Dynamic clearing support for global economy: China Daily editorial

Does China's dynamic clearing policy against the novel coronavirus pose a threat to the global supply chains? Some foreign media say so. Such a claim is as preposterous as saying that the spread of the virus has actually promoted the growth of the global economy.

The absurdity of such remarks lies in the fact that those who make them have turned a blind eye to what China has contributed to not only the growth of the global economy but also to the global fight against the pandemic. It is the dynamic clearing policy that made it possible for China to generally control the virus the earliest among countries, enabling it to resume its economic activities, and then keep the transmission of the virus localized whenever a cluster of infections have appeared.

The global supply chains would have collapsed had it not been for the support of the robust growth of China's economy when the other major economies were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years. Had it not been for China's provision of the necessary materials for the global control and prevention of the virus' transmission, more people would have been killed by the virus and the consequences of the pandemic would have been much more serious globally.

It must be what has happened in Shanghai that has led to their making such remarks. But what they cannot understand is the fact that the measures, whether the lockdown of communities or the organized nucleic acid tests for residents, are adopted to cut off the transmission of the virus in a timely manner. The temporary suspension of some economic activities in the city is meant to preempt the long-lasting negative impact the economy will suffer if the pandemic situation worsens.

If they look objectively at China's response to the COVID-19 pandemic with a long-term perspective, they will undoubtedly arrive at a different conclusion. Looking at what has happened to the global supply chains and ever worsening inflation from a global perspective, it is not difficult to see that many factors besides the pandemic have resulted in the crisis.

The unilateralism and trade protectionism the United States has initiated and advocated have dealt a heavy blow to the smooth running of the global supply chains. And its quantitative easing is the source of the extensive global inflation.

Meanwhile, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has caused and will further lead to a series of problems for the development of the global economy and even for the food security of some countries.

China's dynamic clearing approach to curb the spread of the virus as quickly as possible will only help the country to maintain the steady growth of its economy, which will help cushion the impacts of these various negative factors on the global economy.