China is at a very “crucial stage” of economic growth, according to the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
Premier Li announced at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2012 that the Chinese economy is on track for smooth sustainable growth. Sustainable growth is growth that is consistent and does not hit serious problems, such as rapidly-rising inflation.
Recent figures revealed that Chinese exports were much higher than estimates had predicted, indicating that the country is rebounding after a six-month slowdown.
China nearly carried out a short-term stimulus policy to help drive growth, however, Li said that this approach “would not help address the underlying problems.”
Instead, China chose to maintain a stable macroeconomic policy. As long as the economy “runs within the reasonable range of economic performance, [Beijing] will keep the macroeconomic policies generally stable,” concentrating more on adjusting the growth and structural model when required.
In order to transform the Chinese economy Beijing will focus more on domestic demand and aim for a balanced economy throughout China.
Li said that the country will redevelop shantytowns and improve urban infrastructure.
The Chinese premier said that the country “is taking pertinent measures to regulate and address it in an orderly fashion.”
If Beijing meets these challenges, the “the giant vessel of the Chinese economy will break through the waves and sail far.”
China is today one of the main drivers of global economic growth and now that “we live in a global village” there is no longer a country that “can live in isolation of others like Robinson Crusoe.”
Over US$10 trillion of goods are expected to be imported into China over the coming years, the country will invest more than US$ 500 billion overseas and send over 400 million tourists abroad.
China is now “ready to share this huge business opportunity with the rest of the world, and hopes to have a better cooperation environment for its development.”
Li says that it is time to “take up its responsibility in international affairs [and take] a more active part in international governance, and to do our best to provide international public goods.”
Even so, China has over 100 million people living in poverty and Li warns that the modernization process “will be long and cautious” and “the international responsibilities and obligations China undertakes must be commensurate with both the level and approach of its development.”
We are now living in a world that is constantly changing, and “changes call for innovation and innovation leads to progress.”