CGTN polls: China improves its economic quality with innovation, promoting Chinese modernization

The stunning unveiling of C919, China's large passenger airliner, at the Singapore Airshow 2024 has been hailed as an achievement of "Made in China." This is driven by the upgrading of China's economic growth drivers. A group of global surveys conducted by CGTN and Renmin University of China (RUC) through the New Era International Communication Research Institute show that 87.1 percent of the respondents appreciate China's efforts to improve its economic quality with scientific and technological innovation, believing that new quality productivity will help the process of Chinese modernization be fast and good.

The rapid development of China's economy for more than 40 years has benefited from the continuous upgrading of productive forces, in which scientific and technological innovation has always been the top priority. In addition to the C919, the Chinese-built large cruise ship completed its trial voyage, the Shenzhou spaceships are continuing their missions in space, and the deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe reached the deepest ocean trench in 2023. 

In the survey, as many as 93.2 percent of global respondents praised China's strong scientific and technological strength, and 84.9 percent believe that China's scientific and technological achievements are significantly benefiting the international community. According to the data, China's funding for basic research grew from 49.9 billion yuan in 2012 to 202.35 billion yuan in 2022, strongly supporting the output of major achievements in quantum information, stem cells, synthetic biology and more. In the polls, 85.4 percent of global respondents speak highly of China's huge investment and determination in independent innovation.

Chinese modernization is the modernization of green development, and green is the base of China's economy and high-quality development. According to the surveys, 91.9 percent of the respondents hail China's practice of respecting, adapting to and protecting nature in its pursuit of modernization, and praise China's effort of striving to achieve harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature. Nearly 60 percent (59.7 percent) of them are optimistic about China's high-quality development prospects, believing that China's natural environment will become better, and that it will be more and more in harmony with its economic and social development. The promotion and application of green energy and technology is shaping a new model for China's high-quality economic development. 

Data from General Administration of Customs of China shows that the total export value of China's new solar batteries, lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles, surged to 1.06 trillion yuan in 2023. In the survey, 78.5 percent of the respondents hold the belief that China's ecological and green industries provide a solid support for sustainable economic development and are crucial to the stability of global industrial chain and supply chain. Another 84.5 percent of the respondents believe that China improves its economic quality with scientific and technological innovation that accelerates the development process of Chinese modernization and provides a new reference for other countries. 74 percent people expect China to share more experience in high-quality economic development to help realize common development.

The surveys were conducted among 11,180 respondents worldwide, including people from developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Australia, as well as from developing countries such as Brazil, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and South Africa.