China’s V-shaped recovery happening now; attributable to Chinese people’s resilience and resourcefulness
MANILA - Philippine Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China Jose Santiago “Chito” Sta. Romana said indicators on the ground show the World Bank’s prediction of a V-shaped recovery is indeed happening.
Speaking at the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies (PACS) virtual General Assembly Saturday afternoon, the Philippine Ambassador who has been a resident of China since 1971 said this week, the airports, train stations and highways are filled to the brim because this is the “Golden Week” – a national holiday.
“One can see a boom in domestic tourism,” he said. He explained a couple of weeks ago, he and the Embassy staff represented the country in an international conference on trade and investment in Xiamen and the Beijing Airport was full of passengers with all seats taken.
“I wore a mask as I usually do in Beijing but upon arrival in Xiamen, provincial officials told us we can remove our masks but no handshakes,” he added. However, a couple of days later, there was nobody wearing masks and handshakes became common and people freely visited pavilions in the convention area which is comparable with the pre-COVID-19 era.
“From direct experience and my own eyewitness account, there is a boom in domestic tourism where restaurants are full of people as the service and hospitality sectors on the rebound,” Ambassador Sta. Romana noted. He explained the government first opened factories to further reinvigorate the manufacturing sector.
Ambassador Sta. Romana said what the World Bank said in its economic briefing about China will probably be the only major economy to post positive growth “is indeed happening” as the multilateral institution predicted a 2% growth this year.
“The prospect of a V-shaped recovery is happening here,” the Beijing-based envoy said.
In the same forum, former CNN/Time Beijing Bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz said they have seen China facing challenges from man-made to natural disasters and after all these, “we have seen China bounce back from difficult conditions.
“This is attributable to the strong leadership, from top-to-bottom coupled with strong political will which attracts following. They always manage to bounce back because of the Chinese people’s resilience and resourcefulness in difficult times like this of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he concluded.
Both Messrs. Sta. Romana and FlorCruz along with Ericson Baculinao have been residing in China since 1971 as college students who visited China. They later became bureau chiefs of ABC News, CNN/Time and NBC News, respectively. (Melo M. Acuña)
Philippine Ambassador to the People's Republic of China Jose Santiago "Chito" Sta. Romana and Mr. jaime FlorCruz, both former Beijing Bureau Chiefs of ABC News and CNN/Time and long-time China residents speaking before the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies (PACS) General Assembly Saturday afternoon. (Screen Grabs from PACS General Assembly/Melo M. Acuna)
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