As Shanghai inches toward successful containment of the latest COVID-19 outbreak, more efforts will be made to help production return to normal, with special attention given to small and micro-sized enterprises, local officials said on Thursday.

当地官员周四表示，随着上海逐步成功控制最新的新冠肺炎疫情，将做出更多努力帮助生产恢复正常，特别关注小型和微型企业。

With virus containment measures showing steady improvement, more industries will likely restart operations sooner than later, they said.

他们表示，随着病毒控制措施稳步改善，更多行业可能会尽快重启运营。

"We have been drafting plans to consolidate our achievements in virus containment to restore normal production and city life.

“我们一直在起草计划，以巩固我们在遏制病毒方面的成就，恢复正常生产和城市生活。

Its hubs in Shanghai and Shenzhen remain operational and have been strictly following the pandemic containment measures.

其在上海和深圳的中心仍在运营，并严格遵守疫情控制措施。

Jin Xiaowen, a Citi economist, wrote in the report: "The supply chain relocation out of China appears to have slowed or even reversed amid the COVID-19 global outbreaks … China's effective containment of the virus has allowed its factories to quickly resume production again.

花旗经济学家金晓文在报告中写道：“随着新冠肺炎全球疫情的爆发，中国的供应链转移似乎已经放缓，甚至逆转……中国对病毒的有效控制使其工厂能够迅速恢复生产。

China's effective containment of the COVID-19 pandemic allows Chinese companies to recover and expand production quickly, and with an increasing number of overseas orders, the country's foreign trade expanded fast.

The guideline said that accumulated containment of solid waste in China reached about 60 billion tons, and nearly 3 billion tons of newly added bulk solid waste is produced each year.

The goal is to increase the integral reuse rate of bulk solid waste to 60 percent by 2025, reduce containment, improve the industrial system, make breakthroughs to tackle technological bottlenecks, enhance regulations and policies as well as set up more mature industry standards, according to the guideline.

The CDFG said that its major businesses had continued to improve due to the country's effective containment of the epidemic and the implementation of new offshore duty-free policies in the second half of 2020.

Thanks to quick and effective containment of the spread of the novel coronavirus, and availability of adequate personal protective equipment, the industry recovered sooner than expected.

The Nasdaq-listed company said its results for the third quarter were negatively impacted by the pandemic, but benefited from the containment measures in China.

Global business leaders said that building on the effective containment of the pandemic, China has rigorously rolled out a string of measures to stabilize foreign trade and investment.

Since the project was launched in March 2019, construction and management units－guided by State Grid's UHV transmission projects－have overcome challenges of complex geological conditions affecting construction, short working periods and contagion containment issues.

She said that the 200 milliliter mini cans were extremely popular among Chinese consumers, most of whom had been confined to their homes for online courses or playing online games for several months as part of the virus containment efforts.

Experts said China's effective epidemic containment measures will help in the steady resumption of shipbuilding activities across the nation.

"The fast lanes jointly launched by China and other countries have enabled the reaching of an equilibrium between epidemic containment and economic recovery," said Xu Xiujun, an international political economy researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

According to the new rules, airlines can receive back 80 percent of the costs involved in converting passenger aircraft into cargo aircraft from the government and they are encouraged to fly international cargo flights during the COVID-19 prevention and containment period.

BEIJING — China's five listed insurance companies reported strong month-on-month growth in premium income in March as work resumptions accelerate across the country following basic containment of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Chen Dongsheng, founder, chairman and CEO of Taikang Insurance Group and president of the Wuhan University alumni association, said the forum was far more successful than he had expected, and he believes the down-to-earth communication among Chinese and foreign doctors the forum provided would help greatly with the global containment of the pandemic.

The outer containment dome of the Karachi unit 2 nuclear reactor in Pakistan was successfully installed on Monday, a milestone marking the end of its general construction work, said China National Nuclear Corp, one of the country's largest nuclear power companies.

The installation of the outer containment dome of Karachi unit 2, the first export of China's Hualong One pressurized water reactor design, a domestically developed third-generation reactor design, will be followed up by containment and heat tests, it said.

Analysts said the successful installation of the outer containment dome will speed up nuclear cooperation between China and countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, boosting confidence in China's Hualong One technology.

According to CNNC, the country's self-developed third-generation nuclear power technology adopts a double containment design, with the outer containment providing protection for the primary containment.

The outer containment dome is a 366-metric-ton multi-surface shell made up of 63 prescribed components.

With the DOE insisting on advanced and highly efficient engine systems, strict emissions containment, and high 18-wheeler safety and regulatory requirements, Cummins had a direction and China was on board.

[Photo/VCG]China successfully installed the containment dome for its first demonstration nuclear power project using Hualong One technology, a domestically developed third-generation reactor design, in east China's Fujian Province on Thursday.

One formation of three Wing-Loong I unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) conducted a containment and control mission in a war zone around the clock for seven consecutive days.

Zhanjiang, the largest aquaculture base in Guangdong, has 3,500 deep-sea fish containment facilities, accounting for one-seventh of the national total and 70 percent of the provincial total, Liang added.

Sharing similar views, Wei Jianguo, vice-chairman of the CCIEE, said that amid certain Western countries' heightened containment efforts (like export controls on high-end technologies, additional tariffs and manufacturing reshoring) to target China's industrial chains, the Chinese industrial community is increasingly vigilant about the challenges in this context.

Under the scope of "de-risking", cooperation containment has also been expanded, with an increasing number of claims questioning China's "nonmarket practices".

The United States' continuous abuse of export control measures and its intensified suppression and containment of China's semiconductor industry will hinder global economic and trade cooperation and eventually backfire, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

To break the United States-led containment in chips, China needs to promote the re-globalization of the semiconductor industry by teaming up with countries that are willing to cooperate and by achieving self-reliance in crucial technologies, they added.

To break the US' containment in chips, China needs to rely on long-term input in research and development to achieve self-reliance in key chip technologies, Li said.

China's State-owned enterprises will lead the way in boosting economic activity this year amid containment measures by some countries that include additional tariffs, technology export controls and manufacturing reshoring, said Liang Jun, president of the Guangdong Association of State-owned Capital, on Friday.

"From January to March, the economy widely rebounded mainly because of recovering economic activities thanks to the optimization of pandemic containment policies," Zhang said.

China's consumer market is gradually recovering and gaining growth momentum, with services-related consumption rebounding significantly in the first three months amid the optimized COVID-19 containment measures, officials and experts said.

Consumption recovery becomes the main force boosting the nation's economic rebound this year, experts said, adding that the continued optimization of COVID-19 containment policies will significantly bolster consumption growth and stimulate demand for travel and spending this year.

China's exports have shown strong resilience due to accelerated industrial upgrades amid some countries' containment measures, which include additional tariffs, technology export controls and manufacturing reshoring, according to experts.

"Facing some Western countries' intensified containment of China's industrial chains, the country's industrial community has become more alert to challenges in this regard," said Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank.

As the world's second-largest economy, China has encountered rising containment attempts from the US in recent years, including those in advanced manufacturing and other high-end industries.

Analysts: Strong reading suggests that economy is stabilizing and improvingChina's services sector activity expanded for a third straight month in March, pointing to further recovery in business activity amid the optimized COVID-19 containment measures, a private survey showed on Thursday.

"With the optimized COVID-19 containment measures, the winter of 2022-23 has, to a certain extent, seen "a replay of the 2021 situation when China's supply chain supported economic recovery in Europe and in the US because of its flexibility and availability", Depoux said.

"The country's foreign trade faces severe external challenges and uncertainties," she said, citing the recent Government Work Report that identified concerns such as high-level global inflation, weakening global economic growth and more containment and suppressive moves against China by some countries.

Explaining the reform plan to national lawmakers, State Councilor Xiao Jie said that facing international sci-tech competition and external containment and suppression, China needs to further smooth its leadership and management system for science and technology-related work.

Both the optimization of COVID-19 containment measures since December and the recent favorable policies toward real estate developers bode well for the sector's recovery this year, he said.

Given the optimized COVID-19 containment measures, the gradual normalization of economic activities, the higher level of release of households' excess savings and a low comparison base, notable growth of between 7 percent and 11 percent in China's retail sales may be possible this year, he said.

"The optimized COVID-19 containment measures continued to drive up both supply and demand.

Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher at China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said it is crucial for China to stabilize exports and imports in labor-intensive industries as well as those of foreign enterprises, to stabilize foreign trade this year against multiple negative factors including the gloomy global economic prospects and the trade containment measures by some countries against China.

While China's economic activities have quickly picked up since the country optimized its COVID containment measures, policymakers still need to pay close attention to factors that could destabilize the nation's economic recovery, experts said.

As China has optimized its COVID-19 containment policies and has been making continuous efforts to provide a package of economic stabilization policies and follow-up measures, which are taking effect, the overall Chinese economy is expected to recover this year, and the local fiscal situation is expected to improve gradually, he said.

At home, China has entered a new phase of COVID-19 containment, with increased population mobility and consumer activity.

In addition, with the nation's economic engines vibrant again and the optimization of COVID-19 containment measures, many offline consumption scenarios, such as stores owned by individuals, hawkers, small restaurants and offline service industries such as tourism, will get back on a healthy track.

With the Chinese authorities adjusting COVID-19 containment policies in late 2022 and easing monetary and fiscal policies, China's economic growth is forecast to accelerate to 4.8 percent in 2023, said the UN report.

"Wu Chaoming, deputy director of the Chasing International Economic Institute, said the continued optimization of COVID-19 containment policies will significantly bolster consumption growth and stimulate residents' appetite to travel and spend this year.

The latest update revised up China's economic growth forecast for 2023 by 0.8 percentage point to 5.2 percent as the country optimized its COVID-19 containment.

With the optimization of COVID-19 containment measures, it is necessary to repair consumer economic cycles and enhance market vitality to significantly improve tax resources and the financial situations of local governments.

Xi stressed efforts to enhance the security and stability of the nation's development and called for quicker steps in ensuring self-reliance in science and technology, in order to prevent containment by foreign countries.

Zhou also said the increasing popularity of livestreaming in recruitment is partly due to the recent growth in business orders of enterprises, following the optimization of COVID-19 containment measures, and partly due to companies' increased confidence in their future prospects.

"Although COVID infections remained high, the easing of related containment measures stimulated supply and demand in the sector.

Notably, business confidence strengthened during the month, as the optimized COVID-19 containment measures are widely expected to boost activity over the whole year.

However, should COVID-19 containment adjustments lead to a faster-than-expected rise in demand and inflationary pressure, monetary policy will need to adapt quickly.

"Although COVID infections remained high, an easing of related containment measures stimulated supply and demand in the sector.

"The report said companies frequently linked the expansion in activity to the optimized COVID containment measures and a recovery in customer demand.

Notably, business confidence strengthened during the month, as optimized COVID-19 containment measures are widely expected to boost activity over the coming year and the level of business optimism rose to its highest since February 2011.

Denis Depoux, global managing director of consultancy Roland Berger, said with the optimized COVID-19 containment measures, the winter of 2022-23 to a certain extent could "see a replay of the 2021 situation when China's supply chain supported the economic recovery in Europe and in the US, because of its flexibility and availability".

Supply, demand stable on COVID steps; sector confident of better 2023Manufacturers in China have been facing milder pressure since last month as market supply and demand capacity showed signs of stabilization upon optimized COVID-19 containment, a private survey said on Wednesday.

Thanks to the implementation of optimized COVID containment measures, the robust recovery in activity and mobility, and stronger policy support, they expect a notable rebound in GDP growth in 2023.

First, most of the COVID-19 containment measures were largely removed by the end of 2022.

Starting from December 2022, with the easing of containment measures, one scenario involves people's life returning to normal within three months and things getting better in February.

They said the impact of the virus will be short-lived, and the economy will rebound with the orderly implementation of the optimized COVID-19 containment measures as well as stimulus policies and follow-up measures taking effect.

"But with the optimized COVID-19 containment measures and the combined effects of existing and new policies to support businesses, we have the confidence, determination and ability to cope with difficult challenges," Tian said.

They said the world's second-largest economy will likely see economic prospects improve noticeably in the second quarter given the optimized COVID-19 containment measures.

Today, as the country optimizes its COVID-19 containment, new opportunities may emerge.

But China, they said, will show better performance than the rest of the world as it optimizes pandemic containment policies.

Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, said while renewed COVID-19 outbreaks, a weak property sector and slowing exports dragged on China's growth in 2022, the economy will likely pick up in 2023 with the implementation of optimized COVID-19 containment measures and stronger policy support.

"But optimism in the sector significantly improved thanks to further optimized COVID controls," Wang said, adding that companies expressed strong confidence in economic recovery following the adjustments of COVID-19 containment measures.

The reading for manufacturers' expectations for future output reached the highest since February, and firms expressed strong confidence in economic recovery following the easing of COVID containment measures, according to Caixin.

Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco, a global investment management company, said optimized COVID-19 containment and measures to stabilize the property sector "could help propel China to be a key growth engine in 2023".

Yin Yanlin, deputy director of the office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, said the optimization of COVID-19 containment measures will create favorable conditions for economic recovery.

With the implementation of optimized COVID containment measures, (China will see) a smoother flow of people and logistics, and accelerated recovery in business and social activities," Yin told a recent forum.

"We are very pleased to see that recently the Chinese government has further optimized the containment measures against COVID-19.

They said that while COVID-19 outbreaks may continue to curb factory activity in the short term, the economy will gradually stabilize with the implementation of optimized COVID containment measures and stronger macroeconomic policy support, such as targeted property sector support, relief measures for households and a push for infrastructure spending.

Yin Yanlin, deputy director of the office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, said the optimization of the COVID-19 containment measures will create favorable conditions for economic recovery.

"With the implementation of the optimized COVID containment measures, (China will see) smoother flow of people and logistics, and accelerated recovery in business and social activities.

Looking to 2023, Xu expects to see a notable rebound in the second quarter, followed by a steady recovery in the third and fourth quarters, due to further optimization of COVID-19 containment measures and stronger policy support.

Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura, said that while some pent-up demand is likely to be released with the further optimization of COVID-19 containment measures, there remain some factors that may hinder the recovery, such as the impact of COVID-19 and insufficient pent-up demand.

China's virus containment efforts have proven effective and helped the country navigate the epidemic-induced economic trough.

Further optimization of pandemic containment measures and better policy coordination will support a strong economic rebound in the first half of next year, they added.

While consumer sentiment and confidence may continue to remain cautious in the short term, Zhou Maohua, a macroeconomic analyst at China Everbright Bank, said the optimization of COVID-19 containment measures will give a strong boost to the recovery of domestic demand next year.

Ning, who is deputy director of the Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said the optimization of COVID-19 containment measures will help give consumption a boost, and the economy will likely recover next year with the government's solid steps to boost domestic demand.

Citing key tasks mapped out by the meeting, Ning said the country needs to ensure the implementation of the optimized COVID containment measures, speed up the resumption of work and production for business and services, enrich offerings available such as clothes and foods and boost new forms of consumption.

China's economy will likely recover next year due to the optimization of COVID-19 containment measures, strong policy support and a low comparison base, a senior official said on Saturday.

Top regulator set to continuously implement stimulus policy measuresChina's economy will continue to recover next year with the optimization of COVID-19 containment measures and stimulus policy measures gradually taking effect, the country's top economic regulator said on Friday.

Highlighting the strong resilience and great potential of the Chinese economy, the NDRC said China's economy will continuously pick up with the implementation of optimized COVID containment measures and stimulus policies taking effect.

According to recent forecasts by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the country's economy is expected to grow around 5.1 percent in 2023 due to continued optimization of COVID containment measures and a relatively low comparison base.

Wang Wei, director-general of the Institute of Market Economy at the Development Research Center of the State Council, said while consumption was severely affected by the pandemic this year, the optimization of the COVID containment measures and the government's continued efforts to boost domestic demand will give a strong boost to consumption next year.

Contagion outbreaks, sluggish export demand remain major challengesChina is on track for a steady economic rebound in the following months with the optimization of COVID containment measures as well as targeted supportive measures, experts said.

Zhou Maohua, an analyst at China Everbright Bank, expects to see a gradual rebound in both industrial production and investment in the following months, underpinned by the optimization of COVID containment measures, targeted policy easing and a gradual recovery in domestic demand.

During a recent meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, top policymakers called for better coordination between COVID-19 containment and socioeconomic development, and a comprehensive deepening of reform and opening-up.

Looking ahead, the NBS said the country will intensify its efforts to better coordinate COVID containment and socio-economic development and steadily implement policy measures on stabilizing the economy, with a key focus on stabilizing growth, employment and prices as well as spurring market vitality.