Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers an important speech at a meeting to advance the work on coordinating the prevention and control of the COVID-19 and economic and social development, in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)
BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Scholars and observers around the world said Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech on Sunday has shown China's confidence in both winning the battle against COVID-19 and advancing economic and social development.
In his speech, Xi stressed unremitting efforts in the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus disease and coordination in advancing economic and social development.
Egyptian columnist and writer Kamal Gaballa said the positive trend in China's prevention and control work is now expanding, and "we have seen China's strong capabilities in the fields of medical, infrastructure and social management," which have proven that the political and social systems that China operates have a high ability to mobilize the public and have an advantage in collective action.
Gaballa said the epidemic has affected the Chinese economy and even the world's economy, but in the long run, he believes that the Chinese economy will continue to improve and remain one of the engines of global economic development.
William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the U.S. publication Executive Intelligence Review, said Xi made "an extremely important speech" on combating COVID-19.
The tremendous efforts of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese government, and the medical workers, have "succeeded in containing what could have been an even more serious situation," said Jones, adding that the "Chinese model" may provide other countries with some important experiences in dealing with such an unprecedented outbreak.
Fu Xiaolan, founding director of the Technology and Management Centre for Development at Oxford University, said it is "a good sign" that enterprises in China gradually resume operation while measures are taken to control the epidemic.
Fu added that it is not only important for the growth of China's economy, people's lives and health, as well as the continuity of China's foreign trade and economic cooperation, but also vital for the stability of global value chains and markets.
Japanese economist and writer Kiyoshi Wanaka said the Chinese government has made resolute and vigorous efforts to combat COVID-19 and the number of new infections is decreasing.
In the short term the outbreak will bring certain impact on China's social and economic development, Wanaka said, "but I think for China's long-term economic development, the impact is only temporary and will not affect the main trend of China's economic development."
"By the time when the epidemic is over, the accumulated forces will contribute to a powerful economic rebound," Wanaka said.
