“The Chinese people are fond of tea and the Belgians love beer. To me， the moderate tea drinker and the passionate beer lover represent two ways of understanding life and knowing the world， and I find them equally rewarding.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping used this metaphor in his April 1 speech in the Belgian city of Bruges during his recent visit to Europe. He added that Chinese traditional wisdom states that people can agree to disagree， and the EU operates under the motto “united in diversity.” Joint efforts by the two sides could contribute to prosperity of all civilizations on the planet.

“I hope that the relationships between China， the U.S. and Japan are founded on a fundamental consensus. As the worlds three largest economies， we have special obligations， not only to our own people， but also to the international community， to remain on good terms with one another. This requires efforts by all parties to move in the same direction. With a proactive， cooperative and constructive attitude， China is aspiring to build with the U.S. a new type of relationship between major countries. We also wish to advance a healthy and normal relationship with Japan. These goals require concerted endeavors by the two countries.”

Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai made this comment during an interview with people.com.cn. He added that all countries should observe the tenets and principles of the UN Charter.

China Economic Weekly

Issue No. 11， published on March 24

Upon What Is Confidence in Chinas Steady Economic Growth Based？

Today， the statistic that most polarizes world attention is that of Chinas annual GDP growth. It was certainly the focus of the recently concluded annual NPC and CPPCC sessions. American and British reporters at the press conference Premier Li Keqiang held for domestic and foreign journalists took the opportunity to express their concerns on this topic， asking Premier Li： will China realize its annual growth target of 7.5 percent， and if so， how？

Attendant on these concerns is the generally skeptical international public opinion as regards Chinas ability to maintain high-speed， steady growth. It is evident in the “collapse theory” and “prophecy” of a hard landing. There have been two phases of world concern about Chinas growth rate since the 1980s， when Chinas reform and opening-up policy came into effect. During the first 30 years， international society was both stunned and impressed by Chinas two-digit growth over successive years. The second phase， since 2012， has seen the Chinese government take the initiative to lower its target growth. Despite the upbeat economic growth momentum that took 2010 growth to 10.45 percent and that in 2011 to 9.3 percent， the Chinese government lowered target growth to less than eight percent. This has aroused doubts and suspicion throughout the world.

The economic slowdown seemingly broke the thinking inertia of Western public opinion. Its pessimistic prediction was that China might not reach 7.5 percent in 2013， but rather around three to four percent. A hard landing was consequently in the offing. But China realized a growth of 7.7 percent in 2013， so surpassing the preset target of “about 7.5 percent.”

In 2014， China faces the situation， as Premier Li expressed in his government work report， whereby “painful structural adjustments need to be made； the pace of economic growth is changing， and downward pressure on the economy remains great.” China nevertheless has once again preset a GDP growth of around 7.5 percent.