World must accept China’s slowdown

At a recent two-day G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors, representatives from several countries blamed slowing GDP growth in China for dragging down the global economy. Several attendants also said China hadn't launched economic reforms as quickly as they had expected.

Such complaints are quite absurd. China's economy currently accounts for 10 percent of global GDP and 30 percent of world GDP growth. China's contribution to the world economy has come at a heavy price to its own industrial structure and environment. While China no longer accounts for half of global GDP growth, as it did in 2009 and 2010, the country can no longer bear the overcapacity and pollution woes which arose as consequences of its rapid economic development.

As Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People's Bank of China, explained at the meeting, China's slowdown in 2013 was partly the result of increased pollution management costs and the impacts of economic restructuring and reform. He also said that maintaining an economic growth pace between 7 and 8 percent would be suitable for China and good for the world economy.

　　People's Daily overseas edition. The author is Zhou Xiaoyuan, a media personality.