Chinese economist urges long-term economic viewpoint

A senior Chinese economist has backed the country's economy to ride out its current difficulties and cautioned foreign observers to take a long-term perspective.

The world should pay more attention to the ongoing market-oriented reforms and emerging growth drivers instead of short-term fluctuations, said Sun Xuegong, a researcher with the Academy of Macroeconomic Research of the National Development and Reform Commission.

China's foreign trade in August dropped 9.7 percent year on year, a steeper decline than the 8.8-percent contraction in July, official data showed on Tuesday.

In an article published on the central government website on Thursday, Sun attributed the sagging exports to weak global economic and trade recovery after the financial crisis in 2008 and pointed out that China's international competitiveness has not weakened as its share of international exports has remained stable.

"Economic fluctuations are predictable in this transitional period when China is pushing ahead with market-oriented reforms and restructuring its economy," he said.

The economist pointed to growth factors including government encouragement of innovation and entrepreneurship, urbanization and the Belt and Road regional trade and infrastructure initiative.

The government also has ample fiscal and monetary policy tools to keep the economy stable given the current low inflation and bad debt level, Sun added. Endi