Romania's former Prime Minister Adrian Na?stase makes speech at the 2th WZBC Wenzhou Entrepreneurs Forum held by Wenzhou Business College in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on November 21, 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Wenzhou Business College

There are no reasons for concern over China's economic development or pouring cool water on China's growth expectations, said Romania's former Prime Minister Adrian Năstase in a recent interview with the Global Times. 

"You have to be realistic, not necessarily optimistic or pessimistic regarding China's economy growth. It is clear that China has naturally an important internal market, and China also depends on the international environment, and that's why there might be ups and downs," Năstase said. 

It is not possible to see China continues with annual 10 percent economic growth, but China's GDP growth rate is still two to three times higher than many Western countries, so there are no reasons for concern, he said.

The remarks were made at the sideline of the 2th WZBC Wenzhou Entrepreneurs Forum held by Wenzhou Business College in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on Tuesday. 

Năstase has visited China on several occasions, with his first visit back in 1979.

He was impressed by China's development. In his eyes, China and Chinese people are dealing with their own problems, such as offering jobs, housing, foods and other modern conditions of life to the entire population almost alone.

A lot of people have gone beyond the threshold of poverty, which is "a fantastic development," and there are new things in the urban architecture, in living standards, in the way the people dress, and the level of education and the number of universities, so "there is a huge potential for sustained development in the future," he added. 

Romania was one of the earliest countries to respond to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Under the BRI framework, China and Romania have achieved a series of remarkable outcomes in economic and trade cooperation. 

In an article written by Han Chunlin, Chinese Ambassador to Romania, posted in the local newspaper Adevărul on September 15, Han said China is willing to work with Romania and other countries and international organizations to promote the joint construction of the BRI toward high-quality development and inject new momentum into global economic recovery.

"In my opinion, the BRI represents the most important infrastructure projects, which will aid the development of around 150 countries in the world," he said.  There were concerns that "this BRI project might mean a kind of intention of carving out new zones of influence" for China, but what is really important is what it will remain as a result of those projects in the involved countries.

"Romania has benefited to some extent, but not enough. It is clear that we are lacking a lot of critical infrastructure and not only the highways roads but also in telecommunication or technology, and there are a lot of areas in which we should develop. I hope that we shall benefit out of those financing and technologies which are now the quickest engine for development," Năstase said.