Commentary: Solid growth momentum highlights China's economic resilience

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese economy grew 12.7 percent year on year in the first half of 2021, as the world's second largest economy continued to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and share its growth dividends with the world.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) rose to 53.2 trillion yuan (about 8.23 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first six months. The robust growth is a reflection of the vitality and resilience of the Chinese economy once hit hard by the pandemic.

Evidence has shown the recovery is in full-swing. Industrial production, fixed-asset investment, retail sales and foreign trade posted steady growth.

As the spokeswoman of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said at the press conference on Thursday, China's economy continues to recover steadily, production and demand continue to rise, employment and prices are generally stable, new growth drivers develop rapidly, economic quality and efficiency improve steadily, market entities are expected to improve, main macro indicators are in an appropriate range, and economic development shows a steady trend.

China's solid performance is also good news to the world.

The World Bank affirmed China's contribution in its June report, which said that the recovery in East Asia and the Pacific will be the strongest in 2021, which is primarily due to the strength in China. It is estimated that China's contribution to global economic growth will exceed 25 percent in 2021.

China mission chief and assistant director in the International Monetary Fund's Asia and Pacific Department Helge Berger said China, as one of the world's largest economies, plays a large role in Asia's recovery and global recovery, not only because of its share in global growth, but also due to its growth spillovers.

China still faces multiple challenges in the rest of the year, as the NBS spokeswoman cautioned over uncertainties stemming from the global spread of the pandemic and the unbalanced domestic recovery.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank projected that China's growth will exceed 8 percent in 2021.

China's ability to contain the pandemic pretty quickly, its significant policy support, as well as the recent pickup in global trade will help support the country's strong recovery.