The third annual China-Africa Dialogue, held at the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria, focused on the People’s Republic of China “new normal”.
THE “NEW normal” slower economic growth rate of the People’s Republic of China may result in a change in the types of raw materials the nation imports but the volumes will not decrease.
Professor Gu Hailiang, the deputy minister of the state committee of social sciences at China’s Ministry of Education, said yesterday that the slower economic growth would also not result in an equal direct decrease in outbound investment by China.
The opening to business of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was a good example that illustrated the determination of the Chinese government to open up to the outside world, he told the third annual China-Africa Dialogue at the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria.
“We are going to increase our investment in overseas markets,” he said.
Hailiang said China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, which would be approved by the National People’s Congress in March, was formulated in October, and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg last month had resulted in 10 major co-operative initiatives being signed between China and Africa.
Hailiang said China would move towards a medium- and high-level economic growth rate because its current resources and environment could no longer accommodate double-digit economic growth.
He said China’s “new normal” economic growth rate was not only about slowing down its economy to between 6 percent and 7 percent growth, but also about facilitating and optimising the transformation of the country’s product structure and quality and industrial structure.
“It will, therefore, not impact the raw material imports of China from other countries. The type of raw materials may change, but the volumes of raw material imports to China will not decrease,” he said.
Hailiang said South Africa was the largest trading partner with China on the African continent, with two-way trade volumes between the two countries accounting for 25 percent of China-Africa trade volumes.
A lot of Chinese companies were now operating in South Africa in manufacturing, the energy sector, mining and finance, he said.
“I think the Chinese companies investing in South Africa have made a great contribution to China-South Africa trade and South Africa’s economy as well,” he said.
“I believe that in the future, China-Africa and China-South Africa and economic cooperation will be more broad. I’m optimistic about our twoway trade,” he said.
Hailiang said the aims of the five-year plan included significantly upgrading the livelihood and living standards of the Chinese people by 2020 and achieving strong economic and social development.
But Hailiang said China’s development could not be achieved without the world and vice-versa, and stressed that opening up China to the outside world was one of five key elements of the five-year plan.
He stressed China had to maintain an economic growth rate of about 7 percent in the next five years to achieve its target of decreasing the income gap, raising the standard of living of the majority of people in China and building a moderately prosperous society.
He said about 70 million of China’s total population of 1.3 billion lived below the poverty line, which it defined as an income below $400 (R6 696) a person a year, and China had to maintain a growth rate of about 7 percent to create jobs for the 1.3 million new people who joined the labour market each year.
China’s ability to maintain economic prosperity and political and social stability over the next five years largely hinged on whether it could successfully maintain full employment in its society, he said.
“GDP (gross domestic product) growth and economic development is the fundamental way for us to achieve full employment in China.”