But all is not rosy in China’s business landscape. Earlier this week Beijing announced that its GDP grew last year at the slowest pace since 1990. And amid that economic slowdown, China’s authorities are unrolling new stimulus measures to avoid a hard landing, and ratings agencies are warning about Chinese firms capacity to pay their debts.
Sentiment within China’s borders has also taken a hit: One viral line on Chinese social media said, “The year of 2018 was the worst year for China in the past decade, but it will be the best year for China in the next decade.”
Yet despite all that, Zhang and Zeng expressed confidence about their country’s growth prospects.
“China can generate its own domestic consumption, which can drive its own economy to grow better,” Zhang said. “During the last four decades of opening up, for every eight to 10 years, we would hear such pessimistic views, but our central government has always created miracles.”
“I do not believe such a challenge can’t be overcome. I certainly do not believe 2018 will be the best year in the next decade. I do not agree with that,” Zhang added.
Zeng also expressed that degree of confidence.
“As automobile manufacturers, we still have lots of room to maneuver,” Zeng told CNBC. “We have such a big home market. Look at the USA, 80 people out of 100 already own cars, 60 out of 100 in Japan own cars. But out of 100, only 17 people own cars in China.”
Both business leaders’ commentary mirrored the lines from other Chinese representatives attending the 2019 World Economic Forum. That included Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, who tried to ease the fears about China’s economic slowdown and argued that the country’s growth “will continue and will be sustainable.”
from Viral News Updates http://bit.ly/2MAnE3S
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