KIEV, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's pragmatic policy has become the main factor in ensuring the recovery of its economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a Ukrainian expert told Xinhua on Wednesday.

Olga Drobotiuk, director of the Boris Kurtz Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies in Kiev, said a pragmatic economic development policy is the backbone of China's economic stability.

Since the global financial crisis in 2008, said Drobotiuk, China has stepped up its industrial adjustment efforts, eliminated high-pollution, high-energy consumption, as well as low-efficiency and low-level outdated production capacity on a large scale.

During the time, China has successfully implemented its "five-year plans," fought poverty, actively developed science and education, supported small businesses, promoted urbanization, and helped increase the production of high-tech and highly intelligent products, Drobotiuk said.

Also, the expert believed that the strong quarantine imposed in China during the outbreak of COVID-19 contributed to the dynamic recovery of the Chinese economy.

With a stunning 6.5-percent growth in the fourth quarter, China's economy expanded 2.3 percent in 2020, reaching 101.6 trillion yuan (15.66 trillion U.S. dollars), according to data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics.

The expert said that despite the impact of the pandemic, the stability of the Chinese economy has shown that the country will continue its growth in the long-term perspective.

"In 2021, the implementation of the 14th five-year plan begins, which sets out short and medium-term goals for the socio-economic development of China," the expert said. Enditem