Tapping growth potential

Deepening reform and expanding opening-up will inject new vitality into economic development over the next two decades

China's economic growth declined to 9.2 percent in 2011, down from 10.4 percent a year earlier, as the result of the tightened monetary and banking policies adopted to rein in inflation. This moderate decline is within government expectations and still overshadows economic performance in the rest of the world.

But there are still some in China and beyond who have expressed concerns over the country's economic prospects, believing China's fast-growing economy has already run out of steam after more than 30 years of marvelous development and that the pace will continue to decelerate. Some have even predicted the country's economy will suffer a hard landing. Such concerns and conclusions, however, contravene China's basic national conditions and the huge economic potential that remains to be tapped.