Stable growth - made in China, enjoyed by the world

 
Although China cannot rise as the savior of the floundering world economy, its stable growth will offer more than just confidence amid deep economic gloom.

China wrapped up its most important economic meeting of the year with an agreement to focus on maintaining stable economic growth while preventing a potentially destabilizing rebound in inflation next year amid the "extremely grim and complicated" global outlook.

Economic targets mapped out at the meeting also include improving the quality and efficiency of growth. Rather than blindly seeking fast expansion, China is shifting more focus toward achieving sustainable development.

Its longer-term goal is to wean itself off the current export-driven and fixed asset investment-based growth model by encouraging consumption at home.

Given the worsening Eurozone debt crisis, feeble recoveries in other major economies, chaos in financial markets and challenges in China's domestic policy, maintaining stable growth will not be an easy task in 2012.

Although China's development has far outperformed other major economies', it's not problem-free because of the ripple effects of globalization.

Growth has slowed for three consecutive quarters and many forecasts say it will dip further in 2012. Trade prospects were described as "grim" with China's major trade partners in the doldrums.

Under such turmoil, the commitment of stable growth is a reassuring force for the world economy.

China has been seen as a possible engine to help shore up world economic growth, a role it played three years ago, when strong growth here -- backed by a 4-trillion-yuan (630.91 billion U.S. dollars) stimulus package -- helped avert the worst of a global recession.

With less than half of the United States' output, China's contribution to the global GDP was around 50 percent in 2009, the worst period of the global financial crisis, and over 30 percent in 2010.

Meanwhile, with American consumers laid up indefinitely, the world is turning to China, a growing market of 1.3 billion people, to pick up the slack.

Ten years after China's entry into the WTO, China has built a worldwide trading network, which means the country's stable economic growth is not only benefiting its own people, but also helping to propel growth among its trade partners.

During the past decade, China imported an annual average of 750 billion U.S. dollars worth of goods and created more than 14 million jobs for its trade partners.

It is estimated that China's total imports will exceed 8 trillion U.S. dollars in the next five years, which will offer tremendous opportunities to countries around the world.

For foreign companies, substantial operations in China have helped offset slow growth in Europe and the U.S. and sustain profitability.

Despite expectations for slower growth in 2012, China's growth will still outrun the world average and make significant contributions to global recovery.

China has vowed to be more proactive in opening up to the outside world, and its stable growth will produce more benefits.