Monday 22 February 2016

European, U.S. observers call for seizing opportunities from China’s economic development

In World Economy News 22/02/2016

USA_China_EU_flags
Amid skeptical and bad-mouthed arguments about China’s economy, European and U.S. observers have warned against overstating risks facing the Chinese economy, and called for seizing new chances brought about by China’s economic restructuring.
Speaking at at a panel discussion on the Chinese economy at the Brookings Institution last week, Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute of Global Affairs, said: “The Chinese economy is performing much, much better than your average market participant would want to conclude right now.”
“The economy is progressing with obviously a lot of challenges and problems along the way, and we can go through all of those, but the bottom line on China is the transformation is intact. The economy is not on the brink of a hard landing,” the former chief economist at Morgan Stanley Asia said.
“Don’t underestimate the resilience and the capacity of the real side of the Chinese economy to perform much, much better than you know, these rocket scientists in the West will tell you,” he said.
French critics believed there is no need to be excessively worried about the Chinese economy though it is undergoing a hard time, as first of all the Chinese economic fundamentals are sound and persistent.
The French top-selling newspaper Le Figaro said in a recent series of analysis reports that the Chinese economy is indeed in a brake process, but not a screeching halt, and most economists are of the opinion that the Chinese economic performance is stable and sound.
Secondly, the Chinese government holds ample tools to manage and control systematic risks, according to French media and experts.
Charlie Carre, chief economist with French insurance giant Coface, said the Chinese government is able to take action in time and pump liquidity into the banking system.
So far, Coface has ranked China A4, a relatively high ranking, meaning that the risk facing China’s economy is controllable.
Thirdly, French media believed that China’s economic transformation has proceeded steadily and the economic structure has been upgraded gradually.
Le Figaro reported that China’s box office increased around 50 percent in 2015, and the proportion of the service sector output in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surpassed that of industry, which means China’s economic re-balancing proceeds smoothly.
Carre urged nations around the world to view the Chinese economy in a comprehensive manner, saying the truth is that challenges and opportunities coexist in it.
The emerging industries in China, including environmental protection, culture and tourism, have become bright spots in the eyes of French media. Such stories as “French enterprises aim at business opportunities in Chinese dustbin” and “French small- and medium-sized businesses grab shares of China’s green market” often surfaced in the press.
The U.S. Wall Street Journal said in its recent reports that despite the slow-down, the Chinese economy remains the second largest only after the U.S. economy and offers great potential.
Consumption, especially consumption of electronic services and electronic goods, are forming a strong pillar of the Chinese economy, the U.S. newspaper said.
Axel Weber, chairman of the Board of Directors in the Union Bank of Switzerland, said he is optimistic about China that is carrying out hard restructuring in the right direction.


Source: Xinhua