Last month, China’s leaders revealed details of the 13th Five-Year Plan, which will guide the economy’s trajectory until 2020. Gone are the directives to expand industrial production at a breakneck pace that characterized previous five-year plans. Now, the focus is on achieving sustainable long-term growth, underpinned by domestic consumption, a stronger services sector, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

The International Monetary Fund on Monday is adding the Chinese yuan to the basket of elite currencies comprising its lending reserve, marking a milestone in the country’s ascendancy as a global economic power.

With its economy slowing down, China is re-inventing itself as the next Startup Nation. A new report by UHY International, an accounting and consultancy firm based in London, unveiled data showing China is in pole position when it comes to entrepreneurship, spawning 4,000 new businesses a day.

Except for the disruptive years of the “cultural revolution”, the five-year planning system has given the country a unified strategic outlook, especially in the recent years of opening up and development. The current CPC Central Committee is steering the Chinese government, in the coming five years, to emphasize people’s livelihood and well-being, and to effectively promote economic transformation and consolidation.

In the past, people measured China’s contribution to global economic growth through China’s GDP growth. But many factors in the GDP are the profits created by the foreign companies’ investments in China, so new ways of looking at the impact of China’s economy are in order.

When it comes to economic rebalancing, China will need to be patient, recognizing that the current generation is simply too fixated on saving to provide the kind of surge in consumption that is needed. There are steps policymakers can take to accelerate progress, but, until the next generation grows up, real progress will have to wait.

Fluctuations in China’s currency and economy don’t have the wild effect on the global markets that many critics allege, and such accusations distract from a needed collective focus on maintaining stability.

Minxin Pei recognizes some brutal consequences of the one-child policy, and implores for outsiders and Chinese alike to emphasize the senseless cruelty that such measures imply and work to ensure that they are never seen again.

Corruption, however, while a persistent illness with a debilitating and self-generating momentum, is not exclusive to China. If truth be told, China’s largesse abroad is also a major source of corruption and fraud, especially when it involves government-to-government transactions where transparency and accountability are absent.

A recent McKinsey Global Institute report titled "The China Effect on Global Innovation" finds that China has the potential to evolve from an innovation sponge - absorbing and adapting global technologies and knowledge - to an innovation leader. As a matter of fact, China is far better at innovation than is generally known and, in some kinds of innovation, is already emerging as a global leader.