Momentum of transformation must be maintained

Editor's Note: The Communist Party of China is holding its 19th National Congress in Beijing. China Daily asked four prominent experts for their views on developments in China and the country's global leadership.

Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank, has been working with China for many years. He started discussing foreign direct investment with Chinese negotiators, on behalf of the French government, nearly four decades ago, when China was in the nascent stages of shifting from a planned economy to its current policy of reform and opening-up.

Trichet, who has advised "many French prime ministers", said China's huge transformation was a dream that could not be realized in a single generation. "But I am a witness of China's rapid progress," Trichet said in Paris.