Editor's note: The World Economic Forum (WEF) holds its annual meeting from May 22-26. How well will the global economy recover from COVID-19? John Ross, senior fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, the Renmin University of China, and former director of economic and business policy for the mayor of London, shared his insights on the matter. The opinions expressed in the video are his own and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

U.S., fundamental challenge to building global trust

The United States has insisted upon designating some countries – China and Russia, in particular – as rivals or even worse terms. So, instead of seeking cooperation, it seems to be seeking some kind of confrontation with them. Therefore, this is the biggest problem from the point of view of establishing trust in the world. They should stop this concept of a zero-sum game in which they are engaged in competition and rivalry with everybody.

U.S., center of world protectionism vs. China, center of world globalization

China has been the most important pole of growth in the world. It accounts, in general, for around 25 to 30 percent of world growth, sometimes more during periods of economic crisis. And if we take, for example, the last two years of the global pandemic, China's economy grew by 10.5 percent, and the U.S. economy grew by 2.1 percent. This means that China's economy grew five times faster than the United States. And China has become the main pole, therefore, of sustaining a positive dynamic within the world economy.

Then, the second question is, what policy does China advocate for the rest of the world? China has become the most important economy, very clearly, committed to globalization, to reduce trade barriers, to reduce investment barriers. Again, this particularly goes against the protectionist policies of the United States. This was started most dramatically by President Trump by introducing tariffs against Chinese goods. And unfortunately, President Biden has not removed these tariffs. Therefore, the U.S. has become a center of world protectionism, and China has become a center of world globalization.

Placing people first boosts economy

China has got a correct development strategy. One that places people first. If you compare the results of the COVID-19 pandemic in China and the United States, it's like night and day. On the Chinese mainland, about 5,000 people (5,224 people by May 23) have died from COVID-19. In the United States, more than one million people have died. But actually, the real situation is even worse than that.

Secondly, it also means that China has been able to reopen its economy more rapidly than other countries, basically because they've got COVID-19 completely under control. The United States declared that it is putting its economy before lives de facto. I don't agree with that approach. But anyway, it wasn't successful because its economy grew much less than China's; China puts lives first.

How open is the Chinese economy? Foreign firms vote with money

China has been progressively opening its economy. This has continued through the pandemic. The data speaks for itself. China's both exports and imports did rise very sharply during the pandemic. And China has become the second-largest recipient of inward investment in the world. China is the second-biggest country in which foreign investment takes place in the world. It used to be the case that foreign companies invested in China in order primarily to export. Now they want to participate in China's domestic economy as well.

China's dynamic zero-COVID policy tipping the world economy into recession? Nonsense!

This is complete, absolute nonsense. It is to conceal the disaster that has unfolded in the United States, where more than 1 million people died, and around 4 million people died in the capitalist countries as a whole. This is an absolute human rights catastrophe. The governments of these countries have failed to protect their populations against this deadly disease, which can be done, as China has shown. And they don't dare to admit this. The country which is moving into recession or a big threat of recession is the United States.

Interviewer: Liu Jianxi

Managing editor: Liu Jianxi

Video editor: Chen Mengfei

Producer: Zhang Peijin

Supervisor: Mei Yan

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