UK Business Ambassador optimistic about China’s economy

World Today

In an exclusive interview with CCTV NEWS, Ronald Dennis, U.K. Business Ambassador, said that it is important for people around the world to revise the perception that China’s economic growth is only a product of low-cost labor.

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“There is this still predominant, throughout the world, belief that China just represents a low-cost labor resource. Anybody that has visited China extensively, which I have, quickly realizes that this is far from the truth.”

“Chinese infrastructure is impressive, and of course behind that is science and technology; it’s not happened by accident. And this is clear that this attitude and this vision that President Xi has for the future, up to 2025 is remarkable.”

China is undergoing a structural change from a low-cost labor country to a period of robust “new normal.”

According to fresh economic data, China posted a 6.9 percent GDP growth year-on-year for the third quarter of 2015, down from the 7 percent of the first two quarters. This is the slowest quarterly growth that the country has experienced since the first quarter of 2009.

However, analysts say there has been no change to the trend of stable growth. A total of 10.66 million jobs were created in the first three quarters of the year, already above the annual target. Meanwhile, there has been rapid growth in the service industry.

The trend of transforming an industry-led economy to one that is service-led is becoming more obvious. There’s a good momentum for industrial upgrading and transformation, according to Sheng Laiyun, spokesperson of National Bureau of Statistics.

During the interview, Dennis spoke highly of the U.K.’s decision to become the first western country to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). He said that the professional financial services that the U.K. can provide will help the AIIB build an effective platform for investment.

“London is really a global powerhouse in terms of the financial sector and there is a lot that we can bring. We are well-equipped to contribute and I think we should not just be contributing to something which is solely and exclusively for the benefit of England and China. I think we have to be more open-minded and contribute at every opportunity to the development of the relationship between China and Europe.”

STORY BY CCTV NEWS.