China strives to avoid economic traps

LONDON - China has taken serious measures to surmount economic and political obstacles and has a bright future in the road ahead, said Chinese top representative at Britain at an economic conference held in Cambridge on Saturday.

Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to the UK, delivered a speech at the conference themed "The Road Ahead: Visions for the Emerging World and Poverty" hosted by the Marshall Society of Economics of Cambridge University, introducing Chinese achievements on poverty reduction and China's measures and visions for future development.

Economic growth, balanced regional development, and poor regions' own development capacity, are China's three useful experiences drawn from its poverty reduction endeavors, said Liu, adding that China has made an extraordinary historical contribution to global poverty reduction.

He also laid out China's measures and visions for future development through one turning point, two indices and two traps.

The turning point is "Lewis turning point", a point at which it would move from a vast supply of low-cost workers to a labor shortage economy. But the so-called Chinese labor shortage was only a temporary phenomenon. As quickening urbanization will encourage more surplus labor in rural areas to migrate to cities and ensure adequate labor supply for modern industry and services sector, Liu said.

The two indices are "Gini index" and "PM 2.5 density". They underlined the pressing need to reform income distribution and toughen measures of environmental protection.

Liu said China must keep the growth engine switched on to avoid "middle income trap". He said China will transcend the trap through comprehensively deepening reform, promoting economic transformation and upgrading, and properly handling social problems like income distribution, population aging and social welfare.

As for the "Thucydides trap", which implies that an emerging power is doomed to clash with an established power, Liu said China has initiated and further developed the concept of "new power relations". This new type of relations between big countries is defined by a partnership of mutual respect and mutual benefit.

"China's development is an endeavor never seen in human history both by scale, speed and by complexity. There will be no simple solution. However, 1.3 billion Chinese people have the courage and confidence to surmount all difficulties and challenges on our way forward. The people of China are confident that going forward they will work another wonder with the Chinese economy. In turn that advance will make an even greater contribution to global growth and prosperity." Liu concluded.

The Marshall Society of Economics was established in 1927 and named after Sir Alfred Marshall who was the founder of the "Cambridge School". About 400 scholars and students from the University of London, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the University of Cambridge attended the one-day conference.