At present, due to factors such as unilateralism, protectionism, and geopolitics, the world economic growth lacks momentum and faces severe challenges. Against this backdrop, the international community, including Europe, is paying more attention to China’s development prospects and hopes China’s economy can play a greater role in promoting world development and prosperity. Recently, China has just successfully convened the “two sessions” ( the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference). Based on last year’s 5% growth, China has set this year’s economic growth target at around 5%. We have firm confidence in achieving our economic growth target despite the challenges the economy faces, such as a complex external environment, increased tariff barriers, insufficient domestic demand, and difficulties in the production and operation of some enterprises.
China’s economic growth is backed by strong policy support. In 1978, China embarked on the great journey of reform and opening up. Since then, the country has achieved historic accomplishments in its modernization drive that staggered the world. Last year, the Communist Party of China successfully convened the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee. The Plenum made systematic arrangements for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing China’s modernization. It set a goal to implement more than 300 significant reform measures within five years, injecting strong momentum into China’s economic and social development. Subsequently, China introduced a package of incremental policies, adopting a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately accommodative monetary policy. This year’s “two sessions” further underscored the need to boost domestic demand. Following the sessions, China unveiled a plan on special initiatives to increase consumption. These policy measures, upon implementation, will give a strong boost to China’s economic growth.
China’s economic growth is attributable to the abundant development vitality created by the new quality productive forces. China has identified scientific and technological innovation as well as industrial innovation as the fundamental pathways for developing new quality productive forces, which have significantly enhanced their role in driving China’s economic growth. In 2024, China’s high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing sectors grew by 8.9% and 7.7%, respectively. The annual production of new energy vehicles exceeded 13 million units. China accounted for over 50% of the global installation volume of industrial robots. The value added of core digital economy industries accounted for about 10% of the GDP. As new progress is being made in frontier technology fields such as artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, and quantum technology, the smart and digital transformation of traditional industries is steadily advanced. New industries like commercial spaceflight and low-altitude economy are rapidly rising. The development of the new quality productive forces will provide sustained and powerful impetus for China’s economic growth.
China’s economic growth is also inseparable from strengthening cooperation with the rest of the world. Opening up is a fundamental national policy of China. China will steadily expand institutional opening up and take the initiative to open wider and advance unilateral opening up in a well-ordered way. China has lifted all market access restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector, and further expanded opening up in fields such as biotechnology, cloud computing, value-added telecom services, and wholly foreign-owned hospitals. China has implemented a unilateral visa-free policy for 38 countries, 32 of which are European countries, to further facilitate people-to-people exchanges between the two sides. China has signed 23 free trade agreements with 30 countries and regions and is a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions in the world. China will only open itself ever wider to the outside world, and this will create new opportunities for its cooperation with other countries.
One should also recognize that China’s economy has a solid foundation, numerous advantages, strong resilience, and great potential. It boasts a super-sized domestic market, a complete industrial system, and abundant human and talent resources, among many other favorable conditions.
China’s development needs openness to the world, and the world’s development needs contribution from China. As the world’s second largest economy, China has long contributed more than 30% to global economic growth, making it a major driving force and an important engine for the world economy. China stands ready to provide more stability and certainty to a world fraught with changes and uncertainties through its own development. It also wishes to share its development opportunities with countries around the world to better benefit people of all countries. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union. China looks forward that the two sides can maintain their partnership relationship, seize opportunities and meet challenges together, and jointly usher in another promising 50 years, to lift up both sides and make for a brighter world.