Major topics of two sessions attract worldwide attention(2)

Stephen Perry, a seasoned British entrepreneur and China watcher, said the world's second largest economy has carried out a set of interlinked reforms to upgrade its economic model to the "new normal", which values sustainability and social justice.

"I think 'new normal' is a sound analysis of the move from low cost exports to a managed market economy with global dimensions," said Perry, chairman of the British 48 Group Club, an independent business network committed to promoting links between Britain and China.

"There is a big set of interlinked policy initiatives which have been implemented and are working to create the basis for a new China which values sustainability, reasonable growth, care of the environment and a reasonable shared living standard and welfare state to assure the vulnerable," he said.

"HOT SPOT" FOR INVESTMENT

In the view of Kamel Mellahi, a professor at Britain's Warwick Business School, China will remain a global economic powerhouse and hot destination for investors although the country was moving away from the miraculous double-digit growth of over three decades.

The changing process will have far-reaching implications throughout the world as the country is expected to focus on a balanced, high quality and sustainable economic growth in an orderly and well-thought-out manner, he said.

Mellahi, whose research mainly focuses on strategic management, said that although downward pressures on China's economic growth are a "near consensus", it is able to remain around 7 percent at least through 2015.

In regard to the "new normal" strategy, he said it makes perfect sense to him as the past double-digit economic growth is no longer attainable.

China's transition is going to be painful for other countries and multinationals that still depend on China's labor-intensive industries for their exports, he noted.

However, the professor stressed, the strong inflow of foreign direct investment earlier this year shows that China is still a hot spot for investors who are interested in the emerging market.

He voiced his belief that the Chinese government has enough policies and measures, including further cuts in interest rates, increase of government spending, and further monetary easing, to help banks make loans and stop the economy from decelerating significantly over the next year.

China should achieve a steady but still healthy level of economic growth that will "further entrench the current drive for the rule of law, deepen the reforms, and strengthen the structural foundations for a balanced and sustainable economic model," Mellahi said.

Echoing Mellahi's view, Lord Sassoon, chairman of China-Britain Business Council, said China's "new normal" can bring opportunities for British business.

He called on British companies to look beyond the slowdown of China's economic growth, saying China is undergoing a period of further transformation.

"Companies need to understand how demand patterns are changing and look at this vast continental market as a series of very different opportunities," he said.