China says it will open up ‘more and more’ to the world as it overcomes the pandemic

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said on Thursday that “China will open up more and more to the world” as soon as national policy “zero covid”, which greatly affected the country’s economic activity due to restrictions and strict restrictions imposed due to the spread of the virus.

“China will open up more and more to the world. We will focus on expanding domestic demand, but we will keep supply chains running and attract foreign investment to develop the private sector,” the veteran official said during his speech at the Forum. , a summit of politicians from international influence and CEOs of companies that drive the global economy.

Liu stressed that China grew by 3% last year, which he said helped “keep jobs and companies stable.”

On post-pandemic ChinaLiu assured that the country is moving towards a more relaxed covid policy, which “is a sign of the resumption of work.”

“The situation with the coronavirus is stabilizing. We have passed the peak of the incidence, it is normalizing. Life and production returned to normal in China”, he claimed.

In addition, Liu emphasized that China is now “making an effort” to “implement a new high-quality and robust development model”.

“We will focus on expanding domestic demand and rebalancing the economy. We are confident that China’s growth will return to its usual growth trend in 2023. We expect the economy to improve,” he said.

The politician added thatChina will oppose unilateralism and protectionism,” although he emphasized that the country wants to “promote fair competition by opposing monopolies.”

“We must uphold the rule of law and protect property rights in accordance with the law. We must create a market-based business environment, but with a strong legal framework,” he said.

“China it must continue to thrive, and there will be opportunities for all. Entrepreneurship is and will be a key driver of wealth creation. Entrepreneurs, Chinese and foreign, will play an important role in bringing prosperity to all,” he said.

international growth

Liu also stressed the importance of “maintaining order international economic”, and for this “it is necessary to abandon the mentality characteristic of the cold war.”

“International coordination must be strengthened and a good balance must be found between inflation and growth. inflation occurs due to various factors. Regardless of demand, we must maintain supply and maintain food security. We cannot add more debt risk to developing countries,” he said.

China will “search for solutions” to developing country debt and continue to “contribute” to the fight against climate change, he said.

On Tuesday, the Asian country announced that its gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3% in 2022, one of the lowest rates in decades.

Excluding data for 2020, the year in which China Its growth fell to 2.2% due to the initial impact of the pandemic, data for the year just ended is the lowest since the country began its “reform and opening” policy in the late 1970s, the seed of an “economic miracle” . ‘ next decades.

Last March, Beijing The official target was set for GDP growth of around 5.5% year on year, which would already be the slowest growth rate in decades, but analysts called it ambitious given the context.

However, due to the spread of infectious omicron variantThe authorities pushed for doubling down on their “zero covid” strategy, with additional restrictions and hard restrictions that hit economic activity hard at different times of the year.

According to some experts, today’s data was surprisingly positive, “but still weak”, especially on the demand side, which does not mean there are “signs of stabilization” stemming from the support policy implemented at the end of the year.

EFE