Italian economists say China's integration key to global economic recovery

ROME -- China's opening up to the world and its role as an important member of the global economic community is key to the world's economic recovery, experts have said.

Speaking to more than 500 business leaders at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said China is set to achieve its main annual targets and register positive GDP growth in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

As China strives for positive economic growth, the EU economy is expected to contract by 7.1 percent this year, and the US economy would shrink by 5.9 percent, according to estimates from the International Monetary Fund.

Noting that the Chinese economy has been deeply integrated into the global economy, Li stressed that China cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world, and the world needs China for further development.

"No matter how the external environment may evolve, China will only open wider to the world; China will move forward, not backward, in all areas of opening-up," Li said.

China's increased integration with the global economy will be an essential part of the global economic recovery, said Carlo Filippini, an emeritus professor of economics at Bocconi University in Milan.

"The relative strength of the Chinese economy is important, as China is an important exporter and importer," Filippini told Xinhua.

Filippini said he did not believe the problems associated with the global coronavirus outbreak will slow the integration process.

Javier Noriega, chief economist with investment bankers Hildebrandt and Ferrar, said that Li's remarks at the forum were evidence of China's role in the world economic community.

"If there are three main economic poles in the world, China is the most economically vibrant of them," Noriega said, referring to the United States and the European Union as the other two economic poles.

China's economic strength and the direction the country takes will play a big role as global economies seek to overcome the current crisis, Noriega said, adding that the revival of world trade and strengthening of global supply chains would be an "essential" part of the global economic recovery.

The impacts of the pandemic were so large because countries are so interconnected, therefore reinforcing these connections are key for a recovery from the current situation, the expert said.