China’s President Xi brags about ‘triumphant’ 2020 as western world struggles with pandemic, lockdowns

The coronavirus erupted from Wuhan, China, in late 2019, after government officials failed to take action in stopping travel from the country following knowledge of the severity of the outbreak.

Economies around the world, including Canada and the United States, continue to suffer due to the Chinese-born virus.

Xi asserted in his New Year's speech that China is the first economy to achieve positive growth during the China-born coronavirus pandemic that swept across the world causing economic and social collapse.

"China is the first major economy worldwide to achieve positive growth, and its GDP in 2020 is expected to step up to a new level of 100 trillion yuan [nearly $14 trillion]. China has seen a good harvest in grain production for 17 years in a row," Xi said.

"People across the world should make joint efforts to drive away the dark clouds of the COVID-19 pandemic at an early date and build the planet Earth into a better home for all humanity," Xi continued.

Victor Shih, a professor at the University of California at San Diego, says that China sees the past year as a great triumph, rather than a catastrophe.

"Overall, the party saw 2020 as a year of triumph and vindication, so the speech will reflect such feelings," Shih explained adding that Xi has urged his officials to have more confidence in the efficacy of their Leninist political system, The Washington Post reported.

Meanwhile, dense crowds of people filled the streets in Wuhan on New Year's Eve, with little sign of social distancing procedures. There is a heavy police presence and strict crowd control at the gathering, Reuters reported.