Quotable

"For the third time since the Asian financial crisis, the country is in the midst of another major push to get private enterprises into more businesses. If the reformers prove to be third-time lucky, then strong economic growth could continue to be a key sovereign-rating support for the foreseeable future."

KimEng Tan, a Standard & Poor's credit analyst.

"Facing the promising green and low-carbon markets, related companies should increase their investments in research, development and the application of low-carbon technology to strengthen their competitiveness in the global market."

Xie Zhenhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission. China has committed to reduce its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level and raise its non-fossil energy consumption percentage to 15 percent of its energy mix.

"We shouldn't be too pessimistic; the bottom line in the government's two previous five-year plans was 7 percent. We should prepare for a fairly long, difficult period, as that is the cost of reform."

Yu Yongding, an economist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. China's GDP growth slowed to 7.6 percent in the January-June period of 2013, the weakest first-half performance in three years.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/16/2013 page18)