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Stop bashing China.
Such a strong pro-China call comes not from domestic economists, but Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley's chief economist.
Roach has drafted a report in which he says that "(China-bashing) must be resisted at all cost."
Besides the convincing figures and reasoning in the report, what makes it especially impressive is that less than two month ago the author blamed China for contributing to global deflation by exporting cheap products.
Now in the new report, Roach had courageously corrected his own statements, admitting that "China has emerged as the scapegoat du jour, blamed for a wide range of troubles that now ail the world." He further states that "the transition and development of the Chinese economy, in my view, continues to represent a huge plus for the world at large."
Roach is not alone in refuting China-bashing sentiment.
Recently, in a speech to the Economic Club of New York, the US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan pointed out that China's economic growth would not lead to global deflation. He frankly said that talks of China causing deflation in other countries were exaggerated.
Such pragmatic views not only come as a relief to China, but also benefit the global economy.
Misconceptions may prevent people from seeing the real reason behind their financial difficulties, lead to false remedies, and make the matter worse.
Thus, such cool-headed ideas are especially valuable because when people are closer to the truth, the solution will not be far away.
China has made great contributions to the economic stability of the world by maintaining its stable currency rate and rational exchange rate even in the most difficult times of the Asian financial crisis. And its strenuous efforts to spur consumption have made it a key regional growth engine in recent years.
Nevertheless, against the bleak picture of the world economy, some may feel uneasy about China's brisk growth.
But we are not in a zero-sum game. China's gain is not another country's loss and after all a co-operative and mutual beneficial international environment will definitely help all find solutions to sail through tough times.
(China Daily December 26, 2002)
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