Interview: China's growth remains main engine of global economy, says British economist

LONDON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's economy continues to expand steadily and remains a key driving force of global growth, British economist John Ross told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Ross, former director of economic and business policy for the mayor of London, said China's economy is performing fully in line with its 2025 growth target of "around 5 percent," citing data released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

According to the data, China's GDP grew 5.2 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2025, and posted a 4.8 percent increase in the third quarter alone from a year earlier.

"All claims made in sections of the Western media last year of a serious slowdown in China's economy, as usual, turned out to be entirely false," he said.

Placing China's performance in a global context, Ross said the country's growth rate is significantly outpacing that of major Western economies.

"China, in short, clearly continues to be the main motor of the global economy," he noted.

Data from the Chinese statistics bureau also show that in the first nine months of this year, China's total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 6.2 percent year-on-year. In September, the output expanded 6.5 percent year-on-year, with manufacturing and mining sectors posting rapid growth.

Ross noted that China's manufacturing sector remains a key driver of growth, with output of high-value-added products rising rapidly.

The growth of China's manufacturing sector is increasingly driven by high-value-added products such as electric vehicles, solar panels and drones, he said.

"China's latest GDP results indicate that not only are its quantitative targets being hit, but the cycle of its technological upgrading is continuing to develop even more rapidly than its quantitative growth," Ross noted. ■