Foreign experts have pointed out several severe challenges China has to face in the short term to maintain robust growth, a key topic to be discussed at the annual "two sessions" that started Sunday.
The nearly two-week sessions of China's legislature, the National People's Congress, and its advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, are widely seen as an occasion to bring people and ideas together to draft possible solutions to China's many problems on its own unique path of development.
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
"China is now at an important moment of history," said Jorge Castro, a China expert and chief of Argentina's Strategic Planning Institute.
"China's exports-led economy is showing signs of slower growth, and government investment in fixed assets is nearly saturated ... We can say China has completed its development in terms of quantity, and the next-step improvement in quality is a major challenge for the new Chinese leadership," Castro said.
Foreign experts say consumption, innovation, and the green economy are key for China to achieve quality growth.
Adel Sabry, former vice chief editor of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Wafd, said China should become a leader of the world economy, not just a provider of raw materials and manufactured goods.
INCOME GAP
Kim Jin Ho, an international relations professor from the Dan Kook University of South Korea, said that how to narrow the widening income gap and accomplish "common prosperity for all" is a major difficulty for China's reforms.
Yakov Berger, senior analyst at the Institute of Far-Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted China has already begun reforms of its income distribution system.
To strengthen its middle class, China has to push for reforms, including its tax system and the primary and secondary income distribution, he said.
SOCIAL PROBLEMS
China's increasingly prominent "livelihood" issues have also raised concerns among experts.
"Many social problems, such as environmental pollution, housing, education and healthcare cannot be solved overnight," said Jose Luis Robaina, a renowned Cuban expert on China.
These problems need several decades of steady effort by the Chinese people, Robaina said.
Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King's College London, suggested China may learn from Britain's experience of making relevant laws to curb air pollution.
Tokyo University professor Takahara Akio said it necessary to make environmental compliance part of government officials' performance evaluation and monitor their progress.
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