Neglecting China's contributions to COVID-19 fight exposes ignorance, prejudices

The international community has gained a deeper understanding of China's persistent efforts to efficiently coordinate COVID-19 response and socio-economic development, as the country implements its optimized COVID-19 control measures in a steady and orderly manner.

It believes that China's economy will speed up recovery and inject a stronger impetus into global economic development.

High-speed trains are ready to depart at Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province, Jan. 16, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Wang Wei)

However, a few media outlets from the West are still holding political prejudices. They ignored China's achievements in the COVID-19 fight over the past three years and the huge contributions made by the country to the world, trying to smear China and sound a pessimistic tone about it.

However, they cannot weaken the international community's confidence in China's economic development, but will only expose the ignorance and prejudices of these Western media outlets.

No one knows the weight of another's burden. Over the past three years, the Chinese government has taken responsible measures and spared no effort to protect the lives and health of the Chinese people, to promote global solidarity in the fight against COVID-19 and to push for global recovery, making important contributions to the world.

China's COVID-19 response philosophy has been consistent. It always puts people and their lives above everything and protects their lives and health to the maximum extent possible.

Over the past three years, the country has effectively handled the impact of five rounds of global pandemic outbreaks and prevented widespread infections caused by the more pathogenic original strain and the Delta variant, keeping the death toll and severe cases to the minimum, which is very difficult for a big country with more than 1.4 billion people.

Facts proved that China has secured maximum outcomes at minimum cost and reduced the impacts of the disease on economic and social development to the largest extent.

In 2020, China's GDP grew 2.2 percent and exceeded 100 trillion yuan ($14.75 trillion), making China the only major economy that reported positive economic growth that year. In the same year, the U.S. and the eurozone saw their economies shrink by 3.5 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively.

A year later, China saw a GDP growth of 8.4 percent, beyond the forecast of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A flower fair is held by a river in Nanhai district, Foshan, south China's Guangdong province, Jan. 18, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Chen Diqing)

Last year, the country's GDP went up 3 percent year on year to reach 120 trillion yuan, and the growth was higher than most of the world's major economies.

China's average annual economic growth stood at 4.5 percent in the past three years, obviously higher than the world average and that of a few countries which have long resorted to the "let it rip" approach.

As the world is facing growing downward pressure on the economy and weakening momentum for global trade, China is actively expanding opening up and providing high-quality products and services to the rest of the world. It has well played the role of a stabilizer for global recovery.

Trade data are seen as a barometer of economic development. China's foreign trade in goods has continuously expanded, from 32.16 trillion yuan in 2020 to 39.1 trillion yuan in 2021, and to 42.07 trillion yuan in 2022. Its share in the global export market topped the world for 14 consecutive years, making the country a key factor in safeguarding the stability of the global industrial and supply chains.

Thanks to its sound economic prospects and constantly optimized business environment, China will keep being a promising land for investment given the uncertainties in the global market.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 9.9 percent year on year to nearly 1.16 trillion yuan in the first 11 months of 2022, which has already outnumbered the whole-year figure of 2021 and set a new historical high.

People join a lantern festival in Taijiang district, Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian province, Jan. 6, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Xie Guiming)

German automaker BMW reported a net profit of nearly 3.18 billion euros in the third quarter of 2022, up 22.9 percent year on year. Its sales in China bucked the trend by 5.7 percent while the company saw an 11.1 percent decline in the European market.

The Wall Street Journal said the remarkable performance in the Chinese market is one of the major factors driving the growth in BMW's profit.

Many multinational corporations performed better in China than in their home countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eight German multinational companies, including Siemens, BASF and Bosch, said in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in November last year that China is the world's second-largest consumption market and the most energetic market, and German companies' development in China is vital to Germany's economic development.

Kevin Kang, KPMG China's Chief Economist, noted that China remains one of the key regions for the global supply chain layout of multinational corporations, due to the country's giant consumption market, efficient productivity, high-quality talent resource, complete industrial clusters and constant improvement of the business environment.

At present, China is doing well in the COVID-19 response and seeing an accelerated resumption of work and life. As the country's domestic demand gradually picks up and relevant policies take effect, the Chinese economic vitality will be further released.

China will keep working with the international community to better cope with the virus and better protect people's lives and health, so as to make greater contributions to promoting global recovery.