Stable growth within China’s reach

China's economy has grown by an average annual rate of 9.8 percent over the last three decades. So when expansion slowed in the first quarter of 2010, this created fertile ground for China bears to speculate about the country's coming economic collapse. Actually, a hard landing is unlikely for China. I believe the country can maintain annual growth of 8 percent over the decade ahead.

China's current slump is mainly the product of a weakening external environment. Many other developing countries are experiencing slowdowns of their own due to the same reason - Brazil's GDP grew by 0.9 percent in 2012, down from 7.5 percent in 2010; while in India, growth has downshifted from 10.5 percent to 3.2 percent over the same period.

Also, as a developing country, China has ample room to upgrade its industries and improve its infrastructure. Projects aimed at these targets should help the domestic economy grow through the foreseeable future.

The author is Justin Yifu Lin, a former chief economist and senior vice president at the World Bank.