Interview: Chinese premier upbeat about China's economy at Davos: Brazilian experts

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's remarks at the 2015 Summer Davos Forum last week sent a positive message about China's economy, leading Brazilian experts have said.

Severino Cabral, director of the Brazilian Institute for China and Asia-Pacific Studies, underscored Li's comments on the Chinese economy's stable growth, the unlikely scenario of a hard landing and the continuous progress in structural reforms.

Those remarks, he said, largely served to counter current negative views of the Chinese economy, relieving fears of an economic downturn in the world's second-largest economy.

"The world is paying close attention to the new changes in the Chinese economy, considering its increasing importance, and the premier's statement has reassured the world economy," Cabral said.

"He stressed China's ability in sustaining economic growth. While faced with structural adjustments, and challenges at home and abroad, the Chinese economy will perform with more reasonable and suitable speed," he said.

Ronnie Lins de Almeida, an expert in economics and international affairs at the prominent Brazilian think tank Getulio Vargas Foundation, believed the double-digit economic growth rate China had long maintained and the rapid rise in income rates have given rise to inflationary concerns.

China's central bank has to be careful in controlling inflation, he said, adding the 7-percent economic growth will make it easier to implement needed reforms to further adjust the economic structure.

Lins de Almeida believed the world has shown a trend towards Industry 4.0, characterized by Big Data, Cloud Computing and the Internet of Things.

"It will have huge impacts on traditional Chinese manufacturing," the expert said. "Chinese leaders are seen to be already clear about this when President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang addressed important speeches on technological innovation."

"'Made in China 2015' will see new areas and new products conforming to the trend of Industry 4.0," he said.

For his part, Cabral said that economic reform may be risky, bringing uncertainty and decreasing employment, but it can also offer opportunities to medium-sized and small enterprises, as Premier Li indicated in his speech, especially in such sectors as the information industry, knowledge innovation, medical and health services, and tourism and entertainment.

Increasing the role of the market means China's huge market is becoming increasingly integrated with the world market, leading to even closer cooperation between China and other world economies, he said.

"Economic exchanges between China and other parts of the world have changed both sides. Some new measures in finance and investment that China has advocated, such as the Belt and Road initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and BRICs Development Bank, will drive the country into a new development cycle," Cabral said.

"Brazil and other developing countries in Latin America and Africa will work closely with China, contributing to promote new global rules and wealth distribution based on cooperation and mutual benefits," he said. Endi