Yang Yanyi :
A few days ago, I was chatting with some European business people. Naturally the conversation was focused on China. There were obvious worries and concerns. There were complaints that China had been making “bad stories” over the past few years: slowing down economic growth, stock market volatility, reluctance to push through reform and opening up, etc. It was considered to be highly likely that China would continue to generate “bad stories” this year.
I am not surprised. The history of China’s development has grown amidst the cacophony of the “China threat” or “China bankruptcy” fanfare. At times of obvious difficulty, those voices crying out about the China disaster could not be louder.
While our European friends’ concerns and worries could be appreciated, they failed to grasp the real picture. The truth is that China is making really good stories. Yet, unfortunately and regrettably, China has been made a victim of “bad stories”.
During the tough times we are facing in the current global climate, it is highly necessary and important for business people and policy makers to have a clear grasp of China’s real story and its strategic focus so as to make the right decisions.
Simply put, the positive trend of China’s economic development has not changed. China’s policy of deepening reform and expanding opening-up has not changed; and China’s economic contribution to the world’s economic growth has not changed.
China’s economic situation in 2015 could be described as “stable with progress”. The “progress” was mainly shown in three aspects: first, the economy realised medium-to-high speed growth under the new norm; second, consumption became the major driving force of economic growth; third, the service sector turned out to be the leading industry of the national economy.
Despite the weak recovery of and rising uncertainties in the global economy, the Chinese economy performed steadily within a reasonable range. China’s GDP grew by about $500 billion at the growth rate of 6.9%, which ranked it first among global major countries.
The unemployment rate was about 5.1%, the lowest since 2009. Consumption’s contribution rate to economic growth increased 15.4%, becoming the major engine for growth. The service sector’s contribution to GDP was 17%, which is higher than that of industry, becoming the leading industry that drives economic growth.
China’s import totals reached $1.7 trillion, remaining second globally. Oil imports grew by 8%. Outward foreign direct investment reached US127.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10%. China’s economic aggregate has exceeded $10 trillion and China’s role as a significant driving force of the world’s economic growth has not changed.
Looking ahead, China’s economic development policy in 2016 will remain consistent. Namely, China’s goal to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects is consistent. China’s policy of transforming development mode and restructuring the economy is consistent and China’s policy orientation of deepening reform and expanding opening-up is consistent.
Next month, China will put in place its 13th Five-year Plan, a plan that has a clear and strong focus on economic development and on striving for a higher-quality, more efficient, fairer and more sustainable growth, and a plan that aims at building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and doubling the GDP and per-capita income of urban and rural residents in 2010 by the year 2020.
We are fully confident to achieve this established goal. And our confidence is rooted in the following.
First, the fundamentals of the Chinese economy remain sound. China’s economy enjoys great resilience, huge potential and ample room for readjustment. China has a complete industrial system and efficient infrastructure network, as well as high-end orientation of production factors. We have over 7 million college graduates entering the labour market annually and the average schooling of the new workforce is about 13 years.
China’s invention patents ranks it first in the world and the amount of R&D expense is more than RMB1.4 trillion, ranking it second in the world. China boasts a vast market space.
The contribution rate of consumption in China’s economic growth has reached 66.4%. China has 680 million mobile internet users and over 100 million 4G network users, the largest in the world. With 20 million rural populations moving into urban areas annually, huge demands in investment and consumption will be generated.
Second, China is guided by a new development approach featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.
We are focusing on implementing the strategy of innovation-driven growth, boosting technological innovations and their application including mobile internet, cloud computing and big data and ensure balanced progress.
We are pursuing green and low-carbon development to improve the environment and ensure that our people live in a beautiful China with clean air, green eco-system and clear water.
(To be continued)
