China's economy will continue to be successful in next 5 years, GDP growth expected to be around 5%: John Ross

John Ross, former director of Economic and Business Policy for the Mayor of London.Photo: Ma Jingjing/GT

China's economy will continue to be successful in the next five years, with the country's GDP growth rate likely continuing to grow at about 5 percent, John Ross, former director of Economic and Business Policy for the Mayor of London, told the Global Times in an interview during the 8th China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in East China's Shanghai.

"China's policies are brilliant," Ross said, speaking highly of China's commitment to going down the path of globalization.

This is very important because other countries want to know if China is firmly committed to this or not, since they will make their own economic plans accordingly, he said.

China has vowed to continue promoting high-level opening-up at this year's CIIE. The recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) adopted by the recently concluded fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China stressed that China will continue to expand opening up at the institutional level, safeguard the multilateral trading system, and promote broader international economic flows.

"I wrote an article on China around 30 years ago, which I said China's economy is going to be a great success," he said, noting that the country got the correct economic policies and thus the country would be successful.

"When I first started writing in 1992, China's economy was growing very fast. Now, the country has achieved something that almost no other developing country has ever achieved in history, and is to be a major technological leader," the expert said, highlighting China's leading place in areas like electric vehicles (EVs), drones, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals.

From domestically-developed large aircraft and the expansion of China's large vessel fleet to breakthroughs made by firms like DeepSeek and Unitree Robotics capturing global attention, China's innovation achievements have been making headlines in 2025. Recently, the World Intellectual Property Organization released the Global Innovation Index 2025, showing that China has risen to the 10th position for the first time.

"I've been studying China's economy for more than 30 years. The country's macroeconomic fundamentals allow China to grow at about 5 percent in the next five years," Ross said.

China spends about 2.7 percent of its GDP on research and development (R&D). This is by far the highest of any developing country. Why is this important? China is now allocating more resources than any other developing country to sustain growth, according to Ross.

This combination of high level of R&D and big investment opportunities in China means that it can take a product and an idea, and turn it very rapidly into a product, Ross said.

Despite growing protectionism and unilateralism from certain Western countries, China's exports continue to go up because the country is diversifying its foreign trade and exporting more the ASEAN and to the Global South, etc.

These are the fundamentals of China's economic growth. It will continue to be successful, he said.