Localities vow efforts on highquality growth

China is taking efforts to cultivate new quality productive forces, signaling a move from high-speed to high-quality economic growth. The transition encompasses a broad spectrum of initiatives, showing concerted efforts in fostering emerging industries and upgrading traditional sectors of the economy.

In a series of press conferences held recently highlighting high-quality development, regional governments, such as Beijing, East China’s Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province underscored their commitments to industrial upgrade and new policies in fostering new quality productive forces.

Among the regions, Jiangsu is promoting the development of strategic emerging industry clusters, focusing on building a future-oriented industrial system, according to Xu Kunlin, Jiangsu Provincial Governor, during a press conference on Tuesday. “We are advancing the digital and smart transformation of manufacturing, aiming to solidify and expand the advantages of traditional industries.”

Experts view this period as a critical phase in China’s economic transformation, emphasizing the shift toward highquality development with the construction of new quality productive forces being the key.

China’s economic structure is undergoing transformation, moving from a focus on the quantity of development to prioritizing the quality of development, thereby promoting economic restructuring or optimization, said Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University.

Jiangsu is placing a renewed emphasis on basic research and industrial upgrade, leveraging companies as the main source of innovation. This year, the province has established a special fund for basic research, amounting to 2.48 billion yuan ($342.7 million), aimed at supporting the provincial laboratory system and conducting basic research projects.

Jiangsu is focusing on the development of emerging industries, including hosting the Global 6G Conference 2024 in Nanjing.