Chinese diplomat spoke about the secrets of the Chinese economy in the wake of the global storm

China's economy has strong resilience, strong potential and good future development prospects. This point of view was expressed by Zhao Qiuyan, Advisor for Trade and Economic Affairs of the Chinese Embassy in Belarus, in an interview with BelTA. She touched in detail on the current economic situation in CHINA, achievements in the Belarusian-Chinese trade and economic cooperation and development prospects in 2023. Faced with an unstable international environment and the daunting task of achieving domestic reform, development and stability, China has strengthened macroeconomic regulation and control to effectively respond to the impact of unexpected factors.

- In 2022, China's economic activity was affected by many negative factors, including the unstable international situation, the domestic epidemiological situation, and drought. At the same time, how do you assess the results of the country's economic activity for the year?

- Yes, indeed, last year the geopolitical situation was characterized by instability, the risks of a global economic downturn increased, as well as the uncertainty of the conditions for China's economic development. The state, faced with an unstable international environment and the complex task of implementing domestic reforms, has strengthened macroeconomic regulation and control in order to effectively respond to the impact of unexpected factors.

The macroeconomic market as a whole was stable, the dynamics of ensuring the material conditions of life of the people continuously increased, new results were achieved in the field of high-quality development, and the overall socio-economic situation remained stable.

The main planned development goals have been achieved for the most part. In particular, it was possible to maintain the stability of employment of the population, as well as prices, while effectively ensuring food security. Foreign trade performance turned out to be slightly better than expected, and economic development led to new, hard-won gains.

In 2022, China's economy grew faster than most of the world's largest economies. Thus, the total economic volume reached 121 trillion yuan, which is a jump to a new level. This is equivalent to about $ 18 trillion - according to this indicator, China ranks second in the world.

Last year, GDP per capita was 3% more than in the previous period - $12,741. That is, the indicator remained above $12,000 for two years.

It is noteworthy that the combined size of China's economy and the level of per capita income continued to grow, which means that the country's national strength has grown, productivity, international influence and people's living standards have improved. It also points to a solid foundation and a strong driving force behind China's development. And finally, it shows that our economy has strong economic stability, strong potential, and wide opportunities. In addition to this, the main long-term economic indicators remain consistently positive, which fully demonstrates the high viability of the PRC economy.

- What is your view on China's economic development prospects in 2023?

- 2023 is the first year of the consistent implementation of the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CCP.

At the same time, I want to draw attention to the complex and tense external environment, the growing risk of stagflation (slowdown in production and investment growth (stagnation) in the face of high inflation) of the world economy.

However, as we enter a new stage of prevention and control of the epidemic, we expect an accelerated recovery of production and the usual way of life, strengthening domestic economic growth and, in general, improving the situation in the country's economy.

I would like to highlight some of the benefits of China's economic growth.

First of all, I want to draw attention to the solid material foundation accumulated over a long period of development of the PRC. In the United Nations industrial classification, China is one of the countries with the most complete industrial categories and the best industrial support. With strong industrial organization capabilities and sustainable production chains, our country occupies an important place in the global industrial division of labor and supply chain system, creating favorable conditions for overcoming external risks and challenges.

The next thing I want to note is the obvious advantage of the super-large scale of the domestic market. With a population of more than 1.4 billion people, the continuous development of a new strategy of industrialization and urbanization, and the possession of the most potential ultra-large market in the world, all these factors are a powerful engine for China's economic recovery and improvement.

Then I would like to draw attention to the strengthening of the supporting role of new economic drivers. China is pursuing an innovative development strategy in depth to effectively promote the rapid growth of new industries, giving new impetus to economic activity.

As we can see, deepening the policy of reforms and opening up to the outside world continues to pay dividends. China has accelerated the construction of a single national market, continued to deepen reforms, created an international and legal business environment, as well as a fairer competitive environment for various market participants.

I would also like to speak about the rich experience of our country in implementing the policy of macroeconomic regulation and control. Compared to price increases in many countries, which hit a record high in the past decade, China's consumer price growth was only 2% in 2022. The price situation is stable and under control.

- For China and Belarus, 2022 has been a year of raising the level of bilateral relations. Tell us what results have been achieved in bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

- In September 2022 in Samarkand, as a result of which the level of Chinese-Belarusian relations was upgraded to an all-weather and comprehensive strategic partnership. Thus, bilateral cooperation in various fields was placed on a new starting point.

Last year, the results of Chinese-Belarusian trade and economic cooperation were encouraging and again reached a new high. The parties have overcome the adverse effects of logistical barriers and delays associated with the epidemiological situation. According to the Chinese side, in 10 months, the volume of bilateral trade between China and Belarus exceeded the figure for 2021 and reached $5.08 billion for the entire year, an increase of 33% compared to the same period last year, of which Belarus' exports to China increased by 65%. .4%, and imports - by 20%.

The construction and development of the China-Belarus Industrial Park, a landmark joint construction project of the Belt and Road Initiative, is progressing steadily. During the year, 19 new residents entered the park, bringing the total number of enterprises to over 100, marking the successful completion of the park's first decade of development. A number of key projects related to mechanical engineering, vehicle assembly, agricultural production, biotechnology and other industries have overcome many difficulties and achieved better than expected business results.

- This year marks the tenth anniversary of the One Belt, One Road initiative, and this opens up new opportunities for the joint implementation of the initiative. In what areas, in your opinion, Belarus and China can strengthen cooperation?

- Belarus is not only a key, but also one of the first countries to respond to the Chinese initiative "One Belt, One Road".

Over the past decade, the integration of infrastructure facilities between China and Belarus has yielded fruitful results. In particular, we are talking about the successful operation of container trains China - Europe - China, the repeated achievement of new heights in bilateral trade, the progressive promotion of key projects, the consistent development of financial and credit cooperation. SZAO "BELGI", the engine manufacturing plant "Weichai-Bel", "Midea-Horizont" and other projects jointly implemented by Chinese and Belarusian enterprises are not only well known to Belarusians, but also successfully filled the gap in Belarusian industries.

In my opinion, trade and economic cooperation between the two countries has great potential, which is yet to be revealed in the future. For example, in e-commerce, trade in agricultural products and other areas. Last September, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus jointly signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of e-commerce, agreeing to strengthen political communication, support cooperation between enterprises, promote the supply of high-quality specialized products through e-commerce.

In addition, in order to promote Belarusian high-quality products, Belarus opened the Belarusian National Pavilion on several well-known e-commerce platforms in China, which received a good response.

Belarusian agricultural products, especially MEAT and meat products, MILK and dairy products, are very much loved by Chinese consumers. From January to November last year, China imported $584 million worth of various agricultural products from Belarus, up 51% year-on-year.

I hope that the two sides will continue to work hand in hand and, using existing resources effectively, constantly expand mutually beneficial cooperation in e-commerce, agricultural trade, traditional Chinese medicine, artificial intelligence, 5G network development, digital economy and other fields, giving new impetus further deepening trade and economic cooperation.

Alina GRISHKEVICH,

BELTA.