STRIVING FOR QUALITY
As China’s economy shifts gear, more value is being attached to quality when it comes to growth By Deng Yaqing
wo months after the conclusion of China’s twice-a-decade national congress in October 2017, the country has again come under the global spotlight by convening its most important annual economic meeting, which from December 18 to 20 announced that the world’s second largest economy is entering a new phase of development, its focus moving from high-speed growth to high-quality development.
Attended by President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the annual Central Economic Work Conference reviewed the nation’s economic performance over the past five years, outlined current economic realities and made plans for 2018, which marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up policy.
By setting forth that the country’s economy will be characterized by more innovative manufacturing, a securer financial system, a more open and green economy, more affordable housing and improved standards of living for the people, the conference in fact mapped out a blueprint for China’s development over the next 30 years and beyond.
Development philosophy
During the past five years, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialist Economy with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has taken shape, said a statement released after the conference. The thought is primarily based on the new development philosophy put forward by Xi in 2015 which features innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.
The statement described the thought as the theoretical crystallization of the past five years of practice in pushing forward China’s economic development, the latest fruit borne of a socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics, and the extremely precious spiritual wealth of the CPC and the country.
“Xi’s concepts provide solutions for the deep-seated, structural problems that China is facing and will face in the future over the course of economic and social development,” said Wu Qi, a senior research fellow with Pangoal Institution, a Chinese public policy research body.
More specifically, it provides answers on what to do, encompassing the continuation of supply-side structural reform and the pursuit of high-quality development, while clarifying how to do this, through measures such as deepening reform in economic institutions and