The Chinese economy is showing strong resilience amid the current global economic uncertainty and has a clear policy direction mapped out, though key decisions must still be made to navigate through unforeseen developments in the short term, according to Achim Steiner, administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Steiner, who on Tuesday wraps up a week-long visit to China, discussed the country’s economic prospects in the face of worldwide disruptions during an exclusive interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Beijing.
"Many countries at the moment, including China, are going through a period where disruption and shocks are more pronounced than maybe in the ten years before. Some of this has to do with bilateral relations, some would have to do with economic disruptions, the financial crisis, the debt crisis. All of these have affected our overall economic progress, and that inevitably is reflected in domestic policies and also sometimes dilemmas," he said.
In spite of the global economic downturn, Steiner said China's economy is showing resilience, thanks largely to its scale, but said the government's policy decisions are still of vital importance in directing the country through the current difficulties.
"Now China is still in I think, a very privileged position, from the point of view that it is such a large economy, it can absorb some of those shocks. Having said that, I think, particularly in this moment of economic uncertainty, the policy decisions of government matter a great deal. [Questions such as] where is the stimulus package? In which direction should our next technology frontier go? How do we deal with the fact that there's a risk of leaving many people behind, particularly when job markets contract? These are difficult choices to make," said Steiner.
While China's economic policies have been effective in steering the country forward, the UN official believes that key decisions will still have to be made to map out the coming years and face a new set of unseen challenges.
"But I think China at the moment is still very clear in terms of the direction in which it is moving. But it has to adjust, in the short term, to developments that are perhaps sometimes unforeseen. I think we are about to enter a very intense period of thinking about the next five-year plan in China. I think this will be a key moment to, in a sense test all sorts of the assumptions about the future and where China will maintain direction and where maybe it will adjust directions," said Steiner.
Chinese economy shows resilience amid global economic uncertainty: UNDP Administrator
