国内英语新闻:Financial sector official clarifies misunderstandings of int'l community over China's econ

HONG KONG, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Guo Shuqing, Party chief of the People's Bank of China and chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, clarified a number of misunderstandings the international community has on China's economy Monday at a forum.

At the 14th Asian Financial Forum, Guo said that for a long time, China's economic and social development have made a positive global impact and over the past decade, China contributed 30 percent on average to global growth.

Yet internationally, there have been some negative remarks on China's economy, he said, pointing out that obviously misunderstandings exist.

He said the private sector now accounts for 60 percent of China's economy while before 1978, there were hardly any, and China's industrial policies in general have been consistent with the market-oriented reforms.

At the end of 1970s, China encouraged light industries and lifted import restrictions on consumer goods, making China "expo of brands of all nations." Since late 1980s, China's main policies have been to prevent duplicated constructions resulting from over competition, he added.

Guo noted that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in general are subject to negative subsidies from the government budget.

He also said banks and SOEs are financially independent from each other and banks' ownership has long been well diversified. Even banks with relatively large state-owned shares, are impossible to transfer benefits to state-owned enterprises.

The strong competitiveness of Chinese production is not due to a lack of labor protection, Guo said, noting that China's Constitution and laws provide strong protection for people's interests and in the past 10 years, the income of Chinese workers has grown rapidly.

Organized by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the forum is an online event being held from Monday to Tuesday.

Under the theme "Reshaping the World Economic Landscape," the forum runs round the clock across different time zones, providing a platform for policymakers, financial experts, investors, business leaders and economists to examine the current economic landscape and explore global business opportunities.