China economy accelerates for 1st time in 7 yrs, grows 6.9% in 2017

China's economy accelerated for the first time in seven years in 2017, growing 6.9 percent from the previous year, official data showed Thursday, boding well for President Xi Jinping's drive to achieve the goal of building a "moderately prosperous society."The growth in gross domestic product easily beat Beijing's target of around 6.5 percent. Robust exports and internal demand, underpinned by the government's stimulus measures, were behind the sharp economic expansion.In 2016, China's economy grew 6.7 percent from the previous year, marking the weakest annual expansion in 26 years.Xi, who …READ FULL ARTICLE