Slow but steady [By Gou Ben/China.org.cn]

China's third-quarter economic growth fell to its lowest pace in five years, causing concerns that the world's second largest country may not be able to keep its annual growth target for the first time since 1998.

Though the quarterly growth is slightly below the annual target of "about 7.5 percent" set by the government, it will be a natural shift rather than a dangerous alarm about the economic outlook, especially during a transitional period when the country has sped up structural adjustment and industrial upgrading.

Last Tuesday, China's GDP posted 7.3 percent growth over a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, marking a five-year low since 2009, when growth fell to 6.6 percent due to the global financial crisis.

Exports, on the other hand, increased 15.3 percent year-on-year in September, up from 9.4 percent over the previous month.

In September, fixed asset investment had increased 16.3 percent year-on-year, a drop from the 16.5 percent increase in August. Industrial production expanded to 8 percent from 6.9 percent, compared with a month earlier. Retail sales rose 11.6 percent from 11.9 percent in August.

But unlike in 2009, the main drivers for the weakest growth in the third quarter of the year are a result of combined effects such as reduced consumption, as well as some tightening housing policies which have caused the faltering property market to increasingly drag on manufacturing and investment.

Housing sales fell 10.8 percent in value during the first nine months of this year, official data showed.

What really matters to China right now is whether the economic growth is "green" and sustainable, not the pursuit of the speed. China's Premier Li Keqiang told a delegation attending an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation finance ministers' meeting in Beijing last Tuesday that growth during the first three quarters remained within a "reasonable range" as the job market retained stability and "it takes time for China's reformative measures to be fully effective."