BEIJING (Dispatches) -- China’s economy is resilient and has not collapsed, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Tuesday, rejecting claims from the West that its economy is faltering and could cause wider problems.
Officials from countries including Australia and the United States have publicly raised concerns about the world’s second-largest economy.
U.S. President Joe Biden called China’s economic situation a “crisis” while Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said a slowing Chinese economy could in turn weigh on Australia’s.
“It seems that there will be various theories of China’s collapse every once in a while,” Mao Ning, a ministry spokesperson, told a regular news briefing.
“The fact is that China’s economy has not collapsed,” Mao added, without naming Biden or Chalmers.
She said China’s economy had great potential and that the fundamentals of long-term improvement had not changed.
“We are confident and capable of promoting sustained and healthy economic development,” Mao added.
China’s economic recovery following three years’ harsh COVID-19 restrictions has lost momentum after a brisk start in the first quarter, gripped by weak consumer spending and a deepening property downturn.
Analysts polled by Reuters said the economy would grow 5.0% this year, lower than 5.5% forecast in a July survey.
The world economy has been recovering sluggishly and the external environment has been severe and complex since the beginning of this year, however, China’s economy has continued to revive and rebound, Mao said.
China will keep advancing high-level opening up, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries and share its dividends of development, Mao said, adding China’s development will bring more opportunities to its Asian neighbors and the world.