China remains the crucial engine for global economic recovery and development

Recently, affected by the international political and economic situation, there were some voices expressing concerns about the economic prospects of China. In fact, China enjoys several distinct advantages: a socialist market economy in systemic terms, a supersize market in terms of demand, a full-fledged industrial system in terms of supply, and abundant, high-caliber labor force and entrepreneurs in terms of human resources. The fundamentals sustaining China’s long-term growth remain unchanged. China continues to be the crucial engine for global economic recovery and development, offering significant opportunities for the world.

So far this year, China’s economy as whole is recovering and improving, with solid progress in high-quality development. In the first half of the year, China’s economy grew by 5.5% year-on-year, significantly faster than the 3% growth for the entire previous year and the 4.5% growth in the first quarter of this year. Consumption has played a noticeably enhanced role in driving economic growth, with domestic demand contributing 110.8% to China’s economic growth in the first half, a 59.4% increase from the previous year. The trend of industrial upgrading continues, with high-tech industry investment, scientific research and technology services increasing by 11.5% and 23.1% year-on-year from January to July. In the first half of this year, China added 78.42 million kilowatts of photovoltaic capacity, accounting for over 50% of the total new power generation capacity.

China’s imports and exports exceeded 20 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, reaching a historical high for the same period, with a year-on-year growth rate of 2.1%. Exports of electric cars, lithium batteries, and solar cells in the first half increased by a combined 61.6% year-on-year. According to the latest World Economic Outlook report from the International Monetary Fund, China’s economy is expected to grow at 5.2%, contributing one-third to global economic growth, while global growth is projected to be 3% in 2023. The World Bank and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have also predicted that China’s economy will grow by 5.6% and 5.4%, respectively, in 2023. These data indicate that, under the complex and severe environment of weak recovery of the world economy and still high global inflation, China’s economic growth is significantly faster than that of the world’s major developed economies, demonstrating strong resilience, potential, and its great driving effect in global economic growth.

China remains steadfast in promoting high-level opening-up to the world. This year marks the 45th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up. China has made tremendous development achievements through openness and has shared development opportunities with countries around the world. China faithfully fulfills its commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO), proactively opens its market to the world, and has become a major trading partner for over 140 countries and regions. China not only improves the lives of its own people through its development but also provides a large number of high-quality and affordable products to other countries, playing a crucial role as a cornerstone and driving force for international free trade and stable global economic growth. Currently, China is comprehensively promoting Chinese modernization with high-quality development, leading over 1.4 billion people into modernization, creating a top-notch market-oriented, rule-based, and international business environment, and closely linking global industrial and supply chains, which will undoubtedly unleash enormous market opportunities.

According to a report by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, factors such as China’s market size, robust demand, rapid commercialization of research outcomes, and abundant local talent have prompted a large number of European companies to conduct local research and development in China, with nearly 60% of surveyed companies indicating plans to increase R&D spending in China over the next five years. A survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China also shows that 66% of American companies in China will maintain or increase their investment in China in the next two years. In the first half of this year, French, British, Japanese, and German investments in China increased by 173.3%, 135.3%, 53%, and 14.2%, respectively. The total number of newly established foreign-funded enterprises in China reached 24,000, a year-on-year increase of 35.7%.

China will vigorously promote the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) towards a key stage of high-quality development. Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative has continued to grow, yielding fruitful cooperation and becoming a highly popular global public good and international cooperation platform in the world. China has signed cooperation agreements related to the BRI with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations, covering areas such as connectivity, trade, investment, finance, society, oceans, e-commerce, technology, people’s livelihoods, and culture. Over 3,000 cooperation projects have been initiated, attracting investments of nearly a trillion US dollars. Numerous transportation infrastructure projects have been successfully implemented, injecting strong impetus into the development of countries participating in the BRI. Clean, efficient, and high-quality green energy projects are lighting up the future development path of these countries. Projects in areas like poverty reduction, agricultural technology, and vocational education are improving the living standards of people in participating countries.

According to estimates by the World Bank, the full implementation of all transportation projects under the BRI framework by 2030 is expected to increase global income by 0.7% to 2.9% and lift 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million people out of moderate poverty. In October this year, China will host the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, and China will continue to uphold the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits with all countries, jointly expanding and extending this cooperative path that brings benefits to the world.

China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners. China is willing to work together with Pakistan to continuously expand and deepen cooperation in the fields of industry, agriculture, mining, and information technology on the basis of the important milestones achieved in the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), so as to build the CPEC into a growth corridor, a livelihood-enhancing corridor, an innovation corridor, a green corridor, and an open corridor. We aim to carry out cooperation at a higher level, a wider scope and a deeper level, pushing the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership to a new stage, and making greater contributions to the peace and prosperity of both countries and the region.