As China is busy getting ready to host the Olympic Games next summer, the year 2008 presents a big year for the Chinese economy.

The year-end Central Economic Work Conference, an annual event initiated more than a decade ago, will see the Chinese authorities work out strategies and resolutions that the country needs to advance its pursuit of sustainable growth.

Expectations are high on the country's economic growth. While the national economy is expected to surge by 11.5 percent this year, the fifth year in a row of double-digit growth, it is widely believed that the world's fourth largest economy will remain robust in 2008 in spite of a looming US economic slowdown.

For Chinese policymakers, preventing the economy from overheating, and the current price hikes from evolving into overall inflation, are among the most urgent tasks.

Though the central authorities have strengthened macroeconomic control, the country's sizzling capital spending and bank lending which jumped 26.9 percent and 26 percent respectively in the first 10 months have pushed overall economic growth into a higher gear.

If such excessive investment and credit growth cannot be promptly brought under control, the Chinese economy will risk both overcapacity and dangerous asset bubbles.

Meanwhile, the acceleration of price gains in the second half of this year has already bitten deep into the pockets of low-income families. To ensure that people's livelihood can be improved along the country's economic expansion, policymakers must devote more efforts next year to stabilize prices and tame inflationary expectations.

The year of 2008 will also be a big year for China's sustainable growth because it will largely decide if the country will be able to meet its five-year goal to save energy and cut pollution. By the end of next year, China will take stock of its actual progress on lowering energy use per unit of GDP by 20 percent and reducing pollutant discharges by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010.

The country failed to meet the annual goal of cutting energy intensity by 4 percent last year. And the reduction of energy intensity by 3 percent in the first three quarters this year is still not fast enough.

Hence, how China speeds up its progress on energy saving and environmental protection next year will be critical to achieving not only its five-year development goals but also the transformation of its growth path to a sustainable one.