MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. China's new tactics to fight COVID-19 will greatly benefit the global economy and create unique opportunities for the development of relations with Russia, the country’s envoy to Russia Zhang Hanhui told TASS in an interview.
"The innovations, which are met with broad approval and support in many countries, will greatly benefit the world economy, which is already going through a difficult period of sluggish recovery. It will also create unique opportunities for another culmination of the development of China-Russia relations in the post-pandemic period," he said.
The diplomat recalled that since January 8, China has started implementing a new plan to control COVID-19. It has introduced temporary measures to regulate cross-border travel. These include the abolition of PCR testing and organized quarantine for all those arriving in China, the resumption of outbound tourism for Chinese citizens and other measures. "This significant optimization of Covid-19 control policy, developed after a comprehensive assessment of the virus mutation and the current epidemiological situation, shows that the focus of COVID control in China is gradually shifting from preventing infection to preventing the severe course of the disease and ensuring the health of citizens," he stressed.
According to the diplomat, over the past three years China has paved the way for high-quality development by finding the golden mean in its comprehensive efforts to effectively confront the pandemic and ensure socio-economic development. "These precisely are the great advantages of Chinese socialism," he continued, "In 2020, China was the first among the world's major economies to show positive GDP growth, and in 2021, the country was in the lead in terms of economic growth."
Zhang Hanhui also pointed out that over the past three years, China has shown encouraging economic development results: its average annual growth rate has stood at 4.5%, its share of the global economy has reached 18.5%, and its contribution to global economic growth has exceeded 30%. "This proves that China has been and remains the engine of global economic recovery, the steady growth of the Chinese economy inspires hope and confidence and has a positive impact on the world economy, which is deeply stuck in difficulties," he concluded.