On January 21, 2016 local time, Vice President Li Yuanchao gave an exclusive interview to John Micklethwait, Chief Editor of Bloomberg, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2016 in Davos, Switzerland, introducing the situation of China's economic development and answering questions. Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Wang Xiaotao, Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen, Vice President of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Fang Xinghai,and Chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Jiang Jianqing were present.
Li Yuanchao expressed that China's economy cannot develop without the world and the world's economic development cannot be separated from China as well. The international community pays close attention to the current situation and trend of China's economic development. We come to Davos today to convey an explicit message to all walks of life: China's economic contribution to the world' economic growth has not changed; the positive trend of China's economic development in the long run has not changed; and China's policy of deepening reform and expanding opening-up has not changed.
Li Yuanchao stated that China's economic situation in 2015 could be described as "stable with progress". The "progress" was mainly shown in three aspects: first, the economy realized medium-to-high speed growth under the new normal; second, consumption became the major driving force of economic growth; third, the service sector turned to be the leading industry of national economy. From the perspective of domestic economy, the GDP grew by about 500 billion USD at the growth rate of 6.9 percent, which ranked the first among global major countries and equaled to the total GDP of a middle-ranged European country. The unemployment rate of 31 major cities was about 5.1 percent, according to survey, the lowest since 2009. Consumption's contribution rate to economic growth increased 15.4 percent, becoming the major engine for growth. The service sector's contribution to GDP was 16.7 percent, which is higher than that of industry, becoming the leading industry that drives economic growth. From the perspective of the influence on the world economy, China's total import reached 1.68 trillion USD, remaining the second around the world. The oil import grew by 8 percent. The outward foreign direct investment reached 127.6 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 10 percent. China's role as a significant driving force of the world's economic growth has not changed.
Li Yuanchao stated that China's economic development policy in 2016 can be described as "consistent", which means that its goal to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects is consistent, its policy of transforming development mode and restructuring economy is consistent and its policy orientation of deepening reform and expanding opening-up is also consistent. China is formulating the five-year plan covering the decisive period of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects with a goal of doubling the GDP and per-capita income of urban and rural residents in 2010 by the year of 2020. Currently China's economic aggregate has exceeded 10 trillion USD and its economic development has entered the new normal, therefore it is in consistence with general economic rules for China's economy to shift its focus from speed and scale to quality and efficiency with slower growth speed. At present, the inadequate global demand and inappropriate domestic production and supply structure impose serious challenges on us. However, we remain confident in achieving the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects for there is huge development potential in China's economy. Such confidence comes from our objective evaluations of China's development conditions. The first is a more solid material foundation. China has a more complete industrial system and a more efficient infrastructure network, with its more than 220 types of industrial products and operational mileage of high-speed rail ranking the first in the world. The second is the high-end orientation of production factors. New members of the workforce have about 13 years' schooling on average, and we have over 7 million college graduates who enter the labor market annually. The amount of research and development (R&D) expanse of the society is more than 1.4 trillion RMB, which ranks the second in the world. China's total amount of invention patents also ranks the first in the world. The third is the vast market space. The contribution rate of consumption in China's economic growth has reached 66.4 percent, making it the strongest driving force of economic growth. China has the largest number of mobile internet users and 4G network users worldwide, which are 680 million and over 100 million respectively. So far China's urbanization rate is 56 percent, with 20 million of rural population moving into urban areas annually, bringing about huge demands in investment and consumption. There is a common belief among major domestic and foreign research institutes that China's annual economic growth rate will stay at 6 percent to 7 percent during the period of the 13th "Five-Year Plan". Hence, the basic trend of China's economy towards long-term growth has not changed.
Li Yuanchao expressed that China has not changed its policy orientation of deepening reform and expanding opening-up and the recent adjustments in relevant policies are mere new measures to further deepen reform and expand opening-up in accordance with the changes at home and abroad. During the period of the 13th "Five-Year Plan", China will adhere to its development concepts of innovation, coordination, environmental protection, opening-up and sharing to further promote the innovation-driven development strategy, make efforts to enhance the structural reform of the supply side, invigorate the market entities to the best, speed up the building of a new pattern of all-around opening-up, and constantly uphold the policy of peace, development and win-win cooperation, so as to make continuous contribution to the growth of world economy.
Wang Xiaotao, Wang Shouwen, Fang Xinghai and Jiang Jianqing also introduced relevant information in their own fields respectively. They pointed out that on the whole the basic trend of China's economy towards long-term growth has not changed. China's economy still enjoys significant comprehensive comparative advantages with strong driving force and broad space for development. Under the new normal of economic development, to strengthen the reform of the supply side, China needs to focus on the five major tasks of cutting excessive production capacity, de-stocking, de-leveraging, lowering costs and improving weak links, and constantly seek stable growth, restructure economy, bring benefits to the people, prevent risks and keep the economy running in a reasonable range, in an effort to achieve a good start for economic and social development of the 13th "Five-Year Plan".