Eight Chinese, led by Premier Li Keqiang, have made it to the US magazine Foreign Policy‘s list of 100 “Leading Global Thinkers of last year”.
The leaders on the list were acknowledged for their “courage to lay their reputations on the line, the cunning to seize opportunities, or the wisdom to recognise that the worst enemy of the political establishment is often inertia”, according to the magazine.
Li’s selection for the list is not doubt well-deserved.
As a leading emerging economy, China adopted effective measures in the past year to achieve stable growth, improved the quality and efficiency of its economy, and made progress in terms of economic transition and upgrading. Core indicators such the speed of growth, inflation and employment were maintained at reasonable levels.
Li’s policies have produced enviable results and his guiding principles have won wide recognition.
However, the overall picture doesn’t look very good for emerging economies as a whole. Risks already grew considerably last year for these countries after a round of rapid growth.
Just as China’s traditional growth model is no longer sustainable, other emerging economies also felt growing pressure to effect a transition, while at the same time they face a slowdown in their economies. The combination of both factors has led to concern as to whether the emerging economies have come to a critical stage of their development.