The IMF holds a cautiously optimistic view about the prospects of the Chinese economy, recognizing that the important reason for a slowdown in China’s economy is the change in its development strategy. The services industry is rising, R&D is expanding slowly, and the financial system is modernizing. These changes take time and patience: If China chooses to slow down a little bit, it will be easier for the country to succeed and achieve the long-term goals it has anticipated.

The downturn of global financial and foreign exchange markets, is causing concerns in the Americas. A Chinese trade and investment focus on the “Pacific Pumas” would be a prudent strategy and help reduce tensions and suspicions between the U.S. and China in the region.

Enjoying great potential and elasticity, the Chinese economy has enough leeway to cope with various changes and challenges, and its general trend of steady growth -- pushing the global economy towards recovery -- remains unchanged.

The rapidly swelling local government debt in China over the past few years are seen by many as a trigger to a credit bubble, or even a full-blown financial crisis. Budget reform, the first critical reform among over 330 reform proposals of the Xi administration, has kicked off, laying the foundation for a more balanced and transparent government budget and financing structure. Yifan Hu outlines the areas needed for both short and long term structural changes.

Despite China’s remarkable growth, the property market still faces the challenges of consolidation, industrial overcapacity, financial risk, deflationary risk, and structural employment issues. In response the government will adjust to the economy’s “new normal” of slower growth, move toward an innovation based economy with more public goods and services, and pursue a proactive fiscal economy and a prudent monetary policy.

China’s “new normal” economic development is necessary to achieve more valuable GDP growth at a more reasonable speed and sustainability. Key components of these reforms will be decreased growth, higher-level manufacturing, narrowing of rural and urban wealth, capital exports, a consumer middle-class, and new small businesses.

China’s economic slowdown fueled by a real estate bubble, excessive debt, and manufacturing overcapacity could benefit from a change of structure. China’s service sector is now a greater percent of its economy than manufacturing and construction sectors, and with some additional government spending on social services, the economy could see long-term growth.

“New normal” has become a buzzword in China since the second half of 2014. At the APEC CEO Summit on November 10, 2014, President Xi characterized China’s “new normal” as slower growth, economic restructuring and innovation-driven growth.

Over the past two decades, China’s growth paradigm characterized by investment and driven by exports has run out of steam. A major feature of China’s current economy is overcapacity, especially in the real estate sector. An increase in domestic consumption and infrastructure investment will help continue growth, but the biggest challenge facing China in 2015 is the high corporate debt ratio.

The infrastructure needs of Asia are vast, and as China’s development showed in the last 30 years, infrastructure is essential for job creation, improvement of living standards, and economic growth. As an alternative to private financial investment, which mostly flows into mature markets, the AIIB seeks to create trans-national partnerships to aid infrastructure development.