SHANGHAI, June 10 (Reuters) - China’s economy will maintain a medium to high rate of growth for a relatively long period of time, the deputy governor of China’s central bank said on Thursday. But with significant room for growth in per-capita energy demand, the pressure to reduce carbon emissions will grow in the future, Liu Guiping said in a speech to a financial forum. It will be difficult for carbon emissions to drop sharply after reaching a peak, there may be a plateau period after a peak is reached, he said. (Reporting by Winni Zhou and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.