—Chinese economy still plays an important role in promoting world economic growth

With China's rise to becoming the world's second-largest economy, even mild changes in economic indicators capture the attention of the outside world. Recent bearishness on China's growth prospects for growth – largely stemming from Western mass media – was challenged in a series of interviews published by the People's Daily, wherein most overseas officials and economic observers remained very optimistic about the Chinese economy. As the major engine of global growth, the continuing development of China's economy will bring many opportunities for the whole world, they said.

High expectations on overseas trade and investment

On August 2, the first freight train from Zhengzhou, capital city of central China's Henan Province, arrived at the freight yard in Hamburg-Billwerder, Germany through the Zhengzhou-Europe International Freight Railway. The train from Zhengzhou traversed the 10,214-kilometer route through China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland to Germany in a record time of just 15 days. It saves about 20 days over sea transportation at 80 percent of the cost of air transportation. And compared with highway transportation, it saves about 2,000 to 3,000 yuan for each container.

Schenker International Logistics of Deutsche Bahnacts is a logistics partner to Zhengzhou for services outside of China. Rüdiger Grube, Chairman of the management board of Deutsche Bahn, said, "The growing Chinese goods traffic, together with the ongoing shift from labor-intensive industries to the Chinese hinterland, offers a lot of potential. DB Schenker in Asia is in an excellent starting position."

Grube said the significance of the freight train lies not only in the goods but also the mode of transportation. "Looking at the annual volume of the bilateral trade between Germany and China, more than 68 billion Euro goods exporting to China and about 51.5 billion Euro goods importing from China, you can imagine how large the China-EU trade potential is," he said.

In interviews with People's Daily, many senior officials of large German enterprises expressed confidence in China's economic prospects and expected to further deepen Sino-German economic cooperation. Peter Loescher, former CEO of Siemens AG, said to People's Daily that the Chinese Government has realized it can only stimulate development through a sustainable way in a world of limited resources. Resource-saving technologies and products as well as energy, then, will reach an increasingly important position in China's future. Therefore, huge potential exists for China and Germany to deepen cooperation.

Juergen Fitschen, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank, said Europe was the premier destination for Chinese mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and investments in 2011 and 2012, among which one third stemmed from Germany. Similarly, German companies' investment interests in the Chinese inland provinces have also been growing. Through mutual trade and strengthening the supply chain, Germany and China can enhance jointly their position as global manufacturing plants. Moreover, with the help of the professional capacity of German enterprises, China can promote its industrial upgrading and enhance its own innovation capability. China is accelerating urbanization and promoting sustainable development, which will surely increase its investment in renewable energy and related technology, in which German enterprises have traditional advantages.

Sergei Katyrin, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce, said to People's Daily that China has remained Russia's largest trading partner for years. Chinese exports to Russia did not see a sharp decline in spite of the global economic slowdown. In terms of investment, China's non-financial direct investment to Russia has increased by 117.89 percent in 2012. The two sides also strengthened bilateral pragmatic cooperation in various fields, with great potential on the horizon. Russia hopes China could participate in the development of Russia's Far East region. The development and modernization of the Far East and Siberia will bring new economic growth points for both countries. Promoting the growth of trade partners

Fernando Veloso, a researcher from notable Brazilian think tank Getulio Vargas Foundation, said that China is an important engine for promoting the economic growth of Brazil. The large-scale urbanization of China will produce a huge demand of bulk commodities from Brazil. The current Chinese economic slowdown, which is related to the countries' ongoing economic restructuring, will not last long.

He also pointed out that Brazil is enhancing its infrastructure construction, in which China will be a very important investor, providing a great boost to the Brazilian economy.

Kim Yong-Min, a former assistant on economic affairs of the President of the Republic of Korea (ROK), said that China's economic slowdown during the first half of 2013 is a natural phase in the process of economic development. Once the economy of a country gets into a mature stage, it cannot blindly pursue high growth rates through the development model of high labor and capital investment. The Chinese Government's current economic restructuring policy and investment in new technologies is a good decision, which is very helpful in laying a solid foundation for future economic development. One fourth of ROK's foreign trade depends on the economy of China. In other words, if China's economy develops soundly, the ROK's economy will follow suit. Kim believes that China's economic restructuring not only promotes the stable development of the Chinese economy, but will also contribute to the overall economic development of ROK.

Thanavath Phonvichai, Director of the Business Forecasting Centre at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said that the economic growth of China is the main impetus for Asia's economic recovery. In order to achieve economic growth, China has taken lasting measures such as promoting infrastructure construction and boosting domestic demands. Expanding international influence

Fernando Veloso opposed views that the "motivational role" of China to the economic development of Latin American countries like Brazil is disappearing. Veloso said he believes that China's influence on the Brazilian economy has been growing. Over the next five to 10 years, China will still be a major driver of economic development in Latin American countries.

José Carlos Martins, Ferrous and Strategy executive director of Brazilian mining giant Vale SA, said to People's Daily that two factors will prop up the firm development of the Chinese economy. One is the high savings rate, which provides a large space for the Chinese Government to implement economic adjustment; and the second is China's urbanization. Martins said that although the urbanization rate of China has currently reached 50 percent, there is still much room to grow compared with the urbanization rate of developed countries.

Martins also predicted that as China develops, China and Brazil will use the RMB to settle their imports and exports more and more, which is not only conducive to trade between Vale SA and China, but will also make the bilateral trade more convenient. He said the RMB is currently the most stable currency among all the emerging market countries. "The RMB's becoming a world currency will be the natural result of the continuous development of China."

Kim Dae-Shik, former member of the Monetary and Financial Committee of ROK's central bank, told People's Daily that pessimistic views of China's economic decline stem from a lack of understanding about China's national conditions. He believes that China's economic slowdown is normal and temporary. China's economic restructuring from an export-oriented model to boosting domestic demand is aiming to better address problems such as income inequality caused by over-heating development. In the long term, it is more conducive to maintaining stable economic development.

While holding an optimistic view of the prospect of China's economic development, Kim Dae-shik fully affirmed China's positive role in promoting the economic development of the world. He said that from the economic level, the size of China's foreign trade is huge. Inexpensive Chinese products with good quality have enriched the international market, while the strong purchasing power of the Chinese domestic market has provided a large investment platform for ROK, the United States and European countries. From the perspective of finance, China's number one foreign exchange reserves can exert a direct influence over the development of the world's financial markets.