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BEIJING, Feb. 11-- President Xi Jinping's comments on the Chinese economy have boosted confidence that the world's second-largest economy will come through the novel coronavirus epidemic with great resilience, potential and leeway. Xi said the fundamentals of China's long-term economic development remain unchanged and the epidemic's impact on the economy is short-lived, during an inspection tour of the epidemic prevention and control work in Beijing on Monday. He made the comments as China's economy comes under pressure from factories suspending production and reduced consumer spending amid the country's quarantine measures in the battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak. The epidemic and relevant quarantine measures are believed to have a negative impact on the Chinese economy to some extent. But now the Chinese economy is bigger, more resilient in capacity, and more reasonable in structure. China's GDP was less than 14 trillion yuan (around 2.03 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2003 when SARS broke out. Now, it is nearly 100 trillion yuan. The large increase creates more capacity for China to buffer external and internal shocks. The economy used to be driven by manufacturing and exports. Now, although they produce a substantial portion of the country's GDP, the service economy and digital economy are playing more prominent roles, especially in hedging economic risks and uncertainty amid the epidemic. | 
