BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- A few Western economists and investors claimed recently that the Chinese economy could "collapse" due to what many say are overblown fears of a real estate bubble.

These views are really untenable given the fact that the Chinese economy was the first of the world's major economies to bounce back from the lowest point of the global financial crisis and has maintained a good growth momentum since the beginning of this year.

No one would deny that real estate prices in China have risen too fast during the past few years, especially in some major cities, posing a major threat to the country's macroeconomic stability.

The government has announced tough measures in the past few weeks to rein in speculative property buying in the housing market, including discouraging banks from granting loans to speculators and increasing the minimum down payments for homebuyers.

Putting the development of the real estate market back onto a healthy and sustainable track is no easy job. But any claim that the problem could lead to a total collapse of the Chinese economy is nothing but sensational and misleading.

The Chinese economy proved to be rather resilient in the financial crisis. It grew 8.7 percent in 2009, the fastest pace registered in any major economies in the world.

By contrast, industrialized economies including the United States, the euro zone and Japan contracted 3.2 percent as a whole, while developing and emerging economies grew 2.4 percent combined.

In addition, the International Monetary Fund and other international organizations have all expressed confidence in the Chinese economy.

The IMF predicted in its latest World Economic Outlook report issued last month that the Chinese economy would grow at a healthy rate of 10.0 percent this year and 9.9 percent next year, better than most other major economies.

Contrary to the pessimistic views, renowned U.S. investor Warren Buffett said a few days ago he believed China was an amazing economy and he had full confidence in the country's economic future.

Doomsayers have always been there. For a long time, some of them, driven by ideological prejudices, have more often than not found it hard to resist the temptation to try to blow out of proportion problems in China, in a mad rush to predict an imminent collapse of the Chinese economy.

This time, those Western pessimists seem to care less about ideology than material gains. Given the high level of attention to any major topic concerning China, it is really tempting to make some sensational points just to attract eyeballs.

Thus, some investors are shorting China-related companies and try to justify their positions by claiming China is in "serious trouble."

It is a common sense that achieving good macro-management of an economy is a difficult job. A case in point is that all kinds of economic news are construed by some as bad news. This explains the complexity and delicacy of economic matters.

It is a challenging task to keep the Chinese economy on a healthy track given its fast growth rates and constantly changing dynamics.

Confronted by these doomsayers, China's policy makers should just carry on with what they have always been doing: identifying and forestalling any potential risks to the world's fastest growing economy.

After all, a growing, strong and healthy Chinese economy will not only benefit its own people, but is in the best interests of the world at large.

Sourced from www.xinhuanet.com