Experts: China's development anchor of world economy

China's development is a vital contributor to global economic growth and a source of new opportunities for international partners, experts said at a forum in Beijing on Sunday.

At the Mingde Strategic Dialogue 2026, former political leaders and scholars from across the world discussed topics such as China's high-quality development, global growth and economic governance.

Jennifer Shipley, former prime minister of New Zealand, emphasized China's crucial role in fostering global stability and prosperity.

Today, nations are all searching for anchors of stability and pathways to inclusive and shared prosperity, Shipley said, noting China has contributed to all of these attributes.

Without China's momentum, global growth over the past 20 years would have been "somewhat miserable", Shipley said, adding that its growth had brought "material and measurable prosperity" to economies such as New Zealand.

China accounted for about 30 percent of global economic growth on average from 2021 to 2025, the largest contribution by any economy, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Mulatu Teshome, former president of Ethiopia, said China's high-quality development helps stabilize the global economy.

Its shift toward green technologies, advanced manufacturing and modern services offers new opportunities for partners, he said.

China is also deepening global integration, particularly with the Global South. Measures such as zero-tariff treatment for developing countries help "boost industrial sectors, raw material markets and processed industries from Africa to Latin America", he said.

Huang Hanquan, head of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, said China underpins the global economy through its super-sized market, upgraded industrial and supply chains, and the global expansion of Chinese companies.

China's retail sales of consumer goods topped 50 trillion yuan ($7.47 trillion) last year for the first time, keeping it the world's second-largest consumer market, Huang said.

China's opening-up is creating opportunities for foreign goods to enter its market, including through the annual China International Import Expo, he added.

China's imports reached 18.5 trillion yuan last year, making it the world's second-largest import market for 17 consecutive years, according to the Commerce Ministry. The country registered import growth from more than 130 countries and regions and has become a major export destination for nearly 80 countries.

Huang said China's exports shift increasingly from finished consumer goods to intermediate products, supporting industrialization of the world, especially in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as re-industrialization in developed economies, including the United States and Europe.

A March report by the McKinsey Global Institute similarly described China as a "factory to the factories", supplying intermediate inputs and capital goods for production worldwide.

Richard Caplan, a professor of international relations at Oxford University, said China's economic momentum has notably boosted global growth.

"Going forward, I think that China is playing and can play an important role in contributing to global economic growth with respect to the transfer of technology and knowledge," he said, adding that Chinese investments have been very important for growth worldwide.

The Mingde Strategic Dialogue 2026, themed "Resilience and Vitality: New Opportunities China's Development Brings to the World", was hosted by Renmin University of China and organized by its Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies and School of Global Leadership.