On a strong rebound

China's V-shaped recovery, as expected, gained further momentum in the third quarter to justify a recent change in policy tone by the central government. The job ahead is to seize the looming window of opportunity over the next few quarters to focus on the quality of economic growth.

Latest statistics show that China's economic growth accelerated further in the last quarter to 8.9 percent compared with year-on-year growth of 7.9 percent in the second quarter and 6.1 percent in the first quarter. As a result, the Chinese economy expanded 7.7 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2009 - much faster than any other major economy.

Such a strong recovery should bring to a decisive end the skepticism abroad about the country's capability to keep its economy growing fast enough for creating enough jobs and maintaining social stability. The full-year growth target of 8 percent, over which doubts were cast by most outside observers at the beginning of the year, is undoubtedly within reach now.