Workers weld at a workshop of an automobile manufacturing enterprise in Qingzhou City, east China's Shandong Province, June 30, 2020. The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector ticked up to 50.9 in June from 50.6 in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. (Photo by Wang Jilin/Xinhua)

China's economic and industrial growth shows its COVID-19 prevention and control policies are beneficial to industrial and supply chains. Only by adhering to the set policies was China able to be the first major economy in the world to resume work and production, a Chinese official said on Thursday responding to the country's "Zero-COVID" policy.

It is well known to global observers that China has been following the policy of "preventing the import of COVID-19 from abroad and preventing a rebound at home," which has produced remarkable results so far. It is fair to say that both China's economic development and virus prevention and control have maintained a leading position globally, Tian Yulong, chief engineer and spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), told a press conference on Thursday.

"China's economic growth, especially the growth of the industrial economy, shows that China's coronavirus prevention and control policy is beneficial to the industrial and supply chains. Only by adhering to this correct virus prevention strategy can China be the first in the world to resume work and production, and the stability and security of the industrial and supply chains can be guaranteed," said Tian.

In 2021, the added value of all industries in China grew by 9.6 percent over the previous year, 1.5 percentage points higher than GDP growth, which stood at 8.1 percent. The added value for manufacturing sector rose 9.8 percent year-on-year.

The added value of China's entire industries was 37.3 trillion yuan ($5.9 trillion) in 2021, with manufacturing industries standing at 31.4 trillion yuan, both ranking first in the world for more than a decade, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

"The overall development of the manufacturing industry is relatively fast, and the improvement of efficiency is obvious. The resilience of the industrial and supply chains allowed the ascension of the whole manufacturing industry, especially industries such as containers, photovoltaic, wind power, energy and equipment manufacturing," said Tian.

The spokesperson noted that the international competitiveness of China's industrial products had been continuously enhanced.

As a result, China has witnessed a record high of $6.05 trillion in foreign trade in 2021, showing a solid recovery of the global forerunner in containing COVID-19, the official said.

"I am confident that by adhering to coronavirus prevention and control policies, while also taking more precise and effective measures to ensure the safety and resilience of supply and industrial chains has benefitted the country, in addition to constructing more smooth international supply chains," said Tian.

Global Times