Interview: China's anti-COVID-19 policy boosting global economic recovery

ACCRA, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- A Ghanaian economist has said China's anti-COVID-19 policies are boosting global economic recovery in many respects.

Paul Frimpong, executive director of the Africa-China Center for Policy and Advisory, a Ghana-based think tank, told Xinhua in a recent interview that China's recent lifting of some restrictive measures against the virus has sent positive signals to the world and boosted investors' confidence in the world's second-largest economy.

"China is an integral part of the global economy, and tourism is one of the sectors to experience a boom. Not just tourists traveling to China but the Chinese traveling outside as the Chinese are one of the largest groups of tourists in the world," Frimpong said.

He believed the new stage of China's COVID-19 prevention and control would also reignite momentum in the global supply chain and support what the rest of the world has been doing to rebuild the global economy. "The measures have marked economic consequences for the world due to China's role in the global economy."

Frimpong described China's dynamic zero-COVID policy during much of the past three years as a necessary measure to curtail the spread of the virus and protect human lives.

"The wisdom behind it was to eliminate any sign of major shock that we have seen in other parts of the world. Clearly, China wanted to avoid seeing such large numbers of deaths from COVID-19 that have taken place in some other countries," Frimpong told Xinhua. "China needed to reduce the risk of a widespread virus outbreak because, if you look at the dynamics of China, not just the size of the population of about 1.4 billion, but the age demographics of China is also different from Africa's youthful population."

The economist also commented that the lifting of the restrictions by China recently was well-grounded in scientific data, therefore China's shift in its anti-COVID policy would not pose any risk of spreading COVID-19 any further in the world.

He expressed full confidence in China's efforts to handle the breakout, saying "after almost three years in lockdown, they have the experience and expertise, coupled with a strong structure and capacity, with new drugs and new medical solutions. They are now also dealing with a weaker version of the virus, so they have the opportunity to open up and rebuild the economy."

The Ghanaian scholar dismissed some adverse commentaries in western media about the lifting of restrictions in China, describing them as double standards borne out of a quest to demonize China.

"They complained that China had locked down, claiming it would affect global growth, accusing China of intentionally seeking to hijack recovery. China has lifted the restrictions, and they are still complaining," Frimpong observed. "The most important thing is that China has opened up again, meaning the rest of the world can access the Chinese market, and the Chinese can also access the other markets. It is a real boost that will go a long way to help to push the efforts to rebuild the global economy."