Interview: China maintains economic resilience amid impact of COVID-19 pandemic, says Kenyan expert

NAIROBI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- China has maintained economic resilience despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, a Kenyan expert said on Sunday.

Beatrice Matiri-Maisori, a senior economics lecturer at Kenya's Riara University told Xinhua that Beijing's resilience is underpinned by growth in domestic consumption that is driven by an expanding middle and high-income population segment.

"The domestic consumption focus has also been on technology development, through the use of robotics, artificial intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution," Matiri-Maisori said.

She revealed that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, several Chinese industries were affected in terms of meeting their supply chain demands due to logistical disruptions.

"But we all know that towards the end of 2020-2021, we saw China re-emerge greater and stronger than they were during the COVID-19 period," she added.

According to the expert, the development and uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations reinvigorated China's economy.

Matiri-Maisori added that the renewed focus on climate action and environmental protection in China has resulted in more high-end value chain productivity as more budgets are allocated towards research, development and technological advancement.

She said the theme of the just-concluded World Economic Forum is in line with China's culture and values.

She added that China is leading the way in terms of togetherness and engaging everybody around the world in multilateralism and inclusive growth and is also committed to maintaining trust by doing what it promised to do.

"So in my view, I think they are really at the front, leading whatever is the requirement for multilateral action around the world," she said.

The development expert said that there is currently a desire for some countries to really pull together for their self-benefit.

"And you have heard, the terminology around decoupling, as opposed to multilateralism and really countries looking inwards in terms of safeguarding what they have built over the years," she observed.

Matiri-Maisori said that the message that has come out so clearly post COVID-19, is that, if there is a disease that affects one nation, the whole world will eventually be impacted.

"I really like the way the world went ahead to ensure that there was vaccination for all, sometimes you tended to see Africa lagging behind, but you really saw some nations, especially China committing to donate vaccines to African countries," Matiri-Maisori said.

She noted that the international community should unite to combat the negative effects of climate change so that the planet can move towards carbon neutrality.

" Fighting for unity and fighting for oneness is really what is important, as they say, no one is safe until all of us are safe," Matiri-Maisori said.