"The stronger-than-expected rebound in new lending and total social financing, as well as stable M2 growth in January, is supportive for growth in the near term. With inflationary pressures staying muted, the People's Bank of China should have more room to strike a balance between stabilizing growth and controlling risks to financial stability."

Sun Junwei, HSBC economist. The bank's figures also showed that M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose 13.2 percent year-on-year to 112.35 trillion yuan by the end of last month.

"China must transform itself into a country of security, greenery and efficiency by 2030 or be faced with erratic supplies and insurmountable environmental challenges."

Li Wei, head of the Development Research Center of the State Council. Li is a former senior official of the State Council. He put energy security in a wider global context. By 2030, the world's energy supply will be much the same but demand will keep growing, partly because of the industrialization of emerging economies, he said.

(China Daily European Weekly 02/21/2014 page18)