China’s Economic Reopening in the Pandemic era

*Part 3 of 3

(Continued from May 28, 2020)

Therefore, the government launched policies to ensure the smooth operation of their supply chain, including the suppor t for the China- Europe trains, the setting of the comprehensive free trade zones and so forth. The supporting policies are equally applicable to domestic and foreign enterprises. The government continues to lower the threshold of the foreign investment and improve the business environment for the foreign companies. According to the survey of more than 8200 foreign companies in China, up until April 28th, 76.7% of them had resumed work with a 70% normal capacity.

4. Encourage innovat i o n and the development of new economy. China gives full play to its own advantages, cultivates the emergence of the new consumption types during the pandemic, and explores compatible institutional mechanism and policy environments for them. China also encourages the development of the new business models such as “Internet +”, which helps accelerate the speed of work resumption, and inject a new momentum into the economic and social development.

China has recently issued a plan to promote the digital service and foster the development of the new economy, for example, new forms of retail business, online shopping, contactless distribution, online medical service, online education, one- stop travel, shared employees, remote working, etc. On top of the existing 59 crossborder e- commerce pilot zones, China recently announced the establishment of 46 new ones, supporting and guiding enterprises to open up new businesses and new markets through online platforms and digital marketing.

Next, China will take pilot studies on the practices like mutual recognition and sharing of electronic medical cases, online training for vocational education, online diagnosis and treatment, and the application of online education. In the first 4 months this year, the online retail sales of physical goods in China have increased by 8.6%.

During the pandemic, there were an emergence of more than 11,000 new internet medical companies, and a total of more than 300 million users of remote workspace applications. Live streaming sales, online “Canton Fair”, and AI travel became new trends. China further promoted the construction of new infrastructure such as 5G networks, Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, and smart cities. In the first 4 months this year, the added value of China’s hightech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing has increased by 10.5% and 9.3% respectively. China used the emerging technologies such as drones and the Internet of Things to help accelerate the development of “smart agriculture”. For example, pig farms in Sihong, Jiangsu Province implemented “pig face recognition” and “i n f ra red temperat u re measurement” techniques to record the characteristics, growth experience, and disease history of each pig, which helped to realize the digitalization of pig farming.

With various policies in place to help stabilize employment and promote production, the progress of resuming work and production has significantly accelerated, while the economic vitality has gradually been released. However, we are well aware that the global pandemic situation is still grim, and that the risk of a rebound or even a second wave could be coming in the future. Therefore, an economic restart can never be achieved overnight. Different countries have different national conditions. Each has their own questions as to how to contain the pandemic and resume work. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. For a long period of time in the future, for countries around the world, they need to explore how to grasp the balance of pandemic prevention and control and economic development on their own. There is yet a long way to go.

The unprecedented challenges require unprecedented solidarity. China is willing to continuously and sincerely unite with the international community including the Philippines, help each other to safeguard the global public health security, and promote the prosperity and development of the world economy.