Asif Cheema, country director for China at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has highlighted the strong resilience of China’s foreign trade, citing transportation networks and corporate adaptability as vital drivers of sustained growth.
Cheema recently participated in a forum on economic development along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, where he observed significant potential for trade exchanges between China's western regions and ASEAN as well as other global markets.
As an important artery for international commerce, the corridor covers all the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in western China and connects ASEAN and the Eurasian continent.
"I could see that in just a few years, the infrastructure development focused on rail, sea, as well as road networks has significantly improved the two-way trade between many countries. I could see the foresight that China has shown in building these trade corridors, which is helping not just in terms of China's economic growth, but also of its neighbors and many countries across Asia as well as globally," he said.
The director also highlighted China's better-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) performance, which grew by 5.2 percent year on year in the first three quarters of the year.
In the third quarter alone, China's GDP expanded 4.8 percent year on year, with exports increasing by nearly 7 percent.
Cheema attributed these robust figures to the strong adaptability of Chinese companies to the global market, as well as the increasing diversification of their products.
"They grew because of the adaptability of the firms and supply chains. What we have seen is that the export destinations continue to diversify. At the same time, we also see that there is a shift towards high quality products," he said.
Asian Development Bank official highlights strong resilience of China's foreign trade
More than 1,000 people gathered in Berlin over the weekend to protest against U.S. threats of military intervention in Venezuela and voice support for the Venezuelan government.
The demonstrations, held on Saturday and Sunday in the German capital, drew participants who condemned the U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and the naval deployments in the Caribbean.
Protesters said that the United States, under the pretext of counter-narcotics, deployed several warships in the Caribbean near Venezuela, and such a military threat was aimed at interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs.
"The military threat brings a great danger. The United States and Western countries, including Europe, are targeting at Latin American countries that refuse to yield to U.S. pressure and stick to pursue independent policies. They are trying to interfere in Latin American politics and install governments that are obedient to them," said Diedrich Franck, organizer of the protest.
Some protesters said the United States' open threat of ground operations to topple the Maduro government was aimed at seizing Venezuela's oil resources.
"The United States has long been treating Latin America as its backyard to exploit its raw materials and also the Latin American people. Venezuela is the country with the largest oil reserves in the world. There are very obvious interests for the United States to seize its resources and at the same time control the entire Latin American continent. Therefore any leftist, anti-imperialist government in Latin America is seen as a problem by the United States," said Max, a German scholar of modern history.
Washington has deployed around a dozen warships and 15,000 troops to the Caribbean Sea, which shares a significant amount of coastline with Venezuela. U.S. forces have carried out at least 21 known strikes since Sept. 2 on boats suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean and East Pacific, killing at least 83 people.
Protesters gather in Berlin against U.S. intervention in Venezuela
Protesters gather in Berlin against U.S. intervention in Venezuela
