Windhoek: China's economy continues to expand steadily and remains a key driving force of global growth, British economist John Ross told Xinhua in a recent interview. Ross, former director of economic and business policy for the mayor of London, said China's economy is performing fully in line with its 2025 growth target of "around 5 percent," citing data released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

According to Namibia Press Agency, the data reveals that China's GDP grew 5.2 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2025, with a 4.8 percent increase in the third quarter alone from a year earlier. Ross criticized claims by some Western media last year of a serious slowdown in China's economy, stating that these predictions have proven to be false.

Placing China's performance in a global context, Ross emphasized that China's growth rate is significantly outpacing that of major Western economies. "China, in short, clearly continues to be the main motor of the global economy," he noted.

Data from the Chinese statistics bureau further shows that in the first nine months of this year, China's total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 6.2 percent year-on-year. In September, the output expanded 6.5 percent year-on-year, with manufacturing and mining sectors posting rapid growth.

Ross highlighted that China's manufacturing sector remains a key driver of growth, with output of high-value-added products rising rapidly. The growth of China's manufacturing sector is increasingly driven by high-value-added products such as electric vehicles, solar panels, and drones.

"China's latest GDP results indicate that not only are its quantitative targets being hit, but the cycle of its technological upgrading is continuing to develop even more rapidly than its quantitative growth," Ross noted.