China’s economy boasts huge potential

This aerial photo taken on Oct. 24, 2022 shows the construction site of Qinwang tunnel project in Fuyang District of Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

The recent Central Economic Work Conference made clear that development is the CPC’s top priority in governing and rejuvenating the country. China will continue to pursue high-quality development, and comprehensively apply this development philosophy on all fronts.

With the knowledge that this new development philosophy is the path China must take to grow stronger in the new era, China will continue to take steps towards high-quality development with innovation as the driving force.

Innovation has been a key factor driving recent development successes. In the first 11 months of 2022, an index tracking services production of information transmission, software and information technology services showed an 11 percent growth year on year, and China's ranking in the Global Innovation Index rose from 34th place in 2012 to 11th place in 2022.

All regions and government departments have advanced rural revitalization across the board, and further advanced major regional development strategies such as the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Economic Belt since the beginning of this year. China’s economic development has become more balanced, coordinated, and sustainable and individual’s income has grown steadily in the first three quarters of 2022, with the income of rural populations growing more rapidly than that of their urban counterparts.

Green development has emerged as a defining feature of China’s high-quality development. In the first 11 months of 2022, production of green smart products, such as new energy vehicles and solar cells went up by 100.5 percent and 44.1 percent respectively. A total of 339 Chinese cities at or above the prefecture level enjoyed good air quality for an average of 86.3 percent of the days from January to October this year.

The country has also continued to optimize its response to COVID-19, while the governments of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Guangdong provinces sent business delegations to Europe, Japan and other destinations to explore markets and seek new business opportunities.

China’s actual use of foreign direct investment (FDI) expanded 14.4 percent year on year in the first 10 months of the year. China’s opening-up has provided constant boosts for high-quality development.

China has continued its efforts to enhance people’s livelihood, and ensured that basic needs of people’s livelihood are met while increasing the level of basic pensions. From January to November 2022, 11.45 million urban jobs were created, completing the goal of creating 11 million new urban jobs for the year.

The country has accelerated the construction of pilot free trade zones, the Hainan Free Trade Port and promoted the high quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, while expanding and encouraging further foreign direct investment.

2023 is the year that China implements the policies and actions needed to realize the goals set out by the 20th CPC National Congress.

The conference stressed that efforts must be made to better integrate supply-side structural reform in line with expanding domestic demand, while noting that demand should be created through high-quality supply.

It called on the country to make efforts to identify the weak links in key and core technologies as well as components and parts in the country's major manufacturing industrial chains, and pull together resources to tackle the problems so that the industrial system is independent, controllable, safe and reliable.

The conference also stressed that rural revitalization must be advanced across the board to avoid large-scale return to poverty.

By maintaining a comprehensive focus on the primary task of building a modern socialist country in all respects, striving to break new paths in promoting high-quality development, showing new achievements in building a new development pattern, and fully unleashing the potential of China's economy, the great ship that is China's economy will be able to ride the wind and waves and surge ahead steadily.