Country strong enough to weather economic storm

By Chen Chenchen Source:Global Times Published: 2013-9-12 0:38:01

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's signaling of China's determined economic reform and steady prospects at the first Summer Davos Forum under the new leadership has been well received by markets across the world.

Amid a meeting with entrepreneurs at the Davos Forum Tuesday, Li vowed "wrist-cutting" resolve to boost reforms, citing a Chinese idiom in which heroic warriors cut off their hands once bitten by a viper. He stressed again that China will stay the course on sustainable growth.

In the past few months, there have been mounting suspicions over China's economic slowdown. Arguments about China's economic "crash," "hard landing," "derailment of reform" and the "end of the Chinese miracle" are frequently heard among foreign think tank scholars and media professionals. But at the same time, there are also Western economists who insist such fears are overblown, and that it is not time to "bet against China."Between these two stances is the majority who is watching. No one can deny the existence of the daunting challenges facing the Chinese economy, such as local debt piles and urbanization facing a bottleneck. But on the other hand, the Chinese economy, which is still growing at a pace of 7.5 percent, serves as a stabilizer for the world economy.

Economic restructuring has become a solid social consensus, and the new government is determined to push forward the reform. The economic slowdown actually represents a strategic initiative that the government is taking to upgrade economic regulation and boost growth, rather than an indication of a gloomy collapse.

For more than three decades, not only the Chinese, but also the world at large has become used to China's speedy economic growth. Some inevitably feel that prospects are bleak during this painful stage of adjustment, and even predict an economic breakdown. But the fundamental drive and basic dynamics of the Chinese economy remain robust. As Li underlined in his latest bylined article in the Financial Times, "China enjoys one great advantage: its 1.3 billion people are keen to work hard in pursuit of a better life and make up a huge domestic market."

The motive of China's economic growth is in its people. The betterment of people's livelihoods is a certain result of globalization.

Objectively, the Chinese are largely optimistic about the country's economic prospects while remaining cautious over some concrete issues. China has the resources and potential to build up adequate resilience and head toward a new economic stage despite all the "crash" predictions.



Posted in: Observer

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