China’s Development, World’s Opportunity
The annual Two Sessions are a barometer of China’s development, as well as a window for the outside world to observe and understand China. This year was no exception. From this window, the world could see why China could achieve 5.2 percent GDP growth in 2023, against the headwind of the economic slowdown brought by the COVID-19 pandemic in the past years, and decode how China can reach its goal of 5 percent GDP growth this year.
Plans like developing new quality productive forces, launching an AI Plus initiative, supporting scientific and technological innovation, fostering new growth engines and promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation not only showcase China’s high-quality development strategies, but also signal the new direction of the country’s cooperation with other countries, bringing forth more stability and certainty to the whole world.
China’s economic development has become an important engine of the global economic recovery. China’s target of 5 percent GDP growth in 2024 reflects the country’s confidence. China will remain one of the most important markets for the multinationals, thanks to its huge consumption capacity, advanced infrastructure of supply chain and increasingly stronger innovation capacity.
In January, the International Monetary
Fund released the World Economic Outlook Update, raising the global growth projection in 2024 by 0.2 percentage points from October last year to 3.1 percent “on account of greater-than-expected resilience in the US and several large emerging market and developing economies, as well as fiscal support in China.” In addition, other international financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and UBS also believe China’s consumption and service industry will continue to recover in 2024.
China has embarked on a new path for economic growth. On 5 March, while participating in a deliberation with fellow lawmakers from east China’s Jiangsu Province, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated the importance of developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions. With sound basis and advanced conditions, developing new quality productive forces will inject new impetus into China’s high-quality development, and China’s expanding opening up will also bring new opportunities to the whole world.
Furthermore, China is opening its door wider to the outside world, and has taken a series of measures to facilitate people-to-people exchanges. At the press conference held during the Two Sessions, Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that starting 14 March, China will further extend visa exemption to another six countries - Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg. With this move, China hopes more countries will also offer Chinese citizens visa facilitation and build fast-track networks for cross-border travel, so as to promote international tourism and economic activities.
China’s development needs a sound external environment, and the world’s development will be even better with China. In this context, China’s development presents opportunities for global development.