SONG CHEN/CHINA DAILY
The novel coronavirus pandemic has recently shown signs of subsiding in Europe and some other hardest-hit regions of the world, allowing for orderly lifting of restrictive measures and resumption of economic activities.
Multinational companies whose production had come to a halt are now desperately expecting market demand to revive while international consumers are looking forward to re-supplies of diversified goods.
Being the first country to have nearly weathered the effects of the novel coronavirus outbreak, China's market and manufactured goods are in great demand and the Chinese economy, like a gust of "warm wind", is dispelling the chill of the world economy and pushing it to sail ahead.
The novel coronavirus outbreak has dragged the world economy into its worst recession since World War II, with both supply and demand suffering a "sharp freeze", the industrial and supply chains being disrupted, and international trade and investment shrinking.
Faced with the common challenge, China promoted epidemic prevention and control as well as economic and social development in a coordinated way. While achieving major results in the fight against the epidemic, it also took the lead in restarting economic activities, thus providing valuable experience for the global fight against the epidemic and laying an important foundation for the world's economic recovery.
China's post-epidemic economic recovery "will be very impressive", with an expected growth of 5 to 6 percent quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter after contracting in the first quarter, a United States business channel's website quoted a Deutsche Bank research report as saying. According to Deutsche Bank, China's domestic demand has partly recovered and exports have shown better-than-expected signs.
In addition to being the first to recover from the global pandemic, the Chinese market, with 1.4 billion people and the largest middle-income group in the world, has great long-term growth potential and attractiveness. It is exactly because of their positive outlook for the Chinese market that BMW and Volkswagen, otherwise facing the double pressure of the pandemic and industrial transformation, recently announced plans to expand investment in China's new energy sector.
From face masks, ventilators and other anti-epidemic equipment, to various kinds of intermediate products, "made in China", goods are continuously being exported, helping countries return to work and production and playing an important role in repairing the global industrial chain.
Nevertheless, the pandemic is still not over and uncertainties remain. It will not be easy for the world economy to emerge from deep recession and register sustainable growth. So, only through solidarity and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, multilateralism and stronger global governance can the world economy gain steam at an earlier date.