Healthy growth likely despite outbreak

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on China's economy, similar to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and 2008 global financial crisis－different only in scope and extent of the effects.

Despite the rapid surge in cases in the early stage, the COVID-19 epidemic's impact on China, however, appears to be relatively short-lived, as its economy grew 3.2 percent in the second quarter of this year after shrinking by 6.8 percent in the first quarter. China has been working to offset the negative impacts of the epidemic on its economy, so it can maintain a medium-high economic growth rate for some time to come.

Although China's economic growth rate has declined since it entered the "new normal", various agencies' estimates suggest China's potential growth rate is still in the 5-6.5 percent range, which is expected to be the biggest support for the country to achieve a medium-high growth rate in the near future. After all, even after 30 years of rapid growth, the economies of Japan and the Republic of Korea managed to maintain a growth rate of 4-5 percent for more than 20 years. And compared with Japan and the ROK, China's economy is bigger and more resilient, and its vast underdeveloped central and western regions still have huge growth potential.