China Claims To Be A Safe Country From Economic Shocks

Premier Li Keqiang conveyed China's national economic growth target in 2022 of 5.5 percent or smaller than the realization of economic growth in 2021 of 8.1 percent. (Antara/M. Irfan Ilmie)

JAKARTA - The Chinese government claims to be a safe place that can stabilize the world economy and urges the United States to do more for the common recovery.

"China's economy has become a safe haven and stabilizer for the world economy despite global uncertainty and instability," said Chinese Foreign Ministry (MFA) spokesman Zhao Lijian in Beijing as quoted by Antara, Thursday.

He urged the US to do more to benefit the world's economic recovery rather than impose unilateral sanctions, including new sanctions against several Chinese companies.

Zhao issued the statement in response to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which lowered its forecast for world economic growth to 3.6 percent, down 0.8 percent compared to the previous estimate.

"The world economy is facing bleak times due to the additional impact of geopolitical fluctuations and the coronavirus in addition to the macro situation facing all countries," Zhao said.

In such a situation, he continued, the Chinese economy has contributed positively to the world economy because the trend towards recovery continues and its resilience has been tested as achieved in the first quarter.

In the first quarter of this year, China's economy grew 4.8 percent, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. China's imports also rose 7.5 percent over the same period last year to 4.19 trillion yuan.

This shows that China is buying more products from other countries, which of course benefits these countries, Zhao said at the regular press briefing.