Workers pack commodities according to electronic orders in a Zhengzhou-based cross-border e-commerce supervision center on May 29 (XINHUA)
Despite recent market turbulence and prolonged slowdown, China is still the backbone of global growth
The sheer size of China's market means that its suffering is the world's suffering. There's no better evidence for the expression than what happened in August—China's stock market rout rattled investors abroad and triggered a global stock sell-off; the Chinese currency depreciation triggered by a market-oriented reform was followed by depreciation of some other currencies and sharp fall of global commodity prices.
In a globalized world where economies are more interlinked than ever, what happens in one country could turn into a global issue, not to mention if the country is the world's second largest economy. It's a moment when the emerging giant's international influence crosses a crucial threshold.
Amid mounting concerns over China's currency depreciation, financial market fluctuations and economic slowdown at large, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reassured the market on August 25, saying that the fundamentals of China's economy have remained stable, the economy is running within a reasonable range, and positive elements supporting the development of the real economy are accumulating.
"There was still room for further innovation and macro-control, and domestic demand has yet to be increased," Li said.
This will be an important contribution for the recovery of the world economy, Li added.
Li also said there exists no basis for continued depreciation of the Chinese currency, the yuan, and the exchange rate will be kept basically stable at an adaptive and equilibrium level.
Worries are mounting that the deepening slowdown in China may have spread to the global market. However, there is more evidences—including China's strong economic resilience, growing innovative power and fast-increasing outbound investment—pointing to the fact that the country has been the backbone of global growth since the global financial crisis, and it will continue to be so in coming years.
Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the "China miracle" shows no signs of faltering.
"Difficulties faced the country have been exaggerated," Mei told Beijing Review.
"The Chinese Government still has much room to maneuver its macro-control policies to stabilize growth. From the mid- and long-term perspective, China's business environment and competitiveness are better than the world's major economies and emerging markets," Mei said.
"China wants a stable financial market, therefore it has no intention to launch a so-called 'currency war'," Mei said. "It's totally capable of stabilizing its currency exchange rate, not only because of its nearly $4-trillion foreign exchange reserve but also because its gigantic economic and financial asset aggregate can prevent the flee of speculative capital from causing systematic damage to the country," he said.
