“China will face more and tougher problems and challenges in its development this year, so we must be fully prepared to fight a difficult battle. […] We will not be daunted by these problems and challenges. There is no difficulty we cannot get beyond.”
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in his Government Work Report to the National People’s Congress (NPC), March 5, 2016.

“The Chinese economy will definitely not see a hard landing. Please relax, such a possibility doesn’t exist.”
Xu Shaoshi, Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), at a press conference in Beijing, March 6, 2016

“The biggest challenge for overseas companies in China is not the Chinese government, regulations or laws. When you’re a company coming into China from the United States, Europe or Southeast Asia, you’re entering a completely different market. Think about it like this – when you learn how to do something, you might spend 10,000 hours and become an expert. You develop a gut instinct. But once you go into a market that’s different, like China, your gut instincts are wrong.”
William Bao Bean, Partner at Shanghai venture capital firm SOSV, quoted on the South China Morning Post website, January 30, 2016.

“China has reached the point of no return – the country needs to deepen reforms to avoid the middle-income trap. We can no longer depend on investment; we need to rely on innovation and economic reforms to deliver the next wave of economic growth.”
Jiang Jianqing, Chairman of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), quoted in the Shanghai Daily, January 23, 2016.

“It is normal for a company to encounter various problems when making investment, whether domestically or overseas. When doing business, one should focus on business. Problems that occur in business operations should not be politicized, and Chinese companies should not be viewed with bias. Competition is necessary for a business to grow, and no one will give away a market to its rivals. We hope that such competition is benign and market-based. There should be no swing doors or glass doors which are placed as non-economic or non-market-based barriers.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping in an interview with Reuters, October 19, 2015

“The real economy is like the body, and the finance sector is like the blood. The problem with the Chinese finance sector is not anemia, but poor circulation of the blood.”
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, quoted in the China Daily, April 18, 2015.