China’s new COVID-19 policy to help world economy: Philippine expert

A Philippine expert has said that China’s economy will likely see “robust recovery” and help boost global economic growth in 2023 as the country has adjusted its COVID-19 strategy according to the changing situation of the pandemic in a planned and science-based manner.

Given the relatively mild Omicron variant, a sound healthcare system and a largely vaccinated population in China, “I think that new policies on COVID-19 are one way of simulating and preparing for “a wider opening of the Chinese economy to the world in the near future,” Anna Malindog-Uy, vice president of the Manila-based think tank Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The optimized COVID-19 containment measures will not only “revitalize economic activities and investments in the country,” but also “benefit the wider international community,” she said.

“The outlook for the Chinese economy in 2023 is definitely positive. I believe China’s economic development will soar high,” said the researcher, who reckoned the Chinese economy will be “on an upward trajectory, helping pull up the downward economic trajectory of the world while boosting the recovery of the world economy.”

As the world’s second-largest economy, one of the biggest consumer markets and a major trading partner of almost all economies, the wider China opens to the world, the more other countries will benefit from it through economic and trade cooperation, she said. “It is not only a huge market, but it has a substantial middle-class population with a relatively high purchasing capacity compared to other countries in the developing world.”

In addition, a further opening of the Chinese market and economy will “reinvigorate the global industrial and supply chains, and countries around the globe will also benefit from this,” Malindog-Uy said.

From the battle against COVID-19 to the post-pandemic recovery, China has always stood with other developing countries. “I’m impressed with China’s generosity and solidarity with the rest of the world, especially during the initial onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the expert said, citing cooperation between China and the Philippines to curb the pandemic as an example.

Their cooperation “has been critical in the Philippines’ quest for a quick economic bounce back and recovery from the economic devastation brought by the pandemic,” she added.

China has contributed to the pandemic response of the Philippines “unprecedentedly.” The list of China’s donations includes billions of pesos worth of medical supplies and equipment, and most notably, millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines, Malindog-Uy said.

“China is the first country to send and donate vaccines to the Philippines that made it possible for the Philippine government to kick off its COVID-19 national vaccination program sooner than later,” she said.

“Indeed, China is a friend of the Philippines, especially in times of need,” she concluded.

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(With input from Xinhua)