Editor's note: The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China concluded with a blueprint mapped out for China's future development in the next five years and beyond. CGTN is publishing "How China Works – Charting the Future," a special series delving deep into a key report adopted at the congress to see how the country can fulfill the goals and tasks on the new journey of the new era.

In today's world, markets are the scarcest resource. China's market is thus a huge advantage for our country. We must make full use of this factor and steadily consolidate it to make it a strong pillar of the new development dynamic. Expanding domestic demand is not at a temporary policy to cope with financial risks and external shocks, nor is it about unleashing a deluge of strong stimulus policies or increasing government investment. Rather, it is about establishing an effective institutional framework to boost domestic demand based on our country's actual economic status, moving to tap the potential of demand, working faster to build a complete demand system, strengthening demand-side management, and expanding consumer spending while also upgrading the level of consumption, so that the development of our vast domestic market becomes a sustainable process.

To create a new development dynamic and pursue high-standard opening up, we require a robust domestic economic flow and stable economic fundamentals. On this base, we can create a strong pull for global production factors and resources, the ability to hold our own amid intense international competition, and powerful momentum for the allocation of global resources. We should continue to expand opening up based on the flow of production factors such as goods, services, capital and talent, and steadily expand institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management and standards. We should ensure that China's domestic economy plays a stronger role in guiding the double development dynamic, and foster new strengths for China's participation in international economic cooperation and competition. We should work to harness international engagement as a means for improving the efficiency and level of the domestic economy and the quality and allocation of our production factors. Through competition in the international market we will boost the competitiveness of our export products and services, and promote industrial transformation and upgrading to increase China's influence in global industry chains, supply chains, and innovation chains. Chinese enterprises now have interests that extend to many countries around the world. This requires that we pay more attention to understanding international affairs and carrying out thorough studies on countries that are our stakeholders, trading partners, and investment destinations, in order to establish a clear picture of potential benefits and risks.

(Source: Extract from Xi Jinping's speech at a study session on implementing the decisions of the fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, attended by principal officials at the provincial and ministerial level, January 11, 2021.)

This episode is presented by Li Jianhua.