Reforms will result in fairer competition in China

DAVOS - Ongoing reforms in China will result in fairer competition in the country, the vice president of a leading business school said Friday.

Consumers in China will be better off thanks to tougher competition on the market, Hellmut Schuette, vice president and dean at China Europe International Business School told Xinhua in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

"Overall we have learned from around the world that if you want to have excellent companies in your country, you have to have a lot of competition," he said.

Schuette said companies aiming to exploit favorable labour costs in China would find themselves on the wrong footing. "China is not any more the low-cost country as it was ten years ago."

He said he had faith in the economic growth prospects in China. With a growth rate of 7 percent, the size of the economy would double in ten years, he argued.

Growth rates will have to go down as income per capita grows, he felt.

"When you look at countries - be it Switzerland or other European countries - none of them will never ever have again a 7 percent growth," Schuette said.

Schuette sees the slowdown of the growth rate in China as a natural development after years of rapid growth. "It is still growing very fast and we have to bear that in mind."

The discussion about the growth rates in China is less important to Schuette than quality and inclusive growth. "I hope to see more quality growth which also takes care of employment issues and better provision of products and services to consumers."

"I feel that we should somehow forget about the slowdown, which could be quite good and healthy for the economy," he said.