Nouriel Roubini, a renowned economist and professor at New York University, agreed. He said an asset bubble could be forming in the real estate markets.

"I don't think China is going to have a hard landing, but certainly this trade-off between maintaining high growth and controlling inflation is going to be a serious policy challenge," he said.

China has to keep a vigilant eye on hot money inflows, said Yu Yongding, a renowned researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

He said U.S. policymakers have left the door open for an even bigger capital injection, driving more capital into emerging markets.

Trade dynamism

Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) 10 years ago, China's vibrant foreign trade sector has been an important engine for economic growth.

The decade after WTO accession proved to be one of China's best periods for development, said Chen Deming, Minister of Commerce.

Chen described China's entry into the WTO as a "courageous and tough choice," but definitely the right decision.

In the past decade, China has opened up more than 100 service trade sectors and lowered its average duty rate to 9.8 percent from 15.3 percent a decade ago, said Chen.

China became the world's largest importer in 2010, with the value of imports surging 38.7 percent year on year to nearly $1.4 trillion, accounting for 10 percent of the world's total.

Over the next 10 years, China's imports will keep increasing at an annual rate of 15 percent, and surpass the current global trade volume in 2020, he said.

Chen also outlined China's plans to further open up its economy, bolster imports, stimulate domestic consumption and encourage Chinese companies to go global.

"China will also do its best to see the WTO's difficult Doha Round through to a successful conclusion," he said.

A policy of more trade and openness to the rest of the world has brought significant benefits to China and greater market opportunities to its trading partners, said Pascal Lamy, Director General of the WTO.

He noted that China joined the WTO under terms much tougher than for any other developing country—a bitter pill with industrial tariffs four times lower than Brazil or India, and agricultural tariffs lower than the European Union. The pill, though, was "an insurance policy against protectionism," said Lamy.

Regarding China's trade imbalance, Lamy said it is necessary to change the way we look at trade figures.

"Today, we calculate trade flows on a gross rather than value-added basis, which to a large extent does not give a true picture of how a nation trades," he said.

In China's case, Lamy said, a large part of China's export activities involve final assembling.

Products assembled in China use inputs exported to China. This inputs make up the bulk of the product's added value, he said.

"Even if China's contribution to the added value of a finished product is rather small, customs officials in the United States, Europe, Japan or elsewhere still record 100 percent of the value of the product as an import from China. That misrepresents the true nature of trade flows," he said.

"The WTO would not be the World Trade Organization without China," said Lamy, who stressed China's contribution to greater stability and sustainability of the global trading system.

"We saw this during the crisis when all other areas of the global economy were shaken and the trading system stood firm," he said.

Fate of the yuan

The yuan should be included in the basket of the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the IMF's unit of account, said French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.

"It is quite bizarre that the Chinese currency is not part of the SDR basket, because China is the second largest economy in the world, and a top exporter of goods and services," he said.

It has become a global consensus to allow the yuan to enter the SDR, which will help improve the stability of the U.S. dollar-based international system, said Zhu.

But that will be a long process with many technical barriers, such as the convertibility of the yuan, he said.

The world has realized the importance of China's economy, as well as its currency, said Zhu.

If the yuan becomes fully convertible, Nigeria is willing to take it as one of its reserves currencies, said Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Nigerian Central Bank Governor.

China has been sparing no effort to extend the global reach of the yuan. In its latest move, the government launched a trial program to allow qualified Chinese companies to settle their overseas direct investments in the yuan.