Rating agency Standard & Poor's affirmed China's 'AA-' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term sovereign credit ratings and stable outlook on Thursday citing the country's strong economic growth potential, robust external position, and the government's relatively healthy fiscal position.

Such strengths balance weaknesses related to China's lower average income compared with similarly-rated peers, a general lack of transparency, restricted information flows, as well as an economic policy framework that is still evolving to suit its largely market-based economy, the agency said.

The agency also affirmed its Greater China regional scale rating at 'cnAAA/cnA-1+'.

Standard & Poor's Credit Analyst Kim Eng Tan said the firm sees no major change in policy directions in China in the wake of the recent top leadership changes and expects the efforts toward deepening structural and fiscal reforms to continue.

"We expect the Chinese economy to continue its strong growth while the country maintains its large external creditor position in the next three to five years," the analyst said.

RTTNews