Chinese economic and financial officials responded to worries about bad debt, “zombie companies” and currency depreciation over the weekend, insisting that doomsayers were underestimating the economy’s resilience and the government’s ability to balance growth with reform.

中国经济和金融官员在刚刚过去的周末回应了坏账、“僵尸企业”和人民币贬值等关切，坚称唱衰者低估了中国经济的弹性以及政府平衡增长与改革的能力。

Volatility in the currency and stock markets has reverberated around global markets, largely because they are thought to be the symptom of deeper problems in the economy. Chinese officials used tightly controlled press appearances on the sidelines of the annual rubber-stamp parliament to try to restore confidence after their reputation for policy competence has been bruised.

人民币和A股市场的波动近几个月震动全球市场，主要因为这些波动被认为是更深层经济问题的症状。在全国人大年度会议的新闻发布会上，中国官员试图恢复市场信心，以挽回他们受到挫伤的政策能力声誉。

Central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan — whose three major press appearances in the last month count as a charm offensive by the standards of his normally tight-lipped institution — appeared relaxed amid signs that the market turmoil has begun to settle.

在迹象显示市场动荡已开始企稳的大背景下，中国央行行长周小川（上图）看上去很放松。以中国央行平常守口如瓶的标准来看，过去一个月周小川举行的三场记者会算得上是一轮魅力攻势。

“Recently the trend has been a return to normality, a return to rationality, a return to fundamentals. Unless there’s some unusual circumstance, I believe this trend will continue,” said Mr Zhou.

周小川说：“这段时间有一个回归正常、回归理性、回归基本面的趋势，我认为如果没有什么特殊情况，这个趋势会继续下去。”

The renminbi touched its strongest level this year on Friday, at Rmb6.4881 against the dollar. Foreign exchange reserves data last weak showed capital outflows eased in February.

上周五，人民币触及今年以来最强水平，兑美元汇率升至1美元兑6.4881元人民币。上周发布的外汇储备数据显示2月份资金外流有所放缓。

Chief banking regulator Shang Fulin also addressed bearish sentiment, saying that rating agencies and bank analysts’ warning of serious problems with bad debt have committed a “misjudgment”. Earlier this month Moody’s warned it may downgrade ratings for Chinese sovereign and bank debt.

中国银行业监督管理委员会主席尚福林也在发言时针对看跌情绪表态，称评级机构和银行分析师有关坏账严重问题的警告是一个“误判”。本月早些时候，穆迪(Moody’s)警告可能会下调对中国主权债务和银行债务的评级。

Mr Zhou and Mr Shang also confirmed a trial plan to let banks package non-performing loans into securities and sell them to investors at discounts to their face value, an effort to remove toxic debt from the balance sheets of systemically-important institutions.

周小川和尚福林还证实了一个试验计划，即允许银行将不良资产打包，进行证券化处理，以面值的折扣价卖给投资者，从而为系统重要性金融机构的资产负债表清除坏账。

Many analysts believe Chinese lenders are concealing the extent of defaults as the economy slows. Creating an active secondary market for distressed debt could encourage banks to admit losses before they reach crisis levels.

许多分析师认为，中国的银行掩盖了经济放缓之际的违约程度。为不良债权创建活跃的二级市场，可能会鼓励银行在亏损达到危机水平之前承认损失。

But doubts remain about whether China can tackle the longer-term challenge of restructuring the economy, especially dealing with overcapacity and lossmaking “zombie companies”, many of them state-owned enterprises.

但对于中国能否应对调整经济结构的长期挑战，特别是涉及产能过剩和亏损的“僵尸企业”——其中不乏国有企业——疑虑仍然存在。

The head of China’s SOE regulator signalled the government will not embrace radical restructuring at the cost of social stability.

中国国有企业监管机构负责人表示，政府不会牺牲社会稳定来进行激进的重组。

“Protecting workers’ interests is an important factor throughout the next stage of [SOE] reform. We’ll use mergers, acquisitions and restructuring largely and minimise bankruptcy as much as possible,” said Xiao Yaqing, head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

国资委主任肖亚庆说：“保护员工的利益始终是下一步（国企）改革的一个重要方面，多兼并重组，尽可能少破产，这也是国有企业改革的一个方向。”

Newly appointed securities regulator Liu Shiyu also made the case for stability, defending the stock market bailout carried out by his predecessor who was sacked last month. Critics have said the heavy-handed intervention wasted public funds and betrayed commitments to let market forces drive the economy. But Mr Liu said on Saturday that “results proved” the bailout had stabilised the market.

新任证监会主席刘士余也谈到了稳定性，为上个月被解职的前任主席所进行的救市行动作出辩护。批评者表示重拳干预浪费了公共资金，且违背了让市场力量推动经济的承诺。但刘士余在上周六表示“结果证明”救市稳定了市场。

“When liquidity has dried up and there is widescale panic, could we possibly fail to act decisively?” said Mr Liu.

刘士余表示：“在市场流动性枯竭、大面积恐慌的情况下，不果断出手还得了？”