Great Achievements in Comprehensively Deepening Reform in the New Era—Economic Development

In the new era, economic reform has been focused on ensuring that the market plays the decisive role in resource allocation and that the government better fulfills its role. Working to uphold and improve our basic economic systems, we have accelerated efforts in numerous areas, taking steps to refine our modern market system, macro regulation system, and open economy, to transform our growth model, and to turn China into a nation of innovators. These efforts have helped propel higher-quality economic development that is more efficient, equitable, sustainable, and secure. 

We have worked with unswerving commitment to consolidate and develop the public sector, optimizing its layout and adjusting its structure. We have also remained unswerving in our commitment to encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public sector and have fostered a cordial and clean relationship between government and business. We have kept distribution according to work as the mainstay, with multiple forms of distribution existing alongside it, and improved the system for distribution based on factors of production. This has enabled a steady expansion in the size of China's middle-income group. 

We have stepped up efforts to improve the socialist market economy by strengthening underlying systems, such as those for property rights and fair competition, and made steady strides in developing a credit system. These efforts have helped cultivate a business environment that is increasingly market-oriented, law-based, and international. The market access negative list system has been implemented on a nationwide basis, and we have intensified efforts to oppose monopolies and rein in the blind expansion of capital. Steady progress in developing a high-standard market system has helped amplify the economies of scale in China's national unified market. These economic reforms have been pivotal in driving high-quality economic development in the country.

From 2012 to 2023, China was one of the world's fastest-growing major economies and served as the largest contributor to global economic growth. The country's GDP climbed from 51.9 trillion yuan to 126.1 trillion yuan. Our push for self-reliance and strength in science and technology also steadily bore fruit, with new technologies and new forms and models of business flourishing. The institutions and mechanisms for promoting integrated urban-rural development were continuously refined. We made steady progress in promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the development of the Yangtze Economic Belt, the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, and ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin. 

Economic reforms have injected fresh vitality into the market. By the end of 2023, China was home to over 184 million business entities in total, including more than 124 million self-employed individuals, releasing a fresh wave of impetus throughout the economy.

We have implemented a more proactive opening up strategy and moved more quickly to develop new institutions for a higher-standard open economy. The Belt and Road Initiative has been fully embraced by people and delivered substantial gains, while the China Railway Express has continued to demonstrate its unique advantages in international rail transport. We have fully implemented a foreign investment management system based on pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list. Rapid progress has been made in developing global networks for trade, investment, financing, production, and services, and institutional opening up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards has advanced quickly. Our 22 pilot free trade zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port have all developed at an impressive pace. 

Today, China stands as the world's largest trader in goods, the second-largest trader in services, the second-largest country for utilized foreign investment, and the largest outbound investor. As a major trading partner of over 200 economies, it has made rapid progress in creating a new paradigm of all-around opening across multiple levels and fields. 

Through the comprehensive deepening of reform in the new era, our economic development has become much more balanced, coordinated, and sustainable. As a result, China's economic strength, scientific and technological capabilities, and composite national strength have all reached new heights.

Editor: Zhang Xian