Globally, China's position in the global industrial chain will likely rise as "the first to pass the global stress test of the COVID-19 pandemic," Reuters quoted Xing Ziqiang, chief economist with Morgan Stanley China as saying.

China's foreign trade, with its "dark horse" performance in 2020 amid a pandemic-induced global recession, is expected to further stabilize in 2021, Reuters said in a recent analysis.

China's achievements are an excellent example of what can be accomplished when a party is in step with the times and pursues high ideals in service to humanity, said Alberto Moreno, president of the Communist Party of Peru (Red Fatherland).

"The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics that the Communist Party of China (CPC) follows is original and responds to the demands of today's world, as well as to the conditions of China," Moreno said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

China's third-quarter (Q3) economic growth "shines a ray of light" on what is possible for other countries and the global economy, a Kenyan expert has said.

"As the second-largest economy and global growth engine, China's economic growth has the potential to power and accelerate global economic recovery and growth," Cavince Adhere, an international relations researcher with a focus on China-Africa relations, told Xinhua.

China's economy is expected to continue to gain momentum in the coming months as exports and manufacturing investment see optimistic growth, British think tank Oxford Economics said in a report released Friday.

"We expect the economy to continue to gain momentum in the coming months, with a rotation in terms of the drivers of growth taking hold," said the report.

China's electronic information manufacturing sector logged growth in revenues and profits in the first eight months despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, official data showed.

Total profits of firms with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan (about 2.94 million U.S. dollars) surged 26.1 percent year on year, while the operating revenues of these firms rose 7.3 percent, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

China's total value of foreign trade in goods in the first two months of 2021 reached 5.44 trillion yuan ($836.1 billion), up 32.2 percent year on year. In particular, the country's exports registered a remarkable 50.1-percent growth rate from the same period last year. China's foreign trade has maintained momentum since resuming positive growth last June.

As China makes constant efforts to push forward with higher-level opening up, the country is obtaining greater competitive edges in global markets with the help of such growth drivers as technology research and development, talent cultivation, China-Europe freight trains, as well as cross-border e-commerce.

Researchers are conducting phase-1 and phase-2 clinical trials on a China-made inhaled COVID-19 vaccine, a Chinese health official said Friday.

After completing the collection of clinical-trial data, experts will study the safety and effectiveness of the inhaled vaccine, a modified version of an injectable adenovirus vector COVID-19 vaccine that has already hit the market, said Shao Yiming, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, at a press conference.

 The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 56.3 in March, up from 51.4 of February, the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) said Wednesday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below it reflects contraction.

The northern Chinese port city of Tianjin saw its foreign trade surge 17.5 percent year on year to 184.9 billion yuan (about 28.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of this year, data from Tianjin Customs showed.

The city's imports rose 5.7 percent year on year to about 105 billion yuan and exports climbed to approximately 80 billion yuan, up 37.5 percent over the same period last year.

As the Golden Week holiday further perked up China's economy, observers expect China to make greater contributions to global economic recovery and development.

POSITIVE GROWTH

The World Bank projected in a report published on its website in June that China's economy is expected to grow 1.6 percent in 2020 -- the only major economy projected to achieve positive growth -- while the global economy as a whole will contract 5.2 percent.

In Jingyuan county, northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, vast wastelands and dilapidated houses have been transformed into ancient-style courtyards and dwellings, which buttress not only a local B&B business, but also beautify what has become an even more aesthetically pleasing rural landscape.

Chalky walls, grey tiles and flagstone lodgings at the site are luring visitors seeking a leisurely and more poetic lifestyle.

"At the end of the year when everything has settled down, I intend to make a short visit to China to just shake hands with President Xi Jinping and personally thank him for this donation," said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

China has donated or is donating COVID vaccines to 69 developing countries in urgent need, and is exporting vaccines to 43 countries.

At a naan-making industrial park in Horgos in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, workers are busy making a popular staple food.

Unlike most of the naan made elsewhere in Xinjiang, most of the round pancake-shaped bread is made for consumers in Central Asian countries.

Thanks to China’s efforts to break through the bottleneck of core technologies and industries, the country has made multiple breakthroughs in its manufacturing industry, gaining momentum and confidence as it builds itself into a manufacturer of quality.

In 2020, the world’s thinnest stainless steel was independently developed by Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Precision Strip Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Chinese leading stainless steelmaker Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group in north China’s Shanxi province.

China’s cross-border e-commerce bucked the trend of global foreign trade slowdown caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and witnessed robust growth in 2020, becoming an important force in stabilizing the country’s foreign trade.

Last year, the cross-border e-commerce trade volume reached 1.69 trillion yuan (261.5 billion dollars), a year-on-year increase of 31.1 percent, while e-commerce exports were up 40.1 percent, according to China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC).

The six-month follow-up medical observation for China's first batch of COVID-19 vaccine volunteers ends on the weekend, as the volunteers complete the final blood sample collection to see antibody levels.

The research team is planning to give volunteers a second dose on a voluntary basis to boost their immunity against the novel coronavirus, the Global Times learned from the research team. Other Chinese vaccine candidates entering the late-stage trials all require at least two doses to maximize immune response.

Recently, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) directly under the central government of China displayed their innovations in high-end equipment manufacturing at an exhibition held in Beijing at the headquarters of China Railway Group Limited (CREC), showing that China’s calling card of smart manufacturing shines even brighter.

China State Construction exhibited a prototype of its smart jacking platform, the first of its kind in the world, which caught the eyes of many visitors. The smart jacking platform, which is about four and a half stories high, has a bearing capacity of 2,000 tons and is able to withstand 14-degree hurricanes. It allows constructors to work aloft smoothly and complete a structural layer within three days.

A video of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic welcoming the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines in the cold wind went viral on Chinese social media platforms over the weekend, touching millions of Chinese netizens who applauded Vucic's strong endorsement of Chinese vaccines, which is of much significance amid fierce smearing from some Western media outlets.

"I went to the airport not only to receive the high-quality vaccines, but to demonstrate the friendship between China and Serbia," Vucic said Saturday according to a video posted by the People's Daily on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.