Chinese economy still an 'engine' rather than a 'laggard'

BEIJING - The negative spill-over effect of a slowing Chinese economy is overwhelmingly exaggerated, while the positive effect generated by China's economic structural adjustment is clearly underrated, economic experts said.

As the Chinese economy enters a "new normal" stage with a lower growth rate and the financial market adjustment strengthens, some international news media have claimed that the Chinese economy is pulling down the world economy.

However, abundant data and expert opinions have refuted such a claim, and also call for a rational perspective on the Chinese economy, which still makes sizable contributions to the global economy and will generate long-term dividends for global growth with continued structural reform.

China still considerable contributor

It is true that the 6.9-percent growth rate of the Chinese economy in 2015 is the lowest in recent years. But it is still outstanding amid the gloomy world economy trapped in "new mediocrity."

The Chinese economy increased by $645 billion last year, which is almost three times the economic scale of Greece, if calculated with an average exchange rate in 2015, according to Bloomberg News.

Meanwhile, the US economy grew by 2.5 percent in 2015, with an increment of 400 billion dollars, according to recent calculations by the International Monetary Fund.

Both the absolute value and the rate of China's economic growth surpassed those of the United States last year. It is thus biased to regard the Chinese economy as a source of risk for the global economy, while seeing the US economy as a source of driving power.

US Nobel laureate for economics Joseph Stiglitz said on the just-concluded World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that China has been the engine for the global economy in the past 15 years, especially in the past seven years.

From the perspective of the contribution ratio, China is still a considerable contributor to the world economy instead of a "laggard".

China's contribution constitutes 25 percent of the global economic growth at the current growth rate, said Yao Jingyuan, researcher of the Counselors' Office of Chinese State Council.

Optimistic about China's economic growth, Russia's RBC Daily newspaper reported that China's growth will make up at least one third of the world's total in 2016 and 2017, citing analysts' predictions.

Negative spill-over effect overstated

With the recent fluctuations in domestic and foreign financial markets, some overseas media organizations' over-reading on the spill-over effect of the slowing Chinese economy might have sold well, but those reports don't conform with the facts.