the past year.
"In the crisis period, China has played the role of locomotive for the world economy," said the Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
China in 2009 officially earned the right to be called "workshop of the world," the newspaper said, because the country surpassed Germany to become the world's Number One exporter.
Despite heavy blows from the global economic downturn, China's total export volume reached 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars, the paper pointed out.
China also managed to retain a "very respectable" growth of gross domestic product that exceeded 8 percent, though the figure was lower than the average 10 percent during the past decade.
China has overtaken the United States to become the world's largest auto market. Preliminary statistics also showed that China's
annual steel production reached 565 million tons and its annual cement production equaled the sum of all the other countries in the world, the paper said.
China has become a contributing factor for helping many of its trade partners find their way out of difficulties. It is not the first year for the global media to highlight Chinese economy, said the paper.
Based on an analysis of the English-speaking press over the past decade, U.S. experts have concluded that the quantity of news involved with the growing economic power of China by far was the most covered story, the newspaper said.
As the "Chinese locomotive rolled briskly in 2010," China may not only face success but trouble, too, the paper said.
It warned Beijing about the risks of trade wars with Washington and Brussels, and about the possible bursting of bubbles in the domestic real estate sector.