Relying on exchange rate measures of GDP, the Washington Post tells readers that China will soon pass Japan as the world's second largest economy. In fact, using the far more meaningful purchasing power parity measure of output, China long passed Japan. It's economy is now close to twice the size of Japan's.
China now buys more cars than the United States each year, it has more computers with Internet access than the United States and twice as many cell phone users. Its manufacturing output exceeds that of the United States in many categories and it now graduates far more students each year with advanced degrees in science and engineering. It is absurd to imagine China's economy as being smaller than Japan's. It is by far the second largest economy in the world and is already surpassing the United States in many categories.
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