These challenges are new and complicated. The years of emerging economies flourishing seem to be over, and there is no single country that can solve such issues independently. Unilateralism is not going to solve global conflicts. The world needs a new development strategy with vision. Every trading nation has to face the constantly changing circumstances that are increasingly more complicated, inherently difficult and interrelated in a global context. Reshaping 21st century trade policies is particularly challenging for top trading nations like China and the United States. As we can all see from Asian regional economic cooperation, a sound de facto U.S.-China bilateral diplomatic relationship is not only critical to a new Asian regional trade regime, but also to dynamic world economic prosperity.

China has to face new trends in the world economy too: The U.S. is attracting more foreign direct investment than China; manufacturing labor costs in India and the Philippine are now lower than they are in China; climate change and sustainable development have become the most pressing challenges facing humanity; regionalism is playing a more aggressive role in global trade and geopolitics; and collapsing oil prices are making the world economy vulnerable. According to Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the global economy is entering an era of "new mediocre" growth.

Inside China, economic challenges are ongoing and ever-changing. As stated by Ma Jiantang, the head of the National Bureau of Statistics, the country is undertaking a problem-solving urbanization project involving 300 million people: 100 million people who have already moved to cities and who expect new policies to support their urbanization; 100 million who are waiting to immigrate from the countryside of northwest China to larger cities; and another 100 million who live in villages under the jurisdiction of cities waiting for further policies that allow them to be better off. The issue of dealing with the urbanization of 300 million people remains a huge challenge for the Chinese leadership. Furthermore, China has also transformed its economy from an agricultural to an industrial to a consumer economy in just one generation. Needless to say, a "new normal" Chinese economy has to deal with both domestic and global complexity and uncertainty.

The combination of China's "new normal" economy with Lagarde's "new mediocre" global economic growth has significant implications for both China and the world. The rebalancing and restructuring of China's economy toward a "new normal" will prove very helpful to sustaining the global economy.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:http://www.h5a3.com/opinion/zhanglijuan.htm

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