Innovation justifies optimism in China's long-term economic outlook: Nikkei Asia

TOKYO, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's ever-strengthening focus on product and technological innovation should underpin confidence in its longer-term economic outlook, reported Nikkei Asia.

Noting that ever-more hyperbolic terms are being used to describe China's economic outlook these days, William Bratton, head of Asia-Pacific cash equity research at BNP Paribas, said in an opinion piece that a frequent omission from such narratives is China's zeal for innovation, and its link to sustainable, productivity-led, long-term economic growth.

Bratton stressed that China's innovative spirit will continue creating many exciting, dynamic, high-growth investment opportunities.

Bratton pointed out that over the last decade, China has embraced innovation with unprecedented passion and transformed into a nation with sophisticated, complex and frequently world-leading innovation capabilities within an incredibly short period.

China's technological prowess has consistently surprised to the upside, whether in terms of electric vehicles, new energy, artificial intelligence, space exploration, or, most recently, semiconductors, Bratton said, adding that it is now easier to specify areas where China's capabilities lag than all the areas where it has been able to develop leading-edge technologies.

The momentum is expected to continue, further entrenching China's status as Asia's innovation hub, with Chinese entities now being the innovation leaders across a wide range of advanced technologies as eclectic as machine tools, nanotechnology, surface technologies and digital communications, Bratton said.

Focusing on innovation is critical to China's strategy to sustain its economic trajectory and escape the middle-income trap. The country's "hyperaggressive" focus on innovation will support its efforts to transform its economic model toward more sustainable, productivity-led growth, Bratton noted.