It is no wonder some observers have rushed to highlight the downward pressure on the economy. Since the global economy has yet to fully recover from the dire consequences of the 2008 global financial crisis, any precaution against a significant slowdown of the Chinese economy, an increasingly important driving force for global growth, was understandable.

But it would be wrong to regard China’s new normal simply as a buzz phrase invented by Beijing to lower expectations for its economic growth. If fast but extensive growth has been the trademark of China’s economic progress after the late 1970s, slower but sustainable development will define the unfolding age of the new normal, which Chinese policymakers have deemed as a must to deliver their promise of breaking through the so-called “middle-income trap” and realising high standards of living for most people.

With sound macroeconomic policies and continuous efforts to deepen reforms, China will neither allow the economic slowdown to go too broad and deep to disrupt its pursuit of two centennial goals, nor excessively boost growth at the expense of sustainability and quality.

-- Telegraph