Li says economy regains composure

Premier Li Keqiang meets with visiting World Bank President Jim Yong Kim in Beijing on Wednesday. WU ZHIYI / CHINA DAILY

China is getting new dynamics for economic growth and creating new jobs, Premier Li Keqiang assured the visiting chief of the World Bank on Wednesday.

The Chinese economy is regaining its composure and making new progress, the premier told Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group.

China has earned rich experience from its past reform and development and "has accumulated an ample stock" of policies and political instruments to deal with the difficulties it faces and any new challenges and risks.

Kim was in Beijing ahead of the Group of 20 meeting of central bankers and finance ministers, scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Shanghai.

The Chinese premier expressed willingness to improve information-sharing and strengthen coordination and collaboration with the international community.

The forthcoming meeting of G20 central bankers and finance ministers will focus on stabilizing the global financial market and promoting economic growth. But Li did not mention the so-called second Plaza Accord — primarily a consensus about the yuan — that some overseas media have talked about.

Many Chinese commentators think the Plaza Accord of 1985, reached in New York by finance ministers from five developed countries, did not solve many problems in the world and was partly to blame for the Japanese asset bubble and subsequent slowdown.

Zhang Yiming, a commentator on Easternmoney.com, a financial information website, went so far as to call it a product of "Western imperialism".

Zhao Xijun, deputy dean of the School of Finance at Renmin University of China, said it is very important for China to enhance policy-level communication with other countries through international platforms such as the G20.

"As we are now all facing the pressure of the global economic downturn, it is important for countries around the world to know more about each other's policies and thus to avoid policy conflicts, such as a currency war," Zhao said.

Although China's foreign exchange reserve fell in January to $3.23 trillion, the lowest in the past three years, Xiao Lian, an economist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the number is still manageable.

"The foreign exchange reserve is affected by many elements, not just import and export numbers," he said. "China's foreign reserve outflow has been a trend for one year or so. I believe that if necessary, the government will take due measures to deal with it."

Xiao also said that it is China's own decision whether to join the expected "New Plaza Accord".

zhangyue@chinadaily.com.cn