Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian Photo: fmprc.gov.cn

 China’s economy has been acting as a “safe haven” and “stabilizer” for world economy despite the uncertainty and instability troubling the globe, a Chinese government official said during a press conference on Thursday when he was asked to comment on the recent move taken by the IMF to lower the global economic growth forecast for 2022. 

The official also urged the US to do more things to benefit the world’s economic recovery and the stability of global supply chains, instead of intensifying unilateral sanctions, at the time when the US is reportedly mulling new sanctions against Chinese companies. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Thursday that the world’s economy is facing a “grim situation” because of the added influence of geo-political fluctuations and coronavirus, and all countries’ economic and social operation have been severely impacted by the macro-situation. 

Recently, the IMF lowered its forecast for the 2022 world economic growth to 3.6 percent, down 0.8 percentage point compared with previous estimates. 

Under such circumstances, China’s economy has been contributing to the world economy in a positive way, Zhao said, as China’s economy continued a trend toward recovery and presented strong resilience and vitality judging from the first-quarter economic data. 

“We are willing to work with all sides to make positive contributions to stabilizing global industry and supply chains, pushing the world’s economic recovery and boosting confidence in global development,” Zhao said. 

China’s first-quarter GDP reached 4.8 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. In particular, the country’s imports increased by 7.5 percent year-on-year to 4.19 trillion yuan ($633 billion), showing that the country is buying more of products from other countries which would benefit their economy.

However, Zhao also stressed that China “regrets” to see that there are certain countries, including the US, which are sticking to their own interests and intensifying unilateral sanctions in the face of a weak global economy.

According to Zhao, facts have proved that sanctions can’t bring about peace, but will only further injure the global economy. 

“The US as the world’s largest economy should think more of the survival rights and development rights of world people, and do more things that are beneficial to the world’s economic recovery and the stability of world supply chains,” he said. 

A report by the Financial Times noted that the US is moving toward imposing new sanctions on Chinese video surveillance company Hikvision, a move which would further strain the two countries relations on top of the existing US sanctions toward Chinese tech firms.