COPENHAGEN, Aug. 21 -- China's late leader Deng Xiaoping integrated China into the global economy, which benefits not only China but also the world, a leading Danish expert on Asia study told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"Without China's joining in economic globalization, the world would not have seen the high global growth from the 1980s to 2005," said Joergen Oerstroem Moeller ahead of the 110th anniversary of the birth of Deng Xiaoping.

Moeller had served as the Danish ambassador to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand and is now a visiting senior research fellow at Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore and also an adjunct professor at Singapore Management University and Copenhagen Business School.

Moeller said Deng is a "realist," seeing the world as it is. "He showed the rare ability to combine pursuit of China's interest with the support of the global system," he said.

Talking about Deng's contributions to China, Moeller said the late Chinese leader changed the course of the country.

He said Deng embarked on the path of economic reform back in late 1970s because the model applied before did not work and Deng wanted to do something for China and the Chinese people.

"What makes a statesman is the ability to see when existing policies fail and need to be changed and implement those changes despite strong opposition," Moeller said.

"Deng's insight, intelligence, and will-power to control such a swing is unique and only seen in one or two statesmen every half century," he said.

Deng has a noted saying of "black cat-white cat" theory -- "A cat, be it white or black, is always a good cat as long as it catches a rat." Moeller called it "socialism with Chinese characteristics."

The expert said the cat theory had worked extremely well in China since Deng coined the phrase.

China has been undergoing rapid growth and great changes, and its leadership has a strong sense of reform, and constantly reiterated the need of deepening reform in all aspects, said Moeller.

He expressed confidence in China's further reform and opening-up, "mainly because the government and the Communist Party of China are well aware of most problems and communicate their policies with the people to tackle them. This is the first step in finding solutions."