Editor's Note:

Since 2012, China has witnessed an extraordinary economic transition, with historic achievements in all aspects of the economy from its size to quality. Such an unparalleled feat does not just happen, especially during a tumultuous period in the global geo-economic landscape and a tough phase in China's economic transformation and upgrading process. It was Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era that guided the country in overcoming various risks and challenges, and in keeping the China economic miracle alive.

As China embarked on the quest to become a great modern socialist country amid global changes unseen in a century, Xi's economic thought has been and will continue to be the guiding principle for development in China for years to come, and have great significance for the world. What is Xi's economic thought? What does it mean for China and the world?

To answer these questions, the Global Times has launched this special coverage on Xi's major economic speeches and policies, and how they are put into practice to boost development in China and around the world.
This year's two sessions - China's annual legislative and political consultative sessions - officially concluded on Monday, after national lawmakers and political advisers spent a week or so, on mapping the country's social and economic development blueprint for 2024 and beyond.

Often described as one of the most important political events, the two sessions, during which a slew of development goals are determined, offer a critical window for the world to view the latest economic trends and policy priorities in the world's second-largest economy.

More importantly, Chinese President Xi Jinping's agenda and major speeches during the two sessions provide the most crucial insights into the development path of the Chinese economy.

During this year's two sessions, Xi participated in three deliberations or group discussions with national lawmakers and political advisers, during which he also delivered important speeches. And a key theme emerged from these meetings and speeches: The Chinese top leader has put new quality productive forces front and center in China's economic agenda in 2024 and for many years to come.

As a relatively new concept that was first put forward by Xi during an inspection tour of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province in September 2023, new quality productive forces has become a key phrase in China's political lexicon in recent months. Xi's emphasis on the phrase further highlighted its significance in China's economic policymaking and China's future development paths, as officials across the country have and will continue to roll out measures to boost innovation and generate new productive forces.

China's pursuit of new quality productive forces, which place the main focus on innovation and technological self-reliance, comes as China's economy faces a profound transformation from old growth drivers to sustainable ones, and as the global geo-economic situation has grown increasingly complex - characterized by the US' relentless technological crackdowns and growing protectionism. Therefore, developing new quality productive forces is critical for China's sustainable, high-quality development, Chinese lawmakers, political advisers, and economists said.

Top leader's focus at two sessions

During each year's two sessions, Xi often visits and holds meetings with national lawmakers and political advisors, and delivers major speeches on key national issues. This year, the Chinese president made three such visits, in line with the number made during the two sessions in 2023.

On the afternoon of March 5, Xi participated in a deliberation with fellow lawmakers from East China's Jiangsu Province during the second session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature.

Xi called for focusing on high-quality development as a top priority, urging efforts to step up innovation, foster emerging industries, adopt forward-thinking plans to develop future-oriented industries, and improve the modernized industrial system. He stressed the development of new quality productive forces according to local conditions, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The top leader also made remarks about developing new quality productive forces or related issues such as technological innovation at the other two such deliberations he participated in.

On March 6, Xi participated in a joint group meeting during the second session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body. Xi called on political advisors and all people in the science and technology sector to strengthen basic research and apply basic research, strive to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, and create new drivers to develop new quality productive forces.

Then on March 7, Xi attended a plenary meeting of the delegation of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force at the second session of the NPC. He stressed deepening reform to comprehensively enhance strategic capabilities in emerging areas. He also said that China's drive to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces has provided rare opportunities for the development of strategic capabilities in emerging areas.

The successive remarks about the new quality productive forces on three different occasions accentuated the top leader's focus on the issue and its importance in China's economic development, not just this year but in the years to come, national lawmakers, political advisers, and experts said. "The concept offers guidance for our country to take advantage of the historical opportunity of a new round of technological upgrade and aims to develop strategic emerging industries and future industries," Guo said.

Developing new quality productive forces is a decisive step in the economy's high-quality development course, Guo Guoping, an NPC deputy and a vice director of the Key Laboratory of Quantum Information of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times.

New quality productive forces refers to innovation-led, advanced productivity that is freed from traditional economic growth mode and productivity development paths, is high-tech, high efficiency and high quality, and is in line with the new development philosophy, Xi said during a group study session of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in February, stressing that developing new quality productive forces is an endogenous requirement and a pivot of high-quality development.
From concept to action

Thanks to the top leader's focus, while the concept of new quality productive forces has only been around for a few months, it has been rising rapidly in China's political and social lexicon and has become a buzzword across the country. More importantly, it has already been put into action in China's economic policymaking.

The Central Economic Work Conference in December 2023, which set top economic policy priorities for 2024, also heightened the development of new quality productive forces. New quality productive forces also became the subject of the first group study session held by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee this year, according to Xinhua.

This year's Government Work Report also highlighted efforts to develop new quality productive forces. According to the report, China will strive to modernize its industrial system and develop new quality productive forces at a faster pace. It also said that China will step up research on disruptive and frontier technologies, and will launch an AI Plus initiative.

The top leader's emphasis on new quality productive forces was echoed throughout the two sessions, where lawmakers and political advisers enthusiastically talked about the concept and vowed to make great efforts in developing new quality development.

Shan Zenghai, an NPC deputy and chief engineer of Chinese construction equipment giant Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG), who participated in the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation on March 5, said he was inspired by the top leader's remarks on new quality productive forces.

"The encouragement from top leadership greatly boosted our confidence in sticking to innovation-driven growth, bolstering the real economy and promoting high-quality development," Shan told the Global Times.

Zhou Bin, another NPC deputy from Yancheng, Jiangsu, who also attended the deliberation, told the Global Times that Xi's important remarks on new quality productive forces have offered scientific guidance for opening up new development tracks and shaping new development momentum.

Many officials vowed to take concrete actions to develop new quality development forces. Wu Qingwen, an NPC deputy and mayor of Suzhou, Jiangsu, said the city has the foundation, the condition, and the responsibility to take a lead in developing new quality productive forces, vowing to step up scientific and technological (sci-tech) innovation and bolster the city's high-end equipment, biomedicine, new energy industries among others, and create "new engines" such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Solid progress, great potential

When it comes to sci-tech innovation and the development of new growth drivers, China has already made great strides, thanks to the focus and support from the top leadership, national lawmakers, political advisers, and experts said.

Despite various challenges, including the US' relentless crackdown campaign, China has already become an innovation power. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Thursday, China remained the leader in international patent applications, followed by the US, Japan, South Korea, and Germany.

At the end of 2023, the number of high-value invention patents held on the Chinese mainland had exceeded 1.66 million, an increase of 25.7 percent year-on-year, and the number of effective high-value invention patents acquired in strategic emerging industries had reached 1.17 million, accounting for 70 percent of the total, according to Xinhua.

Also highlighting the steady progress in and importance of forming new growth drivers is the fact that the shift in China's three most popular exports. In the past, the three most popular items China exported were clothes, furniture, and home alliances, which were relatively low-value and labor-intensive; however, new-energy vehicles, solar batteries, and lithium-ion batteries have become China's tech-intensive and green "new three," with a combined export value of 1.06 trillion yuan ($150 billion) in 2023, jumping 29.9 percent year-on-year.

Moving forward, the development of new quality productive forces has great potential in China, as its huge marketplace ensures full testing, application, and evolution of new technologies and new business models, Xu Jiuping, a professor at Sichuan University and a member of the National Committee of the 14th CPPCC, told the Global Times, pointing to the support of national innovation policies.

Underscoring such policy support, the central government has pledged to allocate 370.8 billion yuan ($51.51 billion) for science and technology in 2024, an increase of 10 percent, with a focus on basic research, applied basic research, and national strategic tasks in science and technology, according to the budget adopted at the two sessions.

China's special envoy for climate change Liu Zhenmin will travel to the US from May 7 to 16 for talks with his US counterpart. The first formal talks between climate envoys from both countries carry great significance as it is expected they can continue and extend the positive exchange between the two countries in addressing climate change, according to observers, while also warning that the coming US presidential election could cloud the future cooperation.

Liu will lead a delegation for talks with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Podesta, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said Tuesday.

The ministry said that Liu will exchange in-depth views on the "The Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis," which was issued by two countries in November last year; and other consensuses, as well as promote practical results in advancing China-US climate cooperation.

During this visit, Liu will also engage in discussions with relevant United Nations departments, as well as local governments and think tanks in the US, on topics related to climate change and other issues.

China will aim to extend cooperation on issues including energy, the circular economy and efforts to curb greenhouse gases beyond carbon dioxide, Liu told Bloomberg last month.

"Common ground means that both the US and China want to continue to lead this global process to respond to climate change," he said. "We have to cooperate as far as possible." The nations "also need to respect each other on all issues," according to Liu.

Energy transition, non-CO2 greenhouse emission such as methane, along with other issues are likely to top Liu's talks with Podesta, as those topics are of mutual concerns and energy transition is facing grave challenge amid complicated international situation, Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Ma believed trade issues will also top the list of discussion as the US has been using trade protectionism in key products and technologies for low-carbon transformation.

Podesta previously laid out the clearest declaration yet of the Biden administration's willingness to upend global trading rules — which the US fostered — to achieve its twin objectives of limiting carbon emissions and Chinese dominance of key industries, Bloomberg reported.

Liu and Podesta, both appointed to their roles in January, have spoken virtually and met in person briefly at the Petersburg Climate Dialogue in Berlin in April.

The strong personal connection between their predecessors Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry has kept climate talks between China and US alive even when bilateral relations spiraled to a low point, experts said.

The first formal talks between two climate envoys carry great significance as it is hoped they can continue and extend the positive exchange on climate issues between China and US, Ma said, noting that the strong bond doesn't come easy, and it needs time to establish the mutual trust.

Yet there's also concern that the coming US presidential election could cloud future cooperation. Speaking with Bloomberg, Liu said "I definitely hope that the American people will support the government to stay in the climate change process, stay in the Paris Agreement, even if Trump wins the next election…Not to repeat the mistake that they made during his last administration."

Ma said that US' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement another time will not only disrupt climate collaboration between Beijing and Washington; it is also likely to greatly set back global effort in tackling global warming. The uncertainty, however, highlighted the importance of dual-track communication between two countries, which comprises both exchange between central government level and sub-national, and non-governmental cooperation, according to Ma.

California Governor Gavin Newsom paid a visit to China in November last year. In a press release issued addressing his visit, Newsom's office said his trip prioritized three goals -- advancing climate action and cooperation, promoting economic development and tourism, and strengthening cultural ties.

On his trip, California signed five Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with China's National Development and Reform Commission, the provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu, and the municipalities of Beijing and Shanghai, according to the release.

"These MOUs advance California and China's work on climate policy and help set the stage for national discussions and partnerships," the release read.

As the clock ticked into 2024, several Chinese provinces including East China's Anhui and Central China's Hunan began a new round of construction of major projects, signaling a robust start to the new year. The growth in investment brought an encouraging sign for economic growth.

Analysts told the Global Times on Thursday that this development laid a solid foundation for investment in 2024, and these new projects are expected to generate significant economic benefits and jobs, and ramp up investment that will drive economic growth.

On Tuesday, Anhui held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Hefei-Wuhan High-Speed Railway, along with the first batch of major projects for 2024. So far, 460 major projects have been launched in the province, with a total investment of 489.63 billion yuan ($68.5 billion).

These projects range from infrastructure to emerging industries and include 33 projects with an investment of more than 3 billion yuan.

Insufficient investment in 2023 hindered economic development in China, but the situation improved at the end of the year. With improving development expectations and new policies conducive to industrial development, investment is expected to further increase this year, Tian Yun, a veteran economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"I am most optimistic about the energy sector this year," Tian said. "As an emerging industry, it has shown promising growth momentum and proven to have the potential to inject vitality into China's economic growth."

Hunan Province started on Wednesday work on 11 major projects with a combined investment of 87.2 billion yuan.

Emerging industries are playing a pivotal role in driving investments. Among the 460 projects initiated in Anhui, 253 are in emerging industries, including new-energy vehicles, smart grids, advanced photovoltaic systems and new materials, with total investment of 247.66 billion yuan. 

All across China, regions are gearing up for a strong start to the new year, with a focus on emerging industries.

In Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, 25 of the 63 newly launched projects are related to industries such as new energy, new materials and biomedicine, making up 39.68 percent of the total.

Central China's Henan Province on Monday announced policies to promote a robust economic start to the first quarter, with 100 projects each worth of 10 billion yuan in investment.

"I expect a rise in investment can provide the impetus to achieve 5 percent GDP growth for China in 2024," said Tian. 

A total of 50 Hungarian art works were featured on Tuesday at the Chongqing Art Museum. The 2023 Western China Hungarian Cultural Festival and the 2nd Chongqing Urban Arts Festival with the theme "The Journey: Janos Fajo and The Pesti Workshop," were co-organized by the Chongqing Art Museum, the Liszt Institute Hungarian Cultural Center Beijing, the Consulate General of Hungary in Chongqing, and Central Bank of Hungary. 
Czégel Bálint, consul general of Hungary in Chongqing, Kohári Lajos, head of Department at the National Assembly of Hungary, Wang Rongfa, director of Chongqing Art Museum, and other guests attended the ceremony. 

This exhibition is to implement the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) development strategy, strengthen the mutual understanding of civilizations and people-to-people communication with Belt and Road countries, and enrich the series of exhibitions of the 2nd Chongqing Urban Arts Festival to meet the high-quality spiritual and cultural needs of the public. 

More than 50 pieces were put on display at the exhibition ranging from oil painting to printmaking and other media. The works are rich in context, experimental, and of high artistic value, reflecting the contemporary style and unique artistic characteristics of Hungarian contemporary painting.

The exhibition runs until November 17, according to official Wechat account of Liszt Institute Hungarian Cultural Center Beijing.