Two Sessions Spotlight: Political system in China has ability to address problems

The government work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang at the opening meeting of China's fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress said the country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 8.1 percent year-on-year to 114 trillion yuan ($18 trillion) in 2021. The pace was above the government target of above 6 percent.

As the epidemic is still wrecking havoc around the world, there are still economic challenges for China and the world in 2022.

Michael R. Powers, a professor of finance at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management, shared with People's Daily in an online interview his observations about China's economic development and its contributions to the world economy.

Powers noted that China takes a uniform approach to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which enables the country to recover more quickly than other nations. And this is the reason why China was able to do well in its GDP growth in 2021.

Narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor is an issue faced by all countries, while promoting common prosperity is one of China's missions of the 14th Five-Year Plan. "The political system in the country has the ability to focus for a long term and to address problems when they come up," said Powers when speaking of China's advantages to realize the goal.

Powers emphasized China's opportunity to introduce changes and modify the direction in which the country is going in the future during a period of tremendous turmoil in the world economy. He believes that China will provide stability in its economy in 2022 and future years as specific actions that the government took in 2021 has laid the groundwork.

(Produced by Cheng Weidan, Xu Zheqi, and Xie Runjia; Cover photo: Pan Siqi)