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Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts

Saturday 15 April 2023

In desperation, US tries to drag EU into its camp

 

Clare Daly, a member of the European Parliament from Ireland, sat down with CGTN reporter Li Jingjing in Beijing on April 2 to discuss the current challenges Europe is facing and the importance of developing deeper and more stable ties with China. Daly believes most politicians in the EU understand the interconnectedness of relations with China and the necessity of it for the economy. Despite this, anti-China rhetoric is still on the rise as Europe finds itself under immense pressure from the United States.


China and Europe.

 

Editor's Note:

A flurry of trips by European leaders to China are taking place. It is in line with the interests of European citizens, and reflects a genuine and welcome effort on behalf of China to try and develop international relations, Clare Daly (Daly), an Irish politician and member of the European Parliament, told Global Times (GT) reporters Li Aixin and Wang Zixuan in an interview before wrapping up her China visit.

GT: During your China visit, there have been some European leaders coming to China or planning to visit China. What signal do you think it conveys?

Daly: We found it very interesting that everybody is coming to China. Brazilian President Lula is coming soon also. Everybody is beating at the door here. I think what it reflects is a very genuine and welcome effort on behalf of China to try and develop international relations.

To be honest, the relations between the EU and China have not been good. We have noticed, in the period of time since we have been in the European Parliament, hostility and anti-Chinese rhetoric creeping into the debates. That's not in the EU's interest. It doesn't make any sense.

We have tried to understand where it comes from. The only conclusion we can come to is that China is a "threat" to US economic interests, not security interests. In desperation, they [the US] are trying to drag the EU with them into their camp. But we don't think anybody should have camps.

China is a hugely important world economy. It's in the interests of the EU to have good relations with China. From what we've seen, [French] President Macron has improved his relations with China. The comments before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen came were rude, undiplomatic, arrogant and beyond what the EU should be doing. It was quite disgraceful diplomatically. But this is what we have come to expect from the EU. 

 

 
https://youtube.com/shorts/MyYl2ViLyLw?feature=share

EU President Ursula von der Leyen https://youtube.com/shorts/MyYl2ViLyLw?feature=share via @YouTube

 We have a very weak leadership that is behaving in a way that is not in the interests of EU citizens. They need to stay on side with China, but they are bending the knee to the US like they always do. We think they should develop an independent path and forge good relations with everybody.

GT: Do you think the visits by European leaders might show that the EU's political circle is turning toward a more rational and practical mentality toward China?

Daly: I would like to think that, but I've seen too much of the EU think that rationality is part of their plan. Unfortunately, we shot ourselves in our two feet in terms of our relations with Russia in response to the war, rather than championing peace, as we should have been doing. We have been ensuring that the conflict continues there.

Would they suddenly become intelligent and rational? Unfortunately, I don't think so. I think it's probably a result of Chinese diplomacy. Let's hope that the outcome is better relations. I think the visits will certainly help.

More important, in some ways, is the role that China is playing now on the world stage in terms of international affairs, arguing for peace in Ukraine. That is very welcome, because for too long, the world has been dominated by the US who has acted in their own interests, as all countries do. But unfortunately, that interest was to the detriment of people all over the world, and all of us are paying a price for that. We would like to see a real return to international law and multilateral arrangements, which is not really possible in a US-dominated world.

GT: When the US media discussed the European leaders' visits to China, they said French diplomacy was undermining US efforts to reign China in. What's your take in this?

Daly: This is the constant mantra from the US, this is what they do all of the time. Sadly, they generally bring the EU with them and the EU repeats this nonsense as well. It just reveals that China is an economic "threat" to the US in terms their dominant position.

The US has been working full time to drive a wedge between the EU and China and Russia and everybody else. They are trying to hang on to their global position, which they are losing and will lose and have lost in reality. They've lost the hearts and minds of most of the world's population, but they are desperately trying to keep the EU, maybe Australia and the UK, as the last group of people to bring with them.

Unfortunately, those countries have a disproportionate influence on international bodies, way beyond their numbers. But we're in a new dawn of world relations and the old one, represented by the US and sadly the EU, is in decline. The EU doesn't have to be, and the US doesn't either. The US should have good relations with China. Everybody should work with everybody to their own mutual benefit. Sadly, the military industrial complex that dominates the political agenda in the US wanted a different way, and they need to have enemies and bad guys to justify the expenditure.

Clare Daly. Photo: Courtesy of Daly

Clare Daly. Photo: Courtesy of Daly

GT: How would you describe US and EU's role in the world?

Daly: What I think is that the global rule of the US is facing a long and agonizing death. Their days are coming to an end, but that death agony is going to be protracted and take some time.

We're living in an incredibly dangerous period in world history where there is an attempt to redevelop Cold War politics. Most of it is coming from the US. Sadly, the EU, rather than being on the side of saying, "no, we're not interested in that," have sided with the US in that agenda and they're playing that game.

They have sided into the "bad guys, good guys" narrative. They call it democracy vs authoritarianism, which is absolutely ridiculous. We have a chance to vote every five years. Usually the people we vote for tell lies and then they come into power, there's nothing we can do about it. So what is democracy? It's a bit crazy.

Europe should be aligning with the countries that form the majority of the world's population, which is outside the Global North, and arguing for peace in an independent way and working with everybody. They are not doing that. Hopefully. That will change.

GT: What do you think of China's position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, and in what ways can China and Europe work together to ease or maybe end the conflict?

Daly: We very much welcome it. We are for peace, we are against war. We thought it was really helpful that the Chinese did come up with a peace plan. It's not detailed, it's common sense. It's what we have been saying since the beginning in the parliament. We think that Russia made a very big mistake. A lot of people have suffered since then and still are. World relations are in a very difficult place. The only way out of that is through peace and dialogue.

I think the proposal was helpful, but people need to get behind it. The problem is that Europe is still continuing to provide arms for Ukraine. They're still increasing and escalating the rhetoric and the hostility, which is growing all the time. When these things happen, it can get to a place where it's very hard to claw back.

We believe that President Lula's visit to China is partly linked with trying to see a peace plan for Ukraine. How sad that the leadership of the EU, on the continent of Europe, where the war is on, doesn't seem to be bothered.

It shows how much in control of the agenda is the military industrial complex, particularly in the US but right across Europe. Now we see a securitized agenda, in which there are attempts to even drag China into that as well through escalating tensions in Taiwan and so on.

GT: As the victim of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, why is Europe not carrying out a joint investigation into the bombing?

Daly: Because they're afraid of the truth - the only explanation that would make sense. Early on, they tried to say it was Russia who did it. The idea that they might blow up their own pipelines when they could just turn it off was a bit crazy. I'm glad that they have abandoned that lunacy.

If it was the US, which is entirely possible, then that is an act of war by the US, our supposed like-minded partner and friend. Your friends don't go around doing things like that. The ramifications will be enormous.

So the only reason is they know the answer or they are afraid of the answer, and they don't want to go there. But can you imagine if there was any suspicion or suggestion that China might have been involved in doing it, or Iran, or somebody like that, you would have had massive calls in the international community for sanctions, for investigations, meetings, everything. But now, the silence. The silence tells its own story.

GT: In the European Parliament, have you sensed pressure because of your position toward China?

Daly: We wouldn't call it pressure, but there is a racism there. There is anti-China racism and stereotyping. I find it very strange to understand where that has come from.

My belief is that it has to be created. When I was in school and when China began to come onto the world stage and opened up, everybody wanted to learn Chinese. If you were intelligent and you were really in the top, you would learn Chinese. If anybody went to China, people will be, "wow, you've gone to China, that's the cutting edge."

That's about 30 years ago. Now if you say you're going to China, people go, "Why are you going to China? That's scary! They're kind of the enemy." So how did we get into that place?

The media in Ireland has demonized us, [me and] my colleague Mick Wallace, who is a kind of a celebrity in Chinese state media. They say we are the puppets of authoritarian regimes, because some of the comments that we make may have been covered on Chinese television, but the comments we make are covered in Irish television, on American television. It doesn't make us puppets of Europe or America.

It's ignorance, but it doesn't change anything. Our job is to use the chance we have in the parliament of Europe, which is very unrepresentative of the citizens of Europe. So don't worry, if crazy people in the European Parliament are voting on stupid motions that make no sense, our job is to use that platform to represent the interests of the citizens of Europe. The interest of the citizens of Europe is to have good relations with China.

And it's a bit crazy because all of the media and some of the politicians in the countries who complain - they all have diplomatic relations with China, they all have business relations with China.

Relations are bad. It's not China's fault, I think China is doing what it can do. But the door isn't open enough. So hopefully some of these visits now are the beginning of the door opening, the beginning of breaking that US domination and the idea that the EU must be in their camp and not China's camp.

The countries where most people in the world live, big economies, Brazil, South Africa, India, all those emerging economies, they're all going to follow China. And the Global North will be sitting in that little corner thinking they're the most important when the world has changed dramatically when they were asleep.

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PC Yu

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Tuesday 4 April 2023

China, Brazil to trade in local currencies, dump US dollar !

Gaining recognition: A person holds Chinese yuan banknotes. More economies are willing to use the yuan in clearing and payments, which is a significant step for the Chinese currency to internationalise. — Reuters

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HAINAN: The Chinese yuan is speeding up in expanding its global use, a trend that will help build a more resilient international monetary system, one that is less dependent on the US dollar and more conducive to trade growth, experts say.

They commented after China and Brazil – two major emerging economies and BRICS members – reportedly reached a deal to trade in their own currencies, ditching the US dollar as an intermediary.

The deal will enable China and Brazil to conduct their massive trade and financial transactions directly, exchanging the yuan for reais and vice versa, instead of going through the dollar, Agence France-Presse reported last Wednesday, citing the Brazilian government. The report comes amid the rising global use of the yuan.

China’s first cross-border yuan-settled liquefied natural gas transaction was completed last Tuesday, after the Export-Import Bank of China achieved the first yuan loan cooperation with the Saudi National Bank, the largest bank in Saudi Arabia, earlier this month.

Zhu Min, vice-chairman of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, said the trend is underway that more economies are willing to use the yuan in clearing and payments, which is a “significant step” for the Chinese currency to internationalise and reflects the international community’s growing trust in it.

The financial sanctions adopted by the United States since the start of the Ukraine crisis have triggered a “crisis of confidence” for the dollar to some extent, boosting the global use of other currencies, including the yuan, Zhu said on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference.

Zhou Maohua, a macroeconomic analyst at China Everbright Bank, said the use of local currencies in bilateral trade will be a win-win situation for China and Brazil, reducing the risk of exchange rate fluctuations facing foreign trade companies, and thus boosting trade growth.

In February, China and Brazil signed a memorandum of understanding on setting up yuan-clearing arrangements in Brazil, which is deemed by experts as a necessary infrastructure for the two economies to trade in local currencies.

The arrangements will help the two countries’ enterprises and financial institutions use the yuan for cross-border trade, and facilitate bilateral trade and investment, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

Financial infrastructure associated with the internationalisation of the yuan should be further improved, said Pan Gongsheng, vice-governor of the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, in early March.

The nation will further improve its trading and settlement system for cross-border investment and financing using the currency, Pan added.

“I think yuan internationalisation will likely accelerate,” said Hong Hao, chief economist at GROW Investment Group, a China-based global asset management company, underlining that the recent developments indicate that an alternative monetary system outside the US dollar hegemony is being developed. — China Daily/ANN 

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 China sees an upsurge of diplomatic visits

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Friday 17 March 2023

Global Civilization Initiative proposed by Xi 'provides hope to heal the world in turbulence' – another gift from China to world

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, attends the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting via video link and delivers a keynote address in Beijing, capital of China, on March 15, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

 Global Civilization Initiative proposed by Xi 'provides hope to heal the world in turbulence'

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, proposed the Global Civilization Initiative. Experts said following the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, China is trying to share its wisdom and plans to bring new hope for all nations to consider together on how to escape the trap of the "Clash of Civilizations" and find a path that can help the world sail through the current turbulence.

Xi proposed the initiative during his  key note speech on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting via video link and delivered a keynote address.

Under the initiative, Xi called for respect for diversity of civilizations, advocating the common values of humanity, highly valuing the inheritance and innovation of civilizations, and jointly advocating robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.

"We are ready to work together with the international community to open up a new prospect of enhanced exchanges and understanding among different peoples and better interactions and integration of diversified cultures. Together we can make the garden of world civilizations colorful and vibrant," Xi said.

World needs hope

According to a Xinhua News Agency story on Thursday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, also president of the African National Congress, and 11 other leaders of political parties and political organizations also addressed the dialogue on Wednesday.

They spoke highly of Xi's proposals in his keynote speech, and expressed their willingness to work with the CPC to play a leading and driving role in the modernization process.

"We fully agree with the four proposals put forward by Chinese President Xi in the Global Civilization Initiative," Ramaphosa said, noting the initiative is vital to the world today.

The event, with the theme "Path towards Modernization: the Responsibility of Political Parties," brought together more than 500 leaders of political parties and political organizations from more than 150 countries.

Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday that the Global Civilization Initiative will help the world get rid of the old mentality for relations between different civilizations, and create a new landscape for the world which allows all countries to deal with each other based on stability, mutual respect and equality.

Experts said a very fundamental reason why the world at present is experiencing great turbulence is that the old international order dominated by the US-led West is making the world fall into the trap of "Clash of Civilizations," with many countries with different civilizations having a hard time to deal with each other peacefully.

Li said that within the US, people from different ethnic groups and with different religious beliefs are having more tensions rather than becoming more united. For the foreign affairs, during the time of the Trump administration, US senior officials openly hyped "Clash of Civilizations" and currently Washington is still having tensions with many countries with different civilizations, and even instigating conflicts between the countries in the same region with similar civilization.

At present, the old system and order dominated by the US-led West is causing huge problems and dangers to the world in the fields like geopolitics, supply and industrial chains, as well as the financial markets.

The Ukraine crisis is still far from easing, and the energy and foods crises are troubling many countries worldwide. At present, the new danger of a potential global financial crisis brought along by the collapse of US-based Silicon Valley Bank and the problem of Credit Suisse in Europe has made the world more unstable.

Liu Dian, an associate research fellow of the China Institute under Fudan University, told the Global Times on Thursday that in recent years, the world has been facing rising challenges and uncertainties.

"It's just about 15 years away from the financial crisis in 2008, the world is once again under the shadow of another crisis caused by the US," Liu noted. "The world is getting increasingly worried about the old system and getting more desperate to ask for new solution."

Contribute with action

From the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative to the latest Global Civilization Initiative, China has presented the world with an ideological system that gets increasingly mature. Adding to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the ideal of the global community of shared future, China is trying to use its own wisdom, experiences and influence based on its own successful development and exploration in the past decades to help the world improve and reform the old problematic international system and order, experts said.

Liu said that the series of initiatives proposed by the top leader of the CPC and China are answering the questions for the world and our time. The combination of these three initiatives shows China's comprehensive thoughts that aim to solve global problems and improve global governance.

China is not just proposing the initiatives, but also making contribution through actions, and gain concrete achievements, analysts said. For instance, the successful mediation that lead to the resumption of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the BRI that links countries with different civilizations to jointly realize development.

The vast majority of the international community welcomes and praises the latest reestablishment of Riyadh-Teheran diplomatic ties with China's support and assistance. This shows that the world in turbulence and regions in chaos desperately need new hope and new solution for peace and stability. China is actively utilizing its influence and wisdom to solve global challenges, as a result, more and more countries will be open to and carefully consider and research China's initiatives, Liu said. 

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Global Civilization Initiative – another gift from China to world: Global Times editorial

 

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, proposed the Global Civilization Initiative when he delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting on Wednesday. This is the third major global initiative presented by China after the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative. It fundamentally answers a series of questions of the times, such as "What kind of modernization do we need?" and "How can we achieve modernization?" The initiative has become another important public good provided to the world.

The background of the Global Civilization Initiative is that in recent years, as geopolitical conflicts have intensified, the "clash of civilizations" and "superiority of civilizations" have returned to public attention under the instigation and hype of some politicians in the US and the West. The hatred and estrangement among different civilizations have seriously hindered international cooperation. At the same time, "black swan" and "grey rhino" incidents are occurring frequently in the international community, and multiple challenges and crises are intertwined and superimposed. Different countries and civilizations urgently need to work together to deal with global challenges that affect the future and destiny of mankind as a whole. The Global Civilization Initiative can be said to have emerged in response to the demand of the times, and has strong practical significance and practical value.

The Global Civilization Initiative puts forward four initiatives - respect for diversity of civilizations, advocating the common values of humanity, highly valuing the inheritance and innovation of civilizations, and jointly advocating robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. It covers the basic concepts and principles that different civilizations can tolerate each other and coexist, and has the source of motivation and a practical path for realization. It is a major initiative that is very constructive, operable and sustainable. Since it advocates respect for different civilizations and support for their development rights, it fully meets the strong needs of the international community and has shown strong vitality from the very beginning, arousing enthusiastic responses in the international community.

As abovementioned, after the end of the Cold War, the world entered an era of high globalization, but it has not really experienced peace. The Cold War mentality and practice of demarcating ideological boundaries and engaging in camp confrontation have not disappeared. On the contrary, in recent years it is resurging. The Russia-Ukraine conflict is essentially a remnant of the Cold War detonating a powder keg in the 21st century. In other parts of the world, the practice of distinguishing between friends and foes in the name of "values" and wooing one faction while fighting against another faction casts a huge shadow on world peace and development.

Furthermore, without true equality and inclusion among civilizations, the process of peace and development will always be at risk of being interrupted. There have been too many tragedies in this regard, both historical and current. In this sense, the Global Civilization Initiative is an extension and complement to the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, and together they form the key components of a human community with a shared future.

The world does not need hatred, division or conflict, and the people of all countries want to live a good life. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people to create two miracles - rapid economic development and long-term social stability. These are by no means "out of luck." Instead, they have their own profound internal logic. The Global Civilization Initiative, Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative are highly condensed versions of China's past successful experiences, which China is willing to share with the world without reservation to achieve common development through mutual exchange and learning. It can be said that these three initiatives are all high-quality global public goods demonstrating China's sincerity and goodwill.

It should be emphasized that China is not only a "thinker" but also a "doer" in promoting building a human community with a shared future. In the past year or so, the number of countries and international organizations supporting the Global Development Initiative has increased to more than 100; the Group of Friends of the GDI established on the UN platform has expanded to more than 60 members; and platforms such as the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Trust Fund, the Global Development Promotion Center, and the China Global Development Knowledge Network have also been established one after another. Just a few days ago, Saudi Arabia and Iran held a dialogue and reached an agreement in Beijing, which also became a successful practice of the Global Security Initiative. This happened less than a year after the initiative was first proposed.

Thus, there are more reasons to expect that the Global Civilization Initiative, together with the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, will constantly inject stability and bring new hope to this world of turbulence and transformation. At the same time, we also believe that "Chinese modernization, as a new form of human advancement, will draw upon the merits of other civilizations and make the garden of world civilizations more vibrant." 

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Wednesday 1 February 2023

China's Rise to Economic Superpower, economy stands out in global arena

China's Rise to Economic Superpower 

World Economy

As the world still grapples with supply-chain backlogs (partially) caused by China’s strict Covid-19 policies, it has become painfully obvious how vulnerable the global economy is to national or even regional disruptions, especially if they happen in China, the world’s number one supplier of goods.

Over the past few decades, China has grown to become the world’s manufacturing hub and largest goods exporter by a significant margin, turning it from emerging market into economic superpower. According to estimates from the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook, the country will account for 18.8 percent of the world’s GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP). That’s up from just 8.1 percent two decade ago, when both the United States and the EU were miles ahead of China’s economic output.

Over the past 20 years, both the U.S. and the European Union have seen their economic superiority challenged, as new powers, such as China, India and others have emerged. While the U.S. saw its share of global GDP decline from 19.8 to 15.8 percent between 2002 and 2022, the EU’s share dropped from 19.9 to 14.8 percent of the same period.

The gap between China, the U.S. and the EU will likely widen over the next few years, as the economic outlook for the latter two is cloudy with a chance of recession, while China is expected to continue growing at mid-single-digit growth rates.

By Felix Richter 

Felix Richter
Data Journalist
felix.richter@statista.com +49 (40) 284 841 557

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China’s economy stands out in global arena 

 

Steady trade: Workers use computer terminals to monitor remote operations at a container port in Tianjin. China has now become a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, with its total trade of goods up 7.7% y-o-y in 2022, topping the world for six consecutive years. — AP 

 Annual average growth of 4.5% between 2020 and 2022, outpacing the world average of around 2%

BEIJING: In its three-year-long fight against Covid-19, China posted outstanding results in economic development and epidemic control, reinforcing its status as a leading engine for the global economy.

From 2020 to 2022, China’s economy posted an annual average growth of 4.5%, outpacing the world average of around 2%, according to Yuan Da, director of the Department of National Economy of the National Development and Reform Commission.

In 2022, the economy grew 3% year-on-year (y-o-y) to a record high of 121 trillion yuan (US$18 trillion or RM76.3 trillion), with the increment standing at 6.1 trillion yuan (RM3.8 trillion), equivalent to the economic aggregate of a medium-sized country.

It also marks a new and higher level in terms of economic aggregate after the Chinese economy topped the thresholds of 100 trillion yuan (RM62.5 trillion) and 110 trillion yuan (RM68.8 trillion) in 2020 and 2021, respectively – maintaining its position well as the world’s second-largest economy.

Analysts attributed the hard-won results to the country’s effective coordination in fighting Covid-19 and its economic fallouts simultaneously.

Thanks to effective virus control and timely pro-growth policies, China’s economy has quickly emerged from the epidemic-induced slump and consolidated its recovery momentum for a brighter outlook.

To cope with the constantly evolving epidemic situation, China has been dynamically optimising its control measures while enhancing the treatment and vaccination capacity, effectively safeguarding the lives and health of its 1.4 billion population at minimum costs.As of Jan 13, 92.9% of the Chinese population has been fully vaccinated, with more than 90% of people above 60 covered by vaccination.

With Omicron much less pathogenic and deadly, China, in December last year, announced ten new measures to lift numerous Covid-19 restrictions. On Jan 8, its management of Covid-19 was officially downgraded from Class A to Class B.

Less than one month after the optimisation of Covid-19 response measures in December 2022, China reported declining numbers of fever patients and critical Covid-19 cases as both had passed the peak. In the just-concluded Spring Festival holiday, China’s consumption made a strong comeback.

During the week-long holiday, sales revenue of China’s consumption-related sectors rose 12.2% from the same holiday period in 2022. Its cinemas sold 129 million tickets, generating a whopping revenue of 6.76 billion yuan (RM4.2bil), the second highest-grossing to date.

Wen Bin, the chief economist with China Minsheng Bank, said that warming demand at home would propel the turnaround in the Chinese economy this year and estimated the country’s full-year gross domestic product growth at around 5.5%.

Aside from the overall economic growth, China also made significant headway in maintaining consumer price stability, guaranteeing food and energy security, and improving people’s livelihoods.

In 2022, China’s consumer price index grew by 2%, a fraction of the increases reported in the United States, the eurozone and Britain. It is also lower than those of other emerging economies.

Amid a global food crisis, the country has secured a bumper harvest for the 19th year in a row, with its grain output at about 686.53 billion kg in 2022, up 0.5% from 2021.

A total of 11.86 million, 12.69 million, and 12.06 million new urban jobs were created in 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively, all surpassing the targets set for each year.

Despite the gloomy global investment environment, China remains one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world.

Foreign direct investment in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 6.3% y-o-y to 1.23 trillion yuan (RM768.8bil) in 2022.

China has now become a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, with its total trade of goods up 7.7% y-o-y in 2022, topping the world for six consecutive years.

Recently, multiple international investment banks and financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Barclays, and Natixis, have upwardly revised their forecast for China’s economic growth rate in 2023, betting on the country’s rosy prospects and strong resilience. — Xinhua

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