China handles economy 'exceptionally well' despite obstacles, says British business leader

LONDON - Even in face of obstacles, China has still been handling its economy "exceptionally well," and its ideal of building a community with a shared future will eventually come through, Stephen Perry, chairman of Britain's 48 Group Club, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Recently, some multinationals are worried about China's slowdown in economic growth as its economy grew 6.6 percent year-on-year in 2018 despite global challenges. It was lower than the 6.8-percent growth registered in 2017, but was still above the official target of around 6.5 percent.

"The Chinese government has handled the development of their economy exceptionally well," said Perry, recipient of China Reform Friendship Medal for his contribution in the past 40 years to China's reform and opening-up.

"It was one of the incredible wonders of the world that China has managed the transformation of its economy without any great crisis, and it is very capable," he said.

Perry believed China has full experience in solving the current economic problems which are in part caused by the trade war waged by the United States.

He said, in recent years, China has been in economic transition of shifting its focus on economic quality and the welfare of their people, therefore soft drops in economic growth are predictable.

"The first thing is the transition, the 9, 10 percent growth was only going to last for a short number of years, and now we are looking at the 6 percent growth," Perry explained.

Perry also said China is faced with global challenges in its bid to be a leader in innovation. "With every sector that China is involved in, every sector that is going to be a normal transformation within innovation and technological advance, and in all of them you will see China plays a leading role," he said, but the West "are worried about losing their control" and that's why "there is a lot of reaction to China's rise."

"I think it (the West) is misreading. What China wants to do is to become an advanced economy for its people being able to share their (country's) wealth fairly and to be a happier prosperous society," he said.

To address concerns of the West, Perry said "I think the long-term resolution of these problems lies within a community with a shared future." In solving this problem, nations will learn to live with each other more effectively, Perry said. "It will take time for these values to come through, maybe 10, 20 or 30 years, we shall see that we don't have much conflict along the way," he said.