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Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released economic data for the first three quarters, showing that China's GDP grew 5.2% year-on-year, making it a leader among the world's major economies.
Several foreign financial institutions, including Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase, have raised their expectations for China's economic growth for the whole year, projecting it will exceed 5%.
Despite the sluggish world economic recovery and high global inflation, China's economy has demonstrated strong resilience, great potential and enormous vitality and remains a leader and main engine of global economic growth.
Our macroeconomic policies are prudent and efficient. Since the start of the year, the Chinese government has introduced a series of powerful and effective macroeconomic policies to stabilise growth and grow the economy.
The many tools in our policy "toolbox" have propelled the Chinese economy forward, through ups and downs. Meanwhile, the economy also enjoys a stronger trend of upgraded consumption, greater momentum of regional coordination and enhanced vitality of innovation.
Our mega market unleashes great potential. China has a population of over 1.4 billion, a per capita GDP of more than $12 000, and a middle-income group of over 400 million people that will exceed 800 million in the next 15 years.
As the major trading partner to more than 140 countries and regions, China is a world leader in terms of attracting foreign capital and outward investment. Since the beginning of this year, our domestic demand has continued to expand, with consumption contributing 83.2% to economic growth. Our mega market has grown continuously, providing more opportunities for the rest of the world.
In the first three quarters, China's foreign trade expanded steadily, with total imports and exports exceeding 30 trillion yuan. In the next five years, the imports and exports of China’s trade in goods and services are expected to exceed $32 trillion and $5 trillion, respectively.
Our industrial system is reasonable and complete. China's manufacturing industry has ranked first in the world in terms of scale for 13 consecutive years. This August, China became the world's largest exporter of cars.
Chinese-brand cars made in South Africa have made their way into thousands of households. As the only country in the world that owns all the categories in the United Nations industrial classification system, China has strong industrial organisation capacity and supply-chain resilience.
China plays an important role in the global industrial division of labour and supply chain system. In the first three quarters, our investment in the manufacturing industry grew by 6.2%, and investment in the high-tech manufacturing industry and high-tech service industry grew by 11.3% and 11.8%, respectively. A total of 172 million kilowatts of renewable energy were newly installed, an increase of 93% year-on-year.
Our talent dividend empowers development. China has the world's largest and most complete talent resource, with the total number of skilled personnel reaching 220 million, and the total number of research and development personnel ranking first in the world.
Our demographic dividend still exists and our talent dividend is showing new advantages.
A large number of bold and innovative entrepreneurs have been cultivated in China, forming a team of Chinese entrepreneurs who keep up with the times, showcase national characteristics and meet world standards. They have become a dynamic force in building a modernised economic system and driving high-quality development.
The universal truth is that economies fluctuate. When observing the Chinese economy, we should focus on not only its short-term fluctuations, but also its long-term development.
Some of our economic indicators have shown short-term fluctuations this year, but our macro-policies are forward-looking and create synergy. Our economic operation continues to improve, and our long-term sound economy has maintained its trend.
China has the confidence, ability and strength to cope with all kinds of risks and challenges. The giant ship of the Chinese economy will ride out the winds and waves toward a brighter future, and make even greater contributions to the world economy.
*Xiaodong is the Chinese ambassador to South Africa.
