...and Moving Into A Splendid Spring

摘要

So far, nowhere outside developed countries the crushing blow of the current global economic crisis is felt as strongly as in China, according to many press reports. In fact, world media have been awash with reports that as consumers in the United States and Europe, reeling from the collapse of their economies, began tightening their belts, production in China, the Factory of the World, has also started grinding slower and yet slower and, as a consequence, rendering tens of thousands of Chinese workers jobless. Is it true or gross exaggeration of the reality? Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos on its first day, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao indeed admitted that the global financial crisis has made a "rather big impact" on China's economy. He said candidly: "We are facing severe challenges, including notably shrinking external demand, overcapacity in some sectors, difficult business conditions for enterprises, rising unemployment in urban areas and great downward pressure on economic growth," However, that's just one side of the coin. For he added: "From late last December, we have seen signs in the recovery of the Chinese economy; the signs are small ones but they give me hope." Confidence, he said, was essential to ride out of the current difficulties and added: "We are full of confidence." China's confidence, he said, stemmed from the fact that despite the present state of the world economy the fundamentals of China's economy remains unchanged; the long term trend of the country's economic development remains unchanged; advantages contributing to China's economic growth remains unchanged; and there is no fundamental change in the external environment for China's economic growth.