Premier Li stresses China's economic potential at forum in Beijing

Chinese Premier Li Qiang stressed the huge potential of the Chinese economy in his keynote speech at the China Development Forum 2024 in Beijing on Sunday. 

Li assessed the current situation and the prospects for China's economic development from three aspects in his speech, saying the recovery of the Chinese economy is strengthening, the country's high-quality development is accelerating, and the long-term development of the Chinese economy is unchanged.

Economic momentum growing

Li said the recovery of the Chinese economy continues to pick up and the momentum is still strengthening. The premier noted that China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.2 percent last year, meeting the government's target, and China's economic aggregate exceeded 126 trillion yuan (about $17.6 trillion), making it one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world. 

China's contribution to world economic growth has remained at around 30 percent of the total, and it has maintained its position as the largest country in global trade in goods, he added.

Li noted that new drivers of China's economy are growing fast. He said that instead of accumulating long-term risks during rapid economic growth, China has always focused on improving the quality of development and strengthening internal driving forces. 

According to the premier, the added value of China's strategic emerging industries increased from 7.6 percent of GDP 10 years ago to more than 13 percent last year, the scale of China's digital economy has exceeded 50 trillion yuan, and China has as many as 24 of the world's top 100 sci-tech innovation clusters and half of the world's new renewable energy generation units.

"The accelerated growth and application of new technologies has not only led the transformation and upgrading of China's economy but also strongly supported global green development," Li said.

He also assured global entrepreneurs, investors and business experts that the prospects for the long-term development of the Chinese economy remain unchanged, saying it has formed solid fundamentals with "strong resilience, great potential and full vitality."

The premier said China has a population of over 1.4 billion and the middle-income group continues to expand, indicating a vast market. 

As an example of the vitality of the economy, Li noted that during this year's Spring Festival, the number of cross-regional personnel flows reached 2.29 billion, online payment transactions exceeded 10 trillion yuan, the number of domestic tourists reached 474 million, a year-on-year increase of 34.35 percent, and more than 630 billion yuan was spent on tourism during the holiday, up 47.3 percent compared with that of last year.

More high-quality development

Li expressed his confidence in China's development, citing advantages including distinctive institutional strengths, a complete industrial system, a huge and high-caliber workforce, and growing sci-tech innovation capacity.

He also explained the Chinese government's approach to high-quality development, saying in the following years it will intensify macro-policy adjustments and expand domestic demands by advancing the construction of a nationwide unified market, and promoting a new round of urbanization and extensive equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins.

China will also accelerate the building of a modern industrial system through tech innovation, promote green transformation, and prudently prevent and defuse risks and dangers to promote sustained and sound economic development, the premier said. 

Li concluded his speech by saying China will continue deepening reforms in key areas, improve government services, protect the legitimate rights and interests of various enterprises, and completely remove restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector to create a market-oriented and law-based international business environment. 

"We believe a more open China will bring more opportunities for win-win cooperation to the world," he said.

The forum, the first edition of which was held in 2000, has become a vital platform for China's opening up to the world. International scholars, entrepreneurs, government officials and representatives from international organizations discuss key issues concerning the development of China and the world at the event.

The theme of this year's forum, held from March 24 to 25, is "The Continuous Development of China" with a focus on the new drivers of China's development and new opportunities for the global economy. 

About 400 people attended the opening ceremony, including World Bank President Ajay Banga and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.