China's recovery boon for world economy

Thanks to its prevention and control work and vaccination program which has already seen more than 900 million doses administered nationwide, China's economy kept its robust growth momentum in May, with major indicators suggesting it has basically shaken off the gloom cast by the pandemic-induced slump.

Its industrial output, led by high-tech sectors such as new energy vehicles and industrial robots, grew 8.8 percent last month from the same period a year ago, while retail sales rose 12.4 percent year-on-year, suggesting strong business and consumer confidence. Moreover, the unemployment rate continued to decline, with the nationwide urban jobless rate dropping from 5.1 percent in April to 5.0 percent in May, the lowest since May 2019, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

These have not come easily, especially given that the country has still had to deal with sporadic local infections such as the outbreaks in the Pearl River Delta region, and faced external uncertainties such as global commodity price hikes which have increased the costs for factories, as well as the disruptions to supply chains the pandemic has caused.