In recent years, evolved countries have spread false data about China’s economic progress and called the country a “source of risk,” which is surely false and can mislead the public. With a very large domestic market and the most complete trade chain in the world, China has made remarkable strides in terms of quality growth and is well placed to give its economy more momentum.
Economic 2023
Since the beginning of last year, despite the slow global recovery, China’s economy has continued to show resilience, with several signs of improvement. The country’s GDP grew by 5. 2% in 2023, a rate higher than the maximum of other primary economies.
In November, the output of China’s appliance production industry and high-tech production sector that exceeded a certain duration increased by 9. 8% and 6. 2% year-on-year, respectively. At the same time, the country has actively promoted trade transformation and modernization. and production of new electric vehicles and solar cells increased by 35. 6% and 44. 5%, respectively. Engaged in building a complex 5G network, China had effectively built around 3. 4 million 5G base stations by the end of December.
In terms of foreign industry, although the monthly expansion of China’s imports and exports slowed between June and September, it still plays a role in global trade and origin chains. In the first 11 months, general industry contributed 64. 8% of China’s total imports and exports increased by one percentage point year-on-year, meaning that the country’s industrial design improved significantly.
China is also stepping up its efforts to seek more trading partners. Its imports and exports with the countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative grew by 2. 8 percent last year. It has also facilitated the export of high-tech products, which only contributes to the progress of upstream and downstream industries, but is also helping to foster new drivers of foreign trade. Exports of electrical and mechanical products, for example, increased by 2. 8%.
In addition, some foreign corporations have moved their investments out of China since last year. Rather than signaling an economic downturn as some Western countries claim, what is happening in China shows that the country has made strides in trade optimization and technological modernization.
The genuine use of foreign capital in high-tech production sectors, including electronic communications and medical devices, rose to 1. 8 per cent. Moreover, in the past five years, China’s rate of return on foreign direct investment has reached 9. 1%, the rate in the world. Many foreign industry associations, including the American Chamber of Commerce in China, have said that the Chinese market is no longer an “option” but an “imperative” for foreign investors.
A number of authoritative organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund, have fully identified China’s economic achievements. According to the IMF, China is expected to account for one-third of the global economic expansion last year.
New Expansion Drivers
Having entered an era of transition, China has lately been facing certain cyclical and structural upheavals in economic development, coupled with inadequate effective demand, operational disruptions faced by some companies, and types of risks. economies, the country wants to redouble its efforts in 3 areas.
First, China deserves to focus on clinical and technological innovation. The Central Economic and Labour Conference held in December underlined this. China will continue to promote the high-quality progress of primary production industries and the resilience and security of trade and origin chains. Moreover, determined to promote “new commercialization” in all aspects, the country will push forward the progress of the virtual economy and synthetic intelligence technologies.
Second, China must take steps to stimulate domestic demand. You’ll need to stimulate entry and generate high-yield investments, thereby fostering a virtuous cycle in which entry and investment are mutually reinforcing.
The country continues to herald the recovery of intake after the COVID-19 pandemic and shaping new models of admission, focusing on expanding the source of income for urban and rural residents, as well as expanding the groups of intermediate sources of income. In addition, in order to create a greater investment and financing mechanism, China will promote cooperation between the government and social capital and inspire social capital to participate more in the structure of the “new infrastructure”.
Thirdly, further reforms will need to be passed in key sectors. China has made significant progress in more than 40 years of reform and opening-up. However, it now faces the challenge that reforms are entering a “deep-water zone,” requiring the country to break away from some classic systems that obstruct further economic development.
China will reform state-owned enterprises while promoting the progress of personal enterprises, with the aim of building a unified domestic market. It will also seek to address fundamentally the structural disruptions to economic progress through the development of plans and the launch of a new circular on reforms of the tax and taxation systems.
He is a professor at the Faculty of Economics at Renmin University of China and a senior member of the China Macroeconomics Forum, a Beijing-based think tank.
The article was first published on the Chinese Social Sciences Net.
These perspectives do not necessarily reflect those of the China Daily.