BEIJING- China's economy is continuing a steady recovery this year, vice premier Han Zheng said on Sunday.

Han made the remarks to the China Development Forum, a high-level business gathering hosted by the Development Research Centre of the State Council.

Han also said China, the world's No.2 economy, will strengthen macro policy coordination with other countries.

China's economy is widely expected to grow more than 8% in 2021, led by an expected double-digit expansion in the first quarter, but analysts say the pace is driven by a low base for comparison and the recovery remains uneven.

The economy expanded 2.3% last year, the only major economy to report growth, although the growth was its weakest in 44 years.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao, Yilei Sun and Muyu Xu in Beijing Editing by Frances Kerry and Catherine Evans) ((Y.Sun@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 66271262; Reuters Messaging: y.sun.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))