Opinion

Leverage strengths and shore up confidence

The development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period has further demonstrated China's core strengths: socialism with Chinese characteristics, its super-sized market, comprehensive industrial system, and abundant human resources. Building on these four strengths and maintaining strategic resolve, we have the confidence and capability to continue the twin miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability.

- Giving full play to China's institutional strength of socialism with Chinese characteristics by balancing short-term growth with long-term sustainable development, as well as wealth creation with common prosperity. The new system of pooling resources nationwide will foster synergy in key areas and major projects, providing a fundamental guarantee for advancing socialist modernization in the right direction.

- Giving full play to China's strength in its super-sized market to improve the efficiency of resource allocation, create application scenarios across new industries, new business formats and new business models, and enhance the international competitiveness of products and services. It will also attract global high-quality resources to gather in China, offering vast development space and significant market opportunities for domestic and international enterprises.

- Giving full play to China's strength in its comprehensive industrial system to enhance the resilience and risk resistance capacities of industrial and supply chains. An industrial ecosystem featuring upstream-downstream collaboration and integration of large, medium, and small enterprises will be formed, both in foundational industries related to the national economy and people's livelihoods, and in strategic emerging industries, so as to elevate China's position in the international division of labor.

- Giving full play to China's strength in abundant human resources, by fostering a large pool of high-quality engineering and technical professionals, as well as strategic scientists. This will strengthen original innovation and breakthroughs in core technologies, drive integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, and provide intellectual support and innovative vitality in the progress toward basically achieving socialist modernization.

Policy

1. The "Beijing Declaration on Wind Energy 2.0", unveiled recently at China Wind Power 2025 on October 20, sets a goal for China's cumulative wind power installed capacity to reach 1.3 TW by 2030, at least 2 TW by 2035 and 5 TW by 2060.

2. China's National Data Administration announced on October 22 that the country will build a digital industry cluster worth trillions of renminbi in the Yangtze River Delta region. The initiative will give full play to the role of pilot free trade zones as innovation pioneers, focus on competitive industries such as artificial intelligence and digital supply chains, and deepen the integration of the digital economy with advanced manufacturing and modern services.

Data

1. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 5.2 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2025, reaching over RMB 101.5 trillion (about USD 14.3 trillion), as positive factors accumulated despite global headwinds.

2. The China Innovation Index, a barometer of the country's innovation capability, rose steadily in 2024. The index increased by 5.3 percent from the 2023 level to 174.2 last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on October 29. Among the indicators, the index for the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 R&D personnel and the index for the proportion of science and engineering graduates in the working-age population continued to grow rapidly, with growth rates exceeding 10 percent for three consecutive years.

3. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on October 27 showed that in the first nine months, the profits of industrial enterprises above the designated size increased by 3.2 percent year-on-year, accelerating by 2.3 percentage points compared to the first eight months, indicating a trend of accelerated recovery. In September alone, the profits of industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 21.6 percent year-on-year, accelerating by 1.2 percentage points compared to August.

4. China had 515 million generative artificial intelligence (AI) users as of June 2025, with the user base doubling within six months. The figure was up by 266 million from December 2024, bringing the user penetration rate to 36.5 percent in China, said the report released by the China Internet Network Information Center.

5. According to the 2025 China snow and ice industry development research report, the total scale of China's snow and ice industry is forecast to exceed RMB 1 trillion, reaching RMB 1,005.3 billion in 2025.

6. Based on calculations of battery service life, China is about to enter a phase of large-scale retirement of power batteries. It is estimated that by 2030, the domestic market scale for power battery recycling will exceed RMB 100 billion, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation.

7. China has recently added 22 wetlands, including the Sanggan River in Shanyin County, Shanxi Province, to its list of wetlands of national importance, bringing the total number to 80, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA).

8. Nearly 5 billion domestic trips were recorded in China in the first three quarters of the year, an increase of 761 million compared to the same period last year, marking a year-on-year increase of 18 percent, according to data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on October 21.

9. China has witnessed robust growth in EV charging infrastructure in recent years, mirroring the steady expansion of the country's new energy vehicle market. As of the end of September, the total number of EV charging facilities stood at 18.06 million units, up 54.5 percent from a year earlier.

10. China Development Bank had introduced a new policy-based financial instrument worth RMB 189.35 billion as of October 17, focusing on supporting major economic provinces to play a key role and increasing support for private investment and new productive forces. It is estimated that these efforts will drive total project investment of RMB 2.8 trillion.

(Source: Economic Daily)