ISLAMABAD – Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday said that China would be fostering a new development paradigm to help world economies grow by mutually reinforcing domestic and international circulations.
Addressing the participants of APEC CEO Dialogues through a video-link, Xi said China would keep pursuing mutual benefits and win-win cooperation with the world to help build a community with a shared future.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated changes unseen in a century in the world and the global economy finds itself into deep recession, its industrial and supply chains are disrupted, and governance, trust, development and peace deficits continue to grow.
“Mounting unilateralism, protectionism and bullying as well as backlash against economic globalization have added to risks and uncertainties in the world economy. However, peace and development remain the underlying trend of our times. Meeting challenges through cooperation is the only way forward for us in the international community,” he said.
He said the pandemic once again shows that the interests of all countries are closely interwoven and that humankind shares a common stake.
“Indeed, our world is an indivisible community with a shared future. To beat the virus and promote global recovery, we in the international community must close ranks and jointly respond to this crisis and meet the test. All countries should act in the spirit of partnership and get through this tough time together,” he observed.
He said since the start of this year, facing the sudden onslaught of COVID-19, China has put people and life above everything else. He said the 1.4 billion Chinese people, united as one, have made a major strategic achievement in fighting the virus.
“We have endeavored to both contain the virus and speedily bring production and life back to normal, thus maintaining economic and social development. China’s economy resumed positive overall growth in the first three quarters this year. This hard-won achievement speaks volumes about the resilience and vitality of the Chinese economy,” remarked the Chinese visionary.
“The fundamentals sustaining China’s steady and long-term economic growth remain unchanged. We have full confidence and ability to maintain stable economic performance and achieve the goals of finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eradicating poverty within the set time frame,” he added.
China to transform into a modern socialist country
He said from next year on, China will embark on a new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country.
“We will develop a full understanding of the new development stage, and apply the new development philosophy. We will foster a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. The new development paradigm is a strategic decision we have made based on the current stage and conditions of development in China and with full consideration given to economic globalization and changes in the external environment,” he added.
He said China will expand domestic demand as a strategic priority and ensure smooth flow of economic activity. In recent years, he said, China’s development model of reliance on foreign markets and resources has gone through some gradual changes.
“The ratio of foreign trade to GDP dropped from 67 percent in 2006 to less than 32 percent in 2019, while the ratio of current account surplus to GDP has come down from 9.9 percent in 2007 to less than one percent today. In seven years since the 2008 global financial crisis, the contribution of China’s domestic demand to GDP exceeded 100 percent, making domestic consumption the main driver of its growth,” he added.
Scientific, technological innovations to foster new growth drivers
Xi said China will vigorously make scientific and technological innovations to foster new growth drivers and a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is gathering pace, and science and technology are playing an even more significant role in boosting social productivity.
“To China, innovation has always been the primary driver of development, and we have made major achievements by implementing an innovation-driven development strategy. As China enters a new stage of development, factors of production underpinning its development have gone through profound changes. This means that China must pursue innovation to achieve high-quality growth driven by domestic demand,” he observed.
Deepening reforms to energise market
Xi said China will continue to deepen reform and energize the market.
“What we have achieved during the past 40-plus years of China’s reform and opening-up shows one thing: Reform is crucial for unleashing and boosting productivity. China has entered a new stage of development and faces new tasks of reform”.
He said Beijing will take more steps and remove with greater resolve deep-seated systemic and institutional barriers to modernize China’s governance system and capacity. We will enhance our ability to better apply the new development philosophy, namely, one of pursuing innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.
“China’s per capita GDP has topped US$10,000, and its middle-income population has exceeded 400 million. It is projected by many international institutions that China’s retail market will reach six trillion dollars in size this year. As China’s economy grows, our people naturally want to lead an even better life. This will create more demand for a greater variety of quality products, technologies and services from across the world,” he added.
China to deepen international cooperation
Xi said the new development paradigm will enable China to continue to deepen international cooperation for shared benefits and China will take a more active part in the international division of labour, get more effectively integrated into global industrial, supply and value chains, and more enthusiastically expand exchanges and cooperation with other countries.
“We welcome cooperation with every other region, country, or company that wants to do so. China will remain committed to openness and cooperation, and adhere to multilateralism and the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits”.
BRI to lead the way for the world economies
Xi said China will work to pursue high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with its partners, and seek greater complementarity between the development strategies and connectivity plans of regions and countries concerned.
“China will further harmonize policies, rules and standards with BRI partners, and deepen effective cooperation with them on infrastructure, industry, trade, scientific and technological innovation, public health and people-to-people exchange. Together, we will make the Belt and Road a model of cooperation, health, recovery and growth and deepen cooperation on green development. This will allow us to contribute to common development and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind,” he concluded.
