China still has a long way to go in upgrading industrial processes, although it had managed to secure economic stabilization and was moving upwards, Zhuang Jian, a senior economist with the Asian Development Bank, said on Thursday.

"China has achieved great success in bolstering the economy's growth through a series of plans to stimulate it, but it should also continue making efforts to upgrade its industries, as well as its energy-saving and pollution reduction measures, to sustain development," Zhuang said.

China's economic growth had slowed during the global downturn, but expanded 7.9 percent in the second quarter of 2009 year on year after sinking to 6.1 percent in the first quarter.

Zhuang said the improvement of China's industrial structure and increasing energy conservation were of critical importance to the world.

Government figures show the amount of energy consumed in China to produce a unit of gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 3.35 percent year on year in the first half. The decrease compares with 2.88 percent for the first half of last year.

China should also promote domestic consumption to boost economic growth, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2009)