China a developing country

Is China a developing country? This is one of the many points of discussion which came out of the climate change talks in Copenhagen last month.

At first glance, the question is trivial. China qualifies. Its GDP per capita is not much over 3000 US dollars, and well over 100 million of its people still live on less than one US dollar per day. The pre-existing institutional framework for dealing with climate change, which shaped Copenhagen, classifies the PRC as a developing country. Beijing often insists on this status too.