Photo: VCG

China's GDP grew by 6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, slower than expected. It has triggered widespread discussions at home and abroad. The downward pressure on China's economy is persisting. The US-launched trade war against China and the sluggish global economy have also had a negative influence, which weighed down China's GDP growth.

However, achieving China's GDP growth target in 2019, which is set between 6.0 and 6.5 percent, doesn't seem to be a problem. A 6 percent annual growth rate is still the highest among the world's major economies. This is not self-consolation, but the truth.

Amid sluggish global economic growth, a single economy's strength is relative, and the quality of its economic growth matters. China's economic growth mirrors the country's comprehensive national strength as well as people's living standards. China is still developing and has a huge potential. 

Does China still enjoy the strongest growth among major countries? It certainly does. Take a look at China's infrastructure development, significant improvement in people's livelihood, advances in technology and national defense capabilities, and one would realize that the country's comprehensive progress is without doubt the most prominent among major powers. 

Over the past few years, China's GDP growth rate has been in gradual decline but as the economy continues to grow, China's real GDP increase has continued to expand each year. 

Is China's current comprehensive power stronger than five years ago? Have Chinese people's living standards, including food, clothing, housing and transportation, improved? Has China established or improved its social security, education, medical care and pension system? Has China promoted ecological and environmental protection? Has a greater portion of its population joined the country's modernization drive on a deeper level? Has the frequency of production safety accidents been reduced? Are more cities and towns cleaner? Are our lives generally more convenient and of better quality? 

All those areas are related to the GDP growth. Regardless of which aspect is assessed compared to other major economies, China's change is arguably the most significant in the past five years. China's development is solid, not to mention the country's crackdown on corruption and its economic restructuring while setting goals toward meeting the needs of people at the same time. China's ability to develop and to optimize its development has remained robust. The country's development has never stalled and is unlikely to show signs of stagnation. 

The problems the Chinese economy is facing are generally temporary and technical ones. The trade war will have an impact on sales of certain products. Proactive adjustments in the economic structure will inevitably bring temporary pain in certain fields. But suffering a bit does not necessarily mean it may not be beneficial to the long-term economic development. China's advantage lies in its resilience.