Xi Focus: The Chinese way of fighting coronavirus for safety, growth

Turning challenges into opportunity

"Crises and opportunities always exist side by side. Once overcome, a crisis is an opportunity," Xi said when speaking with local officials of Zhejiang province, China's eastern economic powerhouse, in April 2020.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, a slew of technologies have been developed in China's battle against the coronavirus. These include a reagent testing kit capable of screening coronavirus in 30 minutes.

The public health crisis has triggered China's fast action to address "weak links" in medical science and technology.

Fixed-asset investment in China only increased by 2.7 percent year on year in 2020, but that in the health and social work sector soared by 26.8 percent.

In the first eight months of 2021, the value-added output of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry increased by 30 percent year on year, much higher than the average level of the overall manufacturing sector.

While striking a hard blow to traditional industries, the health crisis has stimulated an accelerated growth of the digital economy and emerging industries.

Seizing the opportunity, the Chinese government has encouraged new infrastructure construction. A total of 1.04 million 5G base stations have been built. Emerging industries such as intelligent manufacturing, unmanned logistics, online consumption, and medical and health care have shown strong growth momentum.

"A crisis in the economy could sometimes be a good opportunity to boost economic transformation and upgrading. Seizing the rise of the new economy can create new vitality in the crisis," said Ji Weidong, dean of the China Institute for Socio-Legal Studies affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.