China’s economy returning to normal, Consul-General in Australia, H.E Gu Xiaojie says

China’s Consul-General in Sydney seeks to reassure businesses, urges rethink on travel ban.

Consul General H.E. Gu Xiaojie. Picture: Nikki Short

China’s Consul-General in Sydney, H.E Gu Xiaojie, has sought to reassure Australian businesses reliant on China’s supply chain that the Chinese economy was slowly returning to normal.

In a briefing to journalists at the Chinese consulate in Sydney, Mr Gu said the fundamentals of the Chinese economy were strong despite the huge impact of the coronavirus epidemic in the country.

“Since the outbreak, China’s economy has suffered due to delays in factory resumption and transportation,” Mr Gu said. “However, these difficulties are temporary and limited and the fundamentals of the Chinese economy and long-term positive trends remain unchanged.”

“We are making co-ordinated efforts to prevent and control the epidemic and promote economic and social development to minimise the impact of the epidemic. The Chinese government has introduced a series of policies and measures including tax cuts, financial services, rent relief and subsidies to stabilise employment, to enhance market confidence, and stabilise investment.”

Mr Gu urged the Australian government to reassess the travel ban to China, and said he hoped to see it lifted in the near future.

“We regret that it will impact on the normal people-to-people exchange and the normal trade economic relations between the two countries,” Mr Gu said.

“Actually the World Health Organisation doesn’t recognise any travel or trade ban. Of course huge numbers of Chinese students are affected. So we hope that we’ll see at an early resumption of normal trade links, and that people-to-people exchange will be resumed. We’d really like to see the normal links resumed at an early date.”

Mr Gu urged Chinese students enrolled in Australian universities but stuck in China because of the travel ban to think carefully before deciding to transit through a third country.

“Our advice is that Chinese students have to be very careful and very cautious transiting through a third country because of the risks of the virus in other countries,” Mr Gu said.

The Chinese consulate presented to journalists a slick video demonstrating China’s radical measures to curtail the spread of the virus.

“At present, epidemic prevention and control in China is still at a crucial stage,” Mr Gu said. “Our situation is still serious and complex. China will continue to implement prevention and control measures to consolidate the positive trends and at the same time will co-operate with the international community to safeguard regional and global public health security and build a community with a shared future for mankind.”