BEIJING: President Xi Jinping Thought on Socialist Economy with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has been advancing with the times, steering the Chinese economy ahead amid a changing world full of uncertainties.
Xi’s economic thought, unveiled at the Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2017, is mainly based on the new development philosophy put forward by Xi in 2015 and features innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.
Regarded as the “latest fruit” of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics, the thought reflects the leadership’s growing understanding of the laws of economic and social development and makes clear the key principles to be upheld in promoting economic development for a new era.
Keep pace with time: When the new development philosophy was put forward in 2015, China’s economy registered a 6.9-percent growth year on year, the slowest annual expansion in a quarter of a century. Two years later at the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress, Xi made an important judgment that the country’s economy has been transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development.
Since then, high-quality development has been taken as the fundamental requirement for authorities to make economic policies and exercise macroeconomic control.
Remarkable achievements have been made over the years, testifying to the viability and effectiveness of the thought in guiding China’s economic work. Despite the challenges from deglobalization, protectionism, COVID-19 and others, the Chinese economy has grown close to 100 trillion yuan (about 15.27 trillion U.S. dollars) with a per capita GDP exceeding 10,000 U.S. dollars, contributing about 30 percent to world economic growth.
China has become the only major economy in the world to achieve positive growth in 2020, boasts the world’s largest middle-income population and contributes more than 70 percent of the global reduction in poverty by lifting hundreds of millions of people out of absolute poverty.
The new development philosophy featuring five development concepts has guided the drafting of the CPC Central Committee’s proposals for formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035.
China should focus on promoting high-quality development during its 14th Five-Year Plan period, Xi said. This is based on the scientific assessment of the country’s development situations.
Highlighting innovation as the “primary driving force,” Xi said China needs scientific and technological solutions, more than ever, to boost economic and social development. The country will uphold the central role of innovation in its modernization drive and take self-reliance in science and technology as a strategic underpinning for national development, according to the full text of the CPC Central Committee’s development proposals.
– The Daily Mail-Beijing Review News exchange item
