Theo Sommer offers decades of China perspective(3)

"They are really fighting corruption in a big way. From what I can see and hear, they aren't excluding anyone, whether in the military, the Party or in business.

"It is a tough job, because I am quite sure in 5,000 years of history there has never been such a big leap in such short a time.

"But it is not China which is doing this. It is in the human character that when something happens in such a short time there are so many opportunities to make money quickly, in ways that are not quite legal."

But China still has to deal with some social issues, two of which are shared by Germany.

"The growing inequality between those people who work with their hands and brains, and those who just make their money work, could become dangerous for the Party," he says, "but that is one of the reasons the Party is trying to fight corruption, because corruption increases that."

Another danger is its aging population - "and you get old before you get rich".

But what Deng told him all those years ago about China's future applies to his own predictions today, he says.

"Let's wait for another 20 years and see," he says.

He shares a German phrase of advice with the Chinese people: "Go easy with the young horses," he says. "Don't rush in or scare them."

BOOKS BY THEO SOMMER

Our Schmidt: The Statesman and Publicist (2010): The biography of former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

Die Zeit: The Time Story of a Weekly Newspaper, from 1946-2006 (co-written by Karl-Heinz Janssen, Haug von Kuenheim and Theo Sommer in 2006): The story of one of the most widely read and respected newspapers in Germany.

1945: The Biography of a Year (2005): The world in 1945 as Sommer looks back on it.

Phoenix Europe. The European Union: Its Progress, Problems and Prospects (2000): Sommer's take on the EU.

The Chinese Card (1979): Observations on China's commencement of reform and opening-up.