In his 2023 New Year's address, President Xi Jinping linked three overarching concepts. The first is "building a modern socialist country in all respects" — which is the objective to be constructed. The second is "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation"  —  which is the ultimate goal. And the third is "a Chinese path to modernization"   —  which is the mechanism or path to achieve the objective and the goal. We focus on the last, Chinese modernization. What does it mean? What are its key features? In specific, how to achieve high-quality development and high-level opening up? What's the role of China's innovation-driven strategy? 

The 20th CPC National Congress not only looked ahead five years, the traditional mandate of Party congresses, but also provided a road map for the next 13 years to 2035 and for the next 25 plus years to mid-century  —  2049 is the 100th anniversary of the People Republic of China. To track progress, we follow Chinese modernization, which is the mechanism or path to full socialist modernization and national rejuvenation. This means following its primary components: high-quality development, high-standard opening up, and innovation-driven development. Each has clarity of strategic formulation and challenges of strategic implementation.

2023 is a critical year as China begins this multi-decade, new journey, made more challenging by three years of the COVID pandemic, in lockdown and opening-up phases. Looking for stabilizing the economy, then expanding domestic demand, coordinating supply-side structural reform, and continuing high-quality opening up in trade and investment liberalization. Key directives: maintain prudent monetary and enhance proactive fiscal policy; promote private business, tech platform companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, and foreign capital and companies; support the real estate market with pro-property policies; and reestablish consumer confidence and increase consumption.

China's GDP now approaches 20 percent of the world's GDP. This is why, with good reason, the world watches China's economy.

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