China's economic restructuring, which is seeing the coexistence of the upgrade of traditional industries and the booming development of emerging sectors, deserves an objective and comprehensive evaluation.
Just days after rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the outlook on China to negative from stable, the Chinese economy has produced some encouraging numbers.
China's purchasing managers' index came in at 50.2 in March, up from February's 49, above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction for the first time since August. It indicates an expansion of manufacturing activity in the country.
Official data also showed that profits of China's major industrial firms rose 4.8 percent year on year in the first two months of 2016, reversing last year's downward trend.
Besides, in January and February, power consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, stood at 876 billion kilowatt hours, up 2 percent from one year earlier. Electricity consumption in the tertiary or service sector rose by 11.9 percent and use by the secondary sector fell by 2.1 percent.
Those numbers showed that while a series of government policies to sustain growth have started to take effect in China, the Asian giant is already optimizing and upgrading its economic structure.
The new normal of the Chinese economy requires that it should not be simply measured by its growth rate, but be assessed in an all-round manner with the coexistence of both the new and old industrial sectors, said Toshiya Tsugami, a China expert and former official at Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
One major issue China faces is how to eliminate "zombie companies" that can only survive on government or bank aid, while creating new engines for development, Tsugami said, adding that China has been successful in cultivating emerging enterprises in such areas as services and information technology.
With the stimulation of Beijing's "Internet Plus" drive and other measures encouraging innovation and business start-up activities, the Chinese economy is embarking on an innovation-driven path while maintaining stability.
China's State Council on Wednesday announced a series of new policies to encourage innovation, including setting up three new "national innovation demonstration zones" in the provinces of Henan, Shandong and Liaoning, bringing the number of such areas to 14.
The State Council will also test innovative reforms in China's financial hub of Shanghai over three years, including exploring new financial service models and simplifying foreign investment rules.
Now, China's economy has entered a new era which sees a fusion of emerging and traditional industries, industrial differentiation and change of driving forces.
However, a change of driving forces for the economy requires time. Upgrading traditional industries to eliminate those with overcapacity cannot be achieved overnight, while developing emerging industries with an innovation-friendly environment needs time for reform policies to take effect. China has demonstrated that it has policy room to keep its economy stable.
Therefore, it is advisable to adopt a long-term perspective when analyzing China's economic reform as a partial analysis may lead to biased conclusions.
