China outbound investment surge reinforces growth confidence

China's 13th Five-year Plan (2016-2020) has set the target of maintaining medium-high growth. While no official targets have been released, Xi said previously that annual growth of 6.5 percent would be required for China to achieve the target of doubling 2010 GDP and per capita income of both urban and rural residents by 2020, and complete the building of a moderately prosperous society.

China is still a major world economic powerhouse given the economy contributes 30 percent to world growth despite growth slowing to 6.9 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters.

"China's growth potential is huge in sectors including consumption and green industries," said Zhang, citing the substantial number of online transactions on Singles' Day, the Nov 11 equivalent of the American Cyber Monday.

Alibaba's Tmall online marketplace on Thursday reported Singles Day sales totaling 91.2 billion yuan, a 60-percent rise from last year. Singles Day has become the world's biggest annual online shopping day -- nearly five times larger than Cyber Monday.

"This shows that the world's second largest economy is successfully tapping into the potential of domestic consumption," said Zhang.

China's online sales surged by 34.6 percent year on year in October this year to 2.95 trillion yuan, while retail sales of consumer goods grew 11 percent from the same period last year to 2.83 trillion yuan, the record high year-on-year rise of 2015.

"Looking ahead, green growth, as one of five key developments concepts in the 13th Five-year Plan, will spur pro-growth technological innovation in sectors ranging from electricity generation, steel production, construction materials and beyond," said Zhang.

The environmental protection industry has grown by around 20 percent each year from 2011 to 2015, with more than $500 billion injected into the sector during that period. A further 2 trillion yuan is expected to flood in each year during 2016-2020 period.

"China's foreign exchange reserves and industrial upgrading make domestic and overseas investment both viable and necessary," said Zhang, adding that financial reforms will offer more opportunities to foreign entities to enjoy China's growth.