Ms. Ma Jia, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of Chinese Embassy in India, published an article entitled “Understanding China’s G·D·P” in the March issue of The Diplomatist. The full text is as follows:
The annual plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), known as the two sessions, have caught great attention across the world. I would like to share my interpretation of it through G·D·P.
“G” for growth
The Two Sessions released the message that China has made steady progress in pursuing high-quality development and boosted overall economic recovery and growth. We withstood pressures and overcome difficulties when the global economic recovery was sluggish, geopolitical conflicts became more acute， and protectionism and unilateralism were on the rise. In 2023 China’s gross domestic product (GDP) surpassed 126 trillion yuan (US$ 18 trillion), an increase of 5.2%, ranking China among the fastest-growing major economies in the world. Per capita disposable income of residents increased by 6.1%. In rural areas that have been lifted out of poverty per capita grew by 8.4%. China accounted for over 60% of global electric vehicle output and sales. There was a 30% increase in exports of the “new trio”, namely, electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and photovoltaic products.
The two sessions showcased China’s resolve to pursue higher-level opening up and to share opportunities with the world. China is ready to promote alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules, steadily expand institutional opening up, increase the volume and raise the quality of foreign trade. Imports of high-quality goods will be boosted, policies to support border trade will be improved, and we will fully apply the negative list for cross-border trade in services. We will intensify efforts to attract foreign investment, further shorten the negative list for foreign investment. All market access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing will be abolished. We will strive for solid progress in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and deepen multilateral, bilateral, and regional economic cooperation. We will foster an open world economy to deliver more benefits generated from win-win cooperation to people of all countries.
China’s main targets for development this year include: GDP growth of around 5%; over 12 million new urban jobs; growth in personal income in step with economic growth; a drop of around 2.5% in energy consumption per unit of GDP; continued improvements in the environment. It is worth mentioning that for the first time, “new quality productive forces” is put forward in this year’s government work report, and is listed as the top of the ten work tasks in 2024. It means we should give full rein to the leading role of innovation, spur industrial innovation by making innovations in science and technology and press ahead with new industrialization, so as to raise total factor productivity, steadily foster new growth drivers and strengths, and promote a new leap forward in the productive forces.
“D” for diplomacy
Building a community with a shared future for mankind is the core tenet of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy. It is China’s solution to the question of what kind of world to build and how to build it. China is ready to work with all countries to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity. We believe in an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization. It is definitely unacceptable that certain countries must be at the table while some others can only be on the menu.
70 years ago, China and India, together with Myanmar, jointly initiated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, an innovation in international relations of the 20th century. We stand ready to work with our neighbors to carry forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence toward building a community with a shared future for Asia and for mankind. China was, is and will be a steadfast member of the Global South. We go through thick and thin and head toward a shared future together with countries of the South, and are always a crucial force for development and prosperity of the Global South.
Regarding hot-spots issues, on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, we call for a more broad-based, more authoritative, and more effective international peace conference to work out a timetable and road map for the two-State solution. On the Ukraine crisis, China supports the holding in due course of an international peace conference that is recognized by both Russia and Ukraine and ensures the equal participation of all parties and fair discussions on all peace plans. On the Korean Peninsula issue, the imperative now is to desist from acts of deterrence and applying pressure, and move out of the spiral of escalating confrontation. The fundamental solution lies in resuming dialogue and negotiation, and addressing the legitimate security concerns of all parties, especially those of the DPRK.
“P” for people
China stays committed to a people-centered development philosophy and develops whole-process people’s democracy. In China, all the people can manage state affairs in all aspects of the democratic process and all sectors of society, and they are truly the masters of the country. Both the system of People’s Congress and the institutions of the People’s Political Consultative Conference are major institutional supporting mechanism and framework for realizing the whole process people’s democracy. The two sessions are an important platform to reflect and deeply practice whole-process people’s democracy, as well as a significant window for the international community to understand China’s democracy.
When drafting the Report on the Work of the Government, which is for the two session’s deliberation, the government is open to suggestions to fully reflect public opinion and respond to the concerns of communities, the public and businesses. Statistics show that around 10,000 people were directly involved in the report revision. After its completion, the draft was issued and sent to departments, institutions and all sectors across China for comment, drawing up over 1,100 suggestions. In addition, online media platforms picked up more than 1.6 million comments from netizens and sent the picks to the drafters.
Deputies to NPC have actively practiced whole-process people’s democracy, better understood what policies people want and what their needs are through themed field trips, video talks, face-to-face discussions, inspection trips and other flexible ways. In this way, 230 proposals by NPC deputies were formulated, accounting for 77.2% of the total. A total number of 5,898 proposals were received by the CPPCC this year. Through the proposals, speeches at the CPPCC meetings, and other measures to reflect the social conditions and public opinion, the CPPCC has leveraged its advantages as a specialized consultative body, met the requirements set by whole-process people’s democracy and developed this democracy.
The Harvard Kennedy School’s surveys in China which extended over 10 years straight suggest that the proportion of the Chinese satisfied with the government has stayed over 90 percent. China’s democratic system has motivated over 1.4 billion people to modernize the country. We have turned the advantage of our system into governance efficiency, and whole-process people’s democracy has been a rock-solid foundation for the effective governance of China.
