Davos 2026: China's economy is facing some structural issues, says CGTN's Guan Xin

China's economy is facing structural challenges that require a renewed focus on expanding domestic demand and rebalancing growth, according to a senior Chinese media executive. "You're absolutely correct about your observation about the Chinese economy," Guan Xin, Editor at CGTN, said while speaking to India Today's Rajdeep Sardesai on the sidelines of WEF Davos 2026.

"Indeed, we're having some structural issues about the economy, and actually it's very difficult to navigate China's economy, which is now at a huge size compared to like a decade ago," Guan said.  

On domestic challenges, Guan accepted that growth has been uneven. She said Beijing has recognised the need for rebalancing. "We have fully recognised these challenges like we are actively expanding our domestic demand and we're trying to invest in human capital and increase the household incomes, create more social security net for them," Guan said.

"These measures are aiming at long-term rebalancing of the Chinese economy, and that can foster uh sustainable growth momentum going forward," she added.

Guan said China is also investing in new growth engines. "We're investing heavily on you know green industries, the artificial intelligence sectors, and we hope these areas will generates more growth avenues for the economy," she said. "So as the country is overcoming the so-called middle-income trap."

On India, Guan described New Delhi as a key partner rather than an adversary. "I think definitely India is very important partner of China," she said. "We have to meet, there are some frictions or even some disputes. It is very normal because we're now one of those major economies in the world," Guan said, adding that shared interests outweigh disagreements.

"The common interest between our nations far exceeded those disagreements and we will continue to make efforts to continue to narrow the list of these conflicting issues," she said.

She also highlighted the scale of cooperation between New Delhi and Beijing. "The shared interests between China and India are manifested in we are important growth drivers of the world, we have one-third of the global population," Guan said. "We are also the largest developing countries and we're the anchors of the global south, so working together we can also improve the voice in global governance and to reflect more of emerging markets and developing economies."

On competition, Guan acknowledged rivalry but urged restraint. "Of course, there will be competition. In economic theory, these competitions are mostly healthy," she said. "The point is we need to manage these healthy competitions instead of escalating tensions or even politicalizing trade issues," Guan said. "It is in the interest of all the nations to foster healthy competition instead of politicalize trade issues."

Asked to explain China's economic success, Guan rejected the notion that it stems from authoritarian control. "Chinese actually think we're very vibrant democracy," she said. "If you go to China and go to the two sessions at the beginning of this year, you can see thousands of experts gathered in Beijing and they have all kinds of meetings and they will submit their proposals about how to improve the economic governance and policies through their year-long work."

"Some of them are really deep-rooted in the rural areas, and they really see how China's economic policies work in rural areas, and they bring their wisdom and their contributions and they sit together and discuss China's economic priorities," she added. "This unity and this planning in advance and implementation really give us this long-term vision going forward."

Asked whether China's pushback against US pressure — including its leverage over rare earths — signalled a refusal to be bullied, Guan defended Beijing's approach. "We are not going to be bullied by a country that is using strength to pressure others," she said.

At the same time, she said China's response was calibrated. "But China's counter-measures are legitimate and proportionate, and it does not aim to escalate the tensions," Guan said, adding that dialogue remains open. "We are still fully committed to resolving our differences through mutually beneficial um consultations and we have established this working group with the United States and keep the communications going."