TIANJIN, June 25 (Xinhua) -- China is confident in and capable of maintaining rapid economic growth, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Wednesday.

Li made the remarks when addressing the opening of the 16th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, in north China's Tianjin Municipality.

"Over the years, no matter how the international environment has changed, China's economy has consistently maintained a good momentum," Li said.

He noted that China's gross domestic product grew by 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025 despite facing significantly heightened external shocks this year. "Key economic indicators continued to improve in the second quarter, and I noticed that international institutions have recently raised their expectations for China's economic growth," he said.

"China's economic development is not about short-term spurts, but sustained progress toward long-term goals," Li added.

He also noted that China is moving toward becoming a high-income country as a whole, driven by strong demand for consumption upgrades in the world's second-largest consumer and import market.

China is striving to develop itself into a super-sized consumption powerhouse on the solid foundation of a manufacturing powerhouse, the Chinese premier said.

Li noted that China's sustained breakthroughs and advances in innovation will inject fresh vitality into global development, helping overcome sluggish economic growth worldwide.

During the ongoing Summer Davos, World Economic Forum President Borge Brende shared an optimistic outlook on China's economic prospects.

"I'm relatively optimistic for the Chinese economy, both in the medium-term and long-term. China has diversified already, but also, China is pivoting from manufacturing of goods to more services and digital trade. We are also seeing a lot of new technologies being applied. China is doing very well on artificial intelligence, on robotics," he said.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair also highlighted China's remarkable story of transformation in recent decades, calling on countries to understand and stay engaged with China, rather than isolate it.

As China continues to grow stronger in the coming decades, Blair emphasized the importance of deepening engagement, with a particular focus on people-to-people exchanges in addition to government and business cooperation.

Themed "Entrepreneurship for a New Era," the event, held from June 24 to 26, has attracted over 1,700 leading figures from more than 90 countries and regions to explore how entrepreneurship and emerging technologies can unlock more dynamic and resilient economies.