Chinese President: Must Grow Domestic Economy

Hu Jintao makes his last speech as president at the opening of the 18th party congress in China

In words that will be welcomed by the west, President Hu Jintao said China needs to redouble efforts to switch its focus from export-led growth to domestic consumption.

China's huge trade surpluses, built up as the country became the factory to the world, have contributed to huge imbalances in the global economy that underpinned the destabilisation of the last few years. Global leaders have been pressing China for the last four years to do more to foster domestic demand and reduce their dependency on exports.