Employees work at a heavy-duty truck assembly line of Shaanxi Automobile Holding Group Co., Ltd. in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, April 23, 2020.The company has resumed its production of heavy-duty trucks at full capacity with epidemic prevention and control efforts.(Xinhua/Zhang Bowen).

The epidemic has indeed taken a heavy toll on China, but it cannot change the solid fundamentals and positive trend of its economy.

BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping's inspection tour to Shaanxi Province underpins the fact that China is steadily pushing for a comprehensive resumption of production to ensure a smooth supply chain at home and abroad.

While in Xi'an, the provincial capital, Xi visited an automobile producer, a university and a commercial street to oversee the reopening of business and the return of normal life order.

Thanks to its great sacrifice and painstaking efforts, China has basically brought the COVID-19 epidemic under control, making it possible for its factories, businesses and schools to open.

As the global community fights against the pandemic, China has made the utmost efforts to provide other countries with life-saving medical supplies within its capacities.

The pandemic has disrupted the global supply chain. The reopening of production lines in China will not only help the Chinese economy, but also recover the global supply chain and lend a great support to the global fight against the pandemic.

The epidemic has indeed taken a heavy toll on China as the country's economic output shrank by 6.8 percent in the first quarter, the lowest reading in decades. Industrial production, infrastructure investment and retails sank to an all-time low.

Workers are busy working at the production line of an automobile manufacturing enterprise in Haibowan District of Wuhai City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, April 22, 2020. In Haibowan District of Wuhai City, more than 40 enterprises above designated size have resumed production in an orderly manner with strict measures taken to fight against the COVID-19. (Photo by Li Zhipeng/Xinhua)

However, these stumbling blocks cannot change the solid fundamentals and positive trend of the economy.

Good news has arrived. The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector re-entered the expansion zone in March by firming up to 52 from 35.7 in February, official data showed.

Confidence should be strengthened, and consistent efforts should be made to accelerate the transformation of the economic development model, strengthen and optimize the real economy, especially the manufacturing industry, and promote new infrastructure investments such as in 5G network, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and industrial Internet to foster new growth drivers, enhance the flexibility of the industrial chain and supply chain and solve the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development. ■