Growth overseas can boost domestic activity

While stock markets around the world greeted China's better than expected first-quarter GDP figures with moderate enthusiasm, the recently announced 7.4 percent growth rate also sparked wide-ranging debate on the issue of current and future government intervention.

A rate of around 7.2-7.3 percent had been widely expected, but even with a slightly higher rate reported, anxious speculation remains rife with "stimulus package," "public sector debt," "over-capacity" and "domestic consumption" among the most common topics of discussion.

Certainly, many of the issues under discussion deserve attention - perhaps "domestic consumption" most of all.