Xiconomics: China strives to push for peace and development in stormy times

Continued confidence

Although it marked down China's growth forecast for this year in its latest report, the IMF expressed confidence in its outlook of the world's second-largest economy.

"We see China capable of boosting the economy, because it has ample policy space," the agency's chief said last week.

"We have seen in the last days, the People's Bank of China taking action to ease conditions for access to credit," Georgieva said. "And it also has space in terms of fiscal policy."

It takes good iron to make good products, a Chinese saying goes. China has been leading by example on how a science-based economic philosophy unleashes growth momentum at home and drives regional and global development with positive spillovers.

According to Bloomberg, Chinese policy over the past two years "has prevented a huge number of deaths at home and ensured that everything from iPhones and Teslas to fertilizer and car parts continues to flow to the rest of the world."

The alternative "could bring global supply chains to a halt, sending inflation higher," Bloomberg said.

In the first quarter of this year, China's total imports and exports expanded 10.7 percent year on year to 9.42 trillion yuan (about $1.47 trillion), the seventh consecutive quarter of growth.

The country retains its appeal to regional and global investors with a fully-established industrial chain, industrial clusters and a massive consumer market.

Foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, went up 31.7 percent year on year to $59.09 billion in the first quarter of the year. Inflows into the country's high-tech industries logged a sharp yearly increase of 52.9 percent, according to official data.

According to a survey last year by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, 60 percent of more than 300 US companies operating in China reported increased investment compared with 2020.

Continued confidence in China can also be found in the annual Business Confidence Survey 2021 published by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Only 9 percent of nearly 600 European companies operating in China planned to shift any current or planned investment out of the country, the lowest share on record.

"China's economy continues to have massive growth potential," said Khairy Tourk, a professor of economics with the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. "I feel quite optimistic about the country realizing its potential."

On the supply side, China has a blueprint for changing its economy from a low-end manufacturer to a high-end producer, said Tourk. "This has advantages in raising people's living standards and acting as a hedge against external shocks."