Question: Recently, some media in the UK claimed that China’s dynamic clearing policy is not sustainable, has failed in mainland China and Hong Kong and brings risks to global supply chain. What is your comment?
Embassy Spokesperson: Some British media distorted the meaning of dynamic zero-COVID policy and suggested that China should ease pandemic control and coexist with the virus. The intention of such allegation can only be to sow discord, create panic, and smear, denigrate and undermine China.
Dynamic zero-COVID policy is not aimed at zero infection. Its goal is to control the spread of the virus at the lowest possible cost in the shortest possible time to safeguard people’s health and ensure a certain level of normality in day-to-day life. China's prevention and control work is basically carried out within one or two longest incubation periods which means any outbreak is quickly dealt with and brought under control. During the outbreak in Tianjin in January 2022, more than 10 million samples were taken in only four and a half hours and lock-down measure were applied to limited and specific commercial tenants and residential units.
The vast majority of the country and people have been able to go about their daily business and life as usual, because China has the world’s lowest infection and fatality rates. As of April 5th, there have been over 492 million confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world with 81.83 million in the US and 21.21 million in the UK, and 6.18 million deaths worldwide with over 1 million in the US and 16.5 thousand in the UK. China in the meantime has only less than 160 thousand confirmed cases and 4,638 fatality cases. The life and health of more than 1.4 billion people in China has been effectively protected.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020, China has placed the interests of the people and the safety of lives above everything else. The cost of these measures were not small, but compared with protecting life and health of the people, it is a cost worth paying. Should China let go of control, do nothing, lift the weight off its shoulder and “coexist with the virus”? The answer to this question is clear-cut. The Chinese government believes in putting people front and centre and refuses to “lie flat”. From Wuhan to Hong Kong and then to Shanghai, the government has mobilized the whole country to stop the spread of Covid with the greatest intensity, at the fastest speed and with maximum coverage. This is a vivid embodiment of the strength of the China’s system.
China has coordinated epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development, and this has helped maintain the security and stability of global supply chains. China was the only major economy that achieved positive growth in 2020. Its GDP in 2021 increased by 8.1% and exceeded 110 trillion RMB, adding the size of the world’s sixth largest economy. GDP per capita was 12.5 thousand US dollar rising above the global average level for the first time. More than 12 million new jobs were created, and the consumer price index rose only 0.9% year-on-year. In 2022, China's GDP growth target is set at about 5.5%. The fundamentals of the long-term economic growth will not change and there will be measures taken to maintain the security and stability of the industrial supply chain. China is also the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries and economies in the world. In 2021, China's import and export of goods exceeded US$6 trillion for the first time, hitting a record high. The actual use of foreign capital exceeds US$170 billion. In the first two months of 2022, China's actual use of foreign capital increased by 37.9% year-on-year. The above data shows that with its precise Covid prevention and control, and coordination of Covid measures with economic and social development, China has made important contributions to the stability and security of the global industrial and supply chain.
The fact is that the dynamic zero-COVID policy is in line with China's national conditions and it is science-based, the right way to go and effective. China's experience shows that the adherence of 1.4 billion Chinese people to the dynamic clearing is the biggest contribution to the international fight against the epidemic and the stable recovery of the global economy.
