File photo of Yukon Huang, a senior fellow with the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. (Xinhua)

Yukon Huang, a senior fellow with the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, however, took a more cautious tone.

"Recent data is encouraging and suggest that China is the first major economy to get out of the virus-induced recession but it is too soon to tell if the rebound has leveled off already or will accelerate," Huang told Xinhua via email.

"The caution comes from modest growth in consumption since households are cautious and concerns about export prospects given possible virus setbacks in the U.S. and Europe," said Huang, who served as the World Bank's country director for China from 1997 to 2004.

Lardy, meanwhile, highlighted China's resilience on the export side. "Several months ago, a lot of people were saying that the external sector was going to be a big drag on China's growth," he said. "But that clearly has not happened yet."

Global trade is down 16 percent year-to-date, while China's exports in June rose 0.5 percent from a year earlier, Lardy said, noting that "it's an extremely strong performance" compared with the rest of the world.

"This year, when global growth shrinks and China's expands, on a conventional calculation, China's contribution to global growth is infinite because it's positive and global growth is negative," Lardy said. "So I think it's going to play a very positive role."

Sachs, also a senior United Nations advisor, said China's economic recovery will help to lead a global recovery.

China should join together with Japan, South Korea, and other countries that have suppressed the virus to support other countries, especially in Africa and Asia, to do the same, Sachs said. "That will speed the return to global sustainable development."