China confident to achieve successful resumption of production amid epidemic

China is implementing targeted policies and taking solid actions to minimize the economic impact from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, with a dual approach of ensuring both epidemic prevention and work resumption.

A worker welds boat parts at a workshop of a boat manufacturing company in east China’s Jiangsu Province, Feb. 21, 2020. To reduce the losses caused by the novel coronavirus epidemic, workers of the factory have been working overtime to complete overseas orders. Wang Hao/People’s Daily Online

China and the world are closely related, so the country will fulfill its responsibility of safeguarding global public health security, and stick to its original intention of contributing to global economic growth through its own development.

“At such a time it is even more important to view China’s development in a comprehensive, dialectical and long-term perspective, and to strengthen and firm up confidence.” The important speech delivered by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee at a meeting to advance the work on coordinating the prevention and control of the COVID-19 and economic and social development in Beijing has demonstrated China’s confidence to meet its goals for social and economic development.

Economy is a dynamic and circulating system that can’t withstand long-term stoppage. The Chinese people are fighting day and night to mitigate the losses caused by the epidemic. The governments have mobilized regions at different levels of risks to take differentiated prevention and control measures, smoothed the flow of labor and logistics, and lifted restriction on transportation of cargos.

The enterprises have taken innovative measures to resume production and work, such as chartering airplanes and high-speed trains to take employees back to work. In the meantime, farmers across the country are also busy ploughing and preparing for farm works.

The epidemic won’t destroy the Chinese economy. International observers believe that as labor, raw materials, and export of products are guaranteed, China’s economy will certainly go back to normal at an early date.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that she expects China’s economy to “return to normal in the second quarter” of 2020. Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute of Global Affairs, said as the epidemic is gradually controlled, China’s economy may bounce back in the future, adding that “I'm still very optimistic on the prospects for the Chinese economy.”

Workers check machines at a workshop of Ningbo Jieli Cosmetical Package company in Yuyao, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Feb.25, 2020. Enterprises in the city have smoothly restarted production, making the most of intelligent equipment such as automated production lines and intelligent robots. Photo by Zhang Hui, People’s Daily Online

In the era of economic globalization, countries are linked with and dependent on one another, and have emerged as a community with a shared future and common interests. Numerous facts have proved that the world will do well only when China does well.

According to a Morgan Stanley analyst, in recent days, investors have been seeking to track China’s resumption of production, which indicates keen attention paid by the international market.

China is striving to deepen opening up and international cooperation, and strengthen communication and coordination with its economic and trade partners. The country gives priority to guaranteeing production and supply resumption of leading companies and key links in an effort to maintain stability of the global supply chain, demonstrating a sense of responsibility of a major country for global development.

The impact of the epidemic on China’s economy is short-lived, if observed in a comprehensive, dialectical and long-term perspective. China’s economy is resilient; the domestic demand is large; and the industrial foundation is solid, which indicates that the fundamentals sustaining sound economic growth have not changed.

China is the world’s second largest economy, largest manufacturing country, and an important hub of the global supply chain. It is also the world’s largest trader of goods, second largest destination of foreign capital inflow and second-largest recipient of foreign direct investment. China’s per capita GDP has reached $10,000, and the number of middle-income earners in the country has exceeded 400 million. It is the world’s fastest-growing consumer market.

Recently, multiple foreign manufacturing companies have restarted production and work in China, including Tesla, BMW, Toyota, Samsung, Airbus, and Honeywell, and some foreign-funded companies have signed contracts to enter the Chinese market on the internet.

This fully shows that China’s comprehensive competitive advantage in attracting foreign investment has not changed, and foreign investors’ confidence in China and their investment strategies have not changed.

Looking at opportunities through challenges, we can better see the potential and prospects of China’s economy.

Some international observers noticed that China’s national anti-epidemic fight has boosted the “homebody economy” and “cloud lifestyles”, and nurtured new business models such as intelligent manufacturing, unmanned delivery, online consumption, and health care industries. This has not only met the needs of the people and unleashed emerging consumption potential, but also opened up a new space for high-quality economic development.

In addition, to defeat the epidemic, China is increasing support for the research and development of reagents, medicines, and vaccines, and accelerating the development of biomedicine, medical equipment, 5G network, and industrial Internet. It is foreseeable that after the epidemic is defeated, China’s economic development will gain stronger new momentum.

China has the ability and confidence to overcome the epidemic, and it is fully confident to turn pressure into impetus and convert crisis into opportunity to achieve economic and social development tasks. The stable development of China’s economy will surely continue to inject confidence and momentum into global growth.