China top competitor for how long?

BEIJING - Despite the many challenges facing China's manufacturing industry, the country will remain king of manufacturing competitiveness over the next five years, consulting firm Deloitte said in a recent report.

Backed by a relatively abundant pool of unskilled and skilled talent, China is still among the top drivers of competitiveness including talent-driven innovation, cost of labor and materials, energy costs and policies, said the report.

China's manufacturing industry however faces many challenges such as rising labor costs and a possible appreciation of the yuan, according to Rosa Yang, manufacturing industry leader of Deloitte China.