By Edith Mutethya and Wang Xiaodong
Experts welcome Beijing’s emphasis on growth and balanced development
China’s economy has a stable structural foundation and possesses the necessary resilience to withstand external shocks, and it is heartening to see its emphasis on growth and supporting the economy this year, African experts said.
Premier Li Qiang delivered the Government Work Report to the National People’s Congress on March 5, and disclosed major targets for this year’s development, including a GDP growth of around 5%.
He also outlined major tasks for this year, including striving to modernise the industrial system and developing new quality productive forces at a faster pace, invigorating China through science and education, and continuing to deepen reform and pursuing higher-standard opening up.
Charles Onunaiju, director of the Centre for China Studies in Abuja, Nigeria, said that China again demonstrates that the structured foundation of its economy is stable and sufficiently resilient to withstand external shocks.
China maintained the momentum of growth at 5.2% last year and is projected to continue on this trajectory, according to the report. The steady and stable trajectory of the Chinese economy, with the aim being to create more than 12 million new jobs in urban areas, demonstrates the soundness of its fundamentals, Onunaiju said.
Moving forward, China would accelerate endeavours in research on disruptive and frontier technologies, thereby putting science, technology and education at the forefront of its modernisation drive, he said.
“The forward-looking and prospects of China’s economy in the coming years give concrete expression to China as a major power with a high sense of understanding of its responsibility to the world, especially in maintaining and supporting global recovery and balanced development that delivers win-win outcomes to the world,” Onunaiju said.
Xn Iraki, an associate professor in the University of Nairobi’s Faculty of Business and Management Sciences, said the focus on disruptive and frontier technologies would make China a leader in areas such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, space technology, quantum computing, and genetics among others.
The focus on such technologies and innovations could help China achieve its targeted economic growth. That would also ensure more jobs and social stability, and that China gives a boost to the rest of the world with its growth, Iraki said.
Dennis Munene, executive director of the China-Africa Centre at the Africa Policy Institute, said: “The report on the work of the government clearly shows Beijing’s efforts to continue pursuing higher-quality economic growth and appropriately increase economic output.
“China’s economic achievement is good for the global community. China’s continued economic success is not enclosed within its borders,” Munene said. “China has helped to transform economies of both developed and developing countries through the offer of global public goods.”