The president of China stated that the nation would recover from the coronavirus pandemic and emerge even stronger in an address he made to a crowd of university professors and students. President Xi also showed images of the Communist Party lore and their sacrifices and that the disaster was filled with opportunities for China to take.

Progress amid crisis

"Great historical progress always happens after major disasters," President Xi said in a recent trip to Xi'an Jiaotong University. "Our nation was steeled and grew up through hardship and suffering."

The Chinese president was raised in adversity since he was a young man and is currently taking advantage of the global pandemic as a means to regain his administration's reputation. This comes after that government's initial response to the coronavirus has been less than adequate.

The state propaganda machine is backing the Chinese leader in his efforts and is praising his government's fight against the coronavirus pandemic, according to the New York Times.

The Asian nation is being praised around the world for its efforts in the control of the COVID-19 infection. Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization gave his compliments to China for the "speed with which [it] detected the outbreak" and its "commitment to transparency."

BBC reported, however, that despite all the praise and acclaim that the nation has garnered, many doubt the stories of success and apparent transparency of the Asian country.

Senior British government minister Michael Gove told the BBC last that "some of the reporting from China was not clear about the scale, the nature, the infectiousness of the virus."

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The president of the United States, Donald Trump, also noted that the death toll and infection rates seemed "a little bit on the light side" and might be downplaying the severity of the actual statistics.

With the surge of cases that are infected with the coronavirus, the US has already surpassed the number of patients the Chinese nation has garnered, leading some to turn to the Asian country for advice on how to reduce the spread of the virus.

Keeping his word

President Xi now needs to put his words into action that will likely be the focus of the National People's Congress that is set to be conducted on Friday after being delayed for over a month.

The Asian country looks to be bouncing back, as the president noted, as its economy began operating at 87% of the usual output on May 12, as stated by the Trivium National Business Activity Index.

April saw imports go down by 14.2%, but it also saw the rise of exports by 3.5% that greatly exceeded all expectation. The shot up was mainly due to the increase in medical products being shipped overseas.

The global pandemic is already showing signs of being a potential opportunity for change. In Shanghai, there are already plans to build more than 100 factories by 2025, which will be unmanned, being resistant to labour issues.

JD Health, an online health care service, previously recorded only 10,000 consultations each day, but as the number of coronavirus patients filled up hospitals and clinics, their numbers went up to 150,000. This increase caused the firm's pharmacy to delivery prescription medicines to customers directly to their homes.

"People have developed the habit of getting diagnosis and treatment online," says Xin Lijun, CEO of JD Health. "This greatly reduces the pressure on traditional hospitals."

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