Wu Yingqin: ‘The US pursued the policy of suppressing China, but China’s economy was developing in spite of it’

China's GDP growth rate exceeds expectations

On 17 January 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China published data on national economic activity in 2021. The annual gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 8,1% compared to the previous year, which is higher than the government's expected target by 6% set at the beginning of 2021, and also higher than the previous global forecast.

With a total Chinese economy of 17,7 trillion US dollars, our country ranks 2nd in the world, and China's GDP per capita exceeded 12,000 US dollars, surpassing the global indicator of GDP per capita.

These are hard-earned estimations. In 2021, the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the world did not weaken, but only grew, and therefore the world economy is struggling to recover. Some developed countries have stimulated their economies by increasing the money supply. The United States continued its unjustified policy of suppressing China and “breaking the ties” with it in the economic and trade sphere. All this has had an impact on the external conditions for China's development. Moreover, China's economy has also faced a number of predictable and unforeseen challenges — from the emergence of coronavirus in many places to severe floods, from rising commodity prices to shortages of electricity and coal. Against this background, the whole country overcame difficulties, and China's economy developed contrary to prevailing trends and achieved the double goal: fairly high growth and relatively low inflation, which deserves praise.

China's economy has faced a number of predictable and unforeseen challenges — from the emergence of coronavirus in many places to severe floods, from rising commodity prices to shortages of electricity and coal

Volume of China's foreign trade has crossed two stages: 5 trillion and 6 trillion US dollars

From a historical point of view, China's growth is based on high base value. Last year, China's nominal GDP increased from 101 trillion yuan (1 US dollar equals 6,34 yuan) to 114 trillion yuan, an increase of about 13 trillion yuan. The increase is equivalent to 2 trillion US dollars at the average annual exchange rate, which is equivalent to the annual economic volume of a relatively large world economy. From the point of view of global comparison, in 2021 Germany announced a GDP growth rate of 2,7%, while the US economic growth forecast was lowered to 5,6%, in the UK and Japan there was a decrease to 6,9% and 2,4%, respectively.

In terms of economic growth, China ranks 1st among the largest economies in the world.

In particular, in the face of enormous pressure from changes in the internal and external economic environment, China's economy has shown itself to be a new bright symbol. For example, in the fourth quarter, the coronavirus spread in many places, which led to sluggish consumption and an impact on the service sector. However, the manufacturing industry has shown good results. In particular, the added value of high-tech production and equipment production increased by 18,2% and 12,9%, respectively. For example, China's foreign trade volume in 2021 crossed two stages one after another: 5 trillion US dollars and 6 trillion US dollars. At the same time, the scale reached a new maximum, and the quality was steadily improving. The Sino-Russian trade turnover reached $146,887 billion, updating the historical maximum. As another example: in 2021, the actual use of foreign capital in China amounted to $180,8 billion, an increase of 14,9% year-on-year, and the scale of attracting foreign capital reached a new record level. These new bright spots are a living image of China's desire to make progress in stability and promote quality development, as well as a powerful manifestation of China's relentless efforts to promote a policy of reform and openness.

Certainly, paying attention to the achievements, China also directly faces problems and challenges. China is still the largest developing country in the world, although its GDP per capita exceeds the global average, it still lags far behind the largest developed countries. For example, there has been instability in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic, small and medium-sized enterprises selling products are facing difficulties in production activities, and market expectations and confidence of enterprises are fluctuating to some extent — all these are problems that we must pay attention to and solve them.

Over the past 2 years, we have achieved “cool results” in a difficult exam to combat coronavirus, which allowed us to protect the life, health and safety of the Chinese people as much as possible

“Time after time, ‘China's collapse theories’ have failed in the West”

China is a country that carries out several major initiatives with the help of concentrated efforts, which is an obvious advantage of our system. Over the past 2 years, we have achieved “cool results” in a difficult exam to combat coronavirus, which allowed us to protect the life, health and safety of the Chinese people as much as possible. Now our anti-epidemic achievements must continue to transform into tangible economic results. China's anti-epidemic achievements will once again demonstrate that the leadership of the Communist Party is a stabilising force to overcome all difficulties and risks. We also have every reason to believe that in the post-coronavirus era, “commitment to economic construction is at the forefront” as the main line of the party's demands should be fully reflected in China's pragmatic actions at all levels. Such actions include adherence to the principle of a realistic approach to business and opposition to formalism, including improving professional abilities, conducting business in accordance with economic laws, and also includes the ability to combine practical and creative approaches to solve various tasks.

“If the world does not strengthen, it withers; if the governance of the world does not move forward, it declines.” Looking back at history, we can say that China's economy has always successfully coped with challenges and overcome difficulties.

Over the past few decades of development, we have never been overwhelmed by difficulties much more serious than they are now. And time after time, “the theories of the collapse of China” in the West have failed. The fundamentals of China's economy, which is stable, has great potential and has been improving for a long time, have not changed, and we are full of confidence in the prospects for China's economic development.