ADDIS ABABA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China should still be considered as a developing country despite its impressive poverty reduction efforts over the past decades, an Ethiopian expert said on Monday.

In an interview with Xinhua, Gedion Jalata, CEO of the Center for Excellence International Consult, an Ethiopian Consulting firm, said that claims made by some Western officials and experts that China should be considered as a developed nation are wrong.

The World Bank has classified China as a developing country in terms of its per capita nominal GDP, although China has become the world's second largest economy, said Jalata.

A 2016 World Bank report shows that China's per capita income was far below developed nations like the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan.

"Chinese cities like Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou can rival in economic output and innovation cities like New York and London. However, its hinterland and far western provinces lag behind coastal areas in economic development, infrastructure and even education," said the expert.

It is unfair to label China as a developed nation, said Jalata.

China is still a nation that is trying to meet the basic needs of its huge population, "so claims that China should be considered as a developed nation are not true," the expert added.