Zhang Xiao, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Recently, the international community has paid close attention to China’s economic development. I would like to share with you my opinion on the following aspects:
First, China’s economy is recovering and improving. In 2023, China’s economy resisted external pressure, overcame internal difficulties, and expanded with an annualized growth rate of 5.2 percent, higher than the global growth rate forecast of 3 percent, ranking among the world’s largest economies. GDP growth has exceeded 6 trillion yuan, equivalent to the total economic output of an average country for a year, accounting for more than 30% of global economic growth. The Chinese economy remains the “ballast” of the world economy, the “engine” of global prosperity and the “stimulator” of mutually beneficial cooperation. During this year’s Spring Festival, China saw more than 474 million domestic tourism trips, up 34.3% from the same period in 2022, with domestic tourists spending 632.687 billion yuan, up 47.3% than last year. The films’ box office revenue reached 8.016 billion yuan, setting a new Spring Festival box office record, and the films were watched by 163 million moviegoers. From January to February 2024, the value added of China’s industrial enterprises above the designated size increased by 7.0% year on year, 0.2 percentage points faster than last December; Total retail sales of consumer goods increased 5.5% year over year. On an annual basis, investment in fixed assets increased by 4.2%, accelerating by 1.2 percentage points compared to the previous year as a whole. These achievements are full of golden content and lay a solid foundation for China’s economy to raise confidence and expectations and continue to develop well.
Secondly, China’s economic growth potential is limitless. China has not become the “next failed economy” as some claim, and the Chinese economy continues to overcome obstacles and move forward boldly: in 2020, it passed the one trillion yuan “milestone”; against the backdrop of the epidemic, it also successively exceeded the levels of 110 and 120 trillion yuan; and in 2023, its gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded 126 trillion yuan. China’s economy continues to strengthen its innovation drive, promote transformation and upgrading, accelerate the formation of new productive forces, and has enormous potential for sustainable growth, bringing a certain “positive energy” to the global economy full of uncertainty. Currently, China’s economy is in a period of sustained recovery and key structural adjustment, has sufficient internal energy, no longer takes the GDP level as the only criterion, the economy shifts gears and slows down, but does not go off track. The expected economic growth target of around 5% is within reach. The next “Chinese-style growth miracle” will still belong to China.
Third, China’s economy has huge space for domestic demand. With a population of 1.4 billion, a per capita GDP of over $12,000, and a middle income group of over 400 million, China is the world’s most promising major market. Statistics show that in 2023 China’s overall retail sales of consumer goods soar by 7.2 percent year on year, and the contribution of final consumption to economic growth reached 82.5 percent. In March this year, the State Council issued the “Action Plan for Large-Scale Equipment Upgrade and Trade-in Programs for Consumer Products.” According to preliminary estimates, equipment upgrading represents a huge market with an annual value of more than 5 trillion yuan, and the upgrading of automobiles and home appliances creates trillions of dollars of market space, which further stimulates the vitality of China’s domestic demand market and makes the supporting role of consumption for China’s economic development more prominent. In 2023, China’s trade goods imports amounted to 17.99 trillion yuan, imported more than 5 trillion yuan of large-scale goods, nearly 3 trillion yuan of electronic components and 2 trillion yuan of consumer goods, and imported 160 million tons of grain, ranking first in the world in imports agricultural products, supplying companies around the world with wide market space and collaboration opportunities.
Fourth, China’s foreign trade is growing against the trend. In 2023, facing the cumulative challenges of multiple factors such as geopolitical conflicts, sluggish foreign demand, rising trade protectionism and unilateralism, China’s total import and export value was 41.76 trillion yuan, up 0.2% from last year. year, this growth is based on a growth rate of 21.4 percent in 2021, in 2022 the growth rate will be 7.7 percent, which is not easy to achieve. According to the WTO, China’s export share in the international market remained high at around 14% in 2023. In the first two months of 2024, China’s total import and export value of goods increased by 8.7% year on year, of which exports increased by 10.3%, and the growth rate continued to accelerate. China’s foreign trade enterprises have sufficient energy, the competitive advantages of their products are strong, and the export dynamics are strong. In 2023, the number of China’s foreign trade enterprises engaged in import and export will reach a record high of 645,000 which is a record figure. Among them, imports and exports of private enterprises amounted to 22.36 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.3%, accounting for 53.5% of the total value of imports and exports. China exported mechanical and electrical products worth 13.92 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.9%, accounting for 58.6% of total export value. The total export volume of the “new three”, namely electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products, collectively exported 1.06 trillion yuan, surpassing the trillion yuan mark for the first time, an increase of 29.9%. At present, China, as the world’s largest trader of goods and a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, actively promotes a stable and optimal foreign trade structure, strengthens economic and trade cooperation ties with countries around the world from a position of openness and cooperation.
Fifth, China remains a hot spot for global investment. China’s economy has a market-oriented, legal and first-class international business environment, and enjoys high trust from the global business community. In 2023, 53,766 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China, an increase of 39.7% year-on-year. The actual utilization of foreign investment is 1.1 trillion yuan, second only to 2021 and 2022 in scale, the third largest in history, and firmly ranked among the best in the world. China’s investment structure continues to optimize: high-tech industries account for 37.4% of the total volume. In January this year, 4,588 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China, up 74.4% year-on-year. From an industry perspective, the actual amount of foreign capital used in high-tech manufacturing has increased by 40.6%, and more and more multinational companies have decided to set up R&D centers in China. About 200 of the world’s top 500 leading companies signed contracts at the seventh China International Import Expo. The number of KFC stores in China has exceeded 10,000, more than in the United States. Airbus’s first full life cycle aircraft maintenance project entered service in Chengdu outside Europe, with multinational companies achieving mutual benefit and win-win results in a “two-way pursuit” with the Chinese market. China’s giant market, supported by a population of 1.4 billion, is opening up to the outside world. One after another, measures such as creating a round table system for foreign enterprises, measures to facilitate the entry of foreigners into China, solving mobile payment problems for foreigners and expanding the range of visa-free countries were implemented. Investing in China means choosing a better future, and this has become the consensus of the global business community. False narratives about “deteriorating investment environment in China” and “foreign capital withdrawal” are doomed to fail.
No matter how the world situation changes, China will continue to adhere to the concept of opening up to the outside world, actively sharing opportunities with the world, and pursuing common development with other countries. The beggar-thy-neighbor counter-economic approach to globalization not only fails to solve its own chronic problems, but also destroys global industrial and supply chains, impedes the healthy development of the world economy, and harms the interests of all countries. Offending China will definitely backfire consequences, and misjudging China will lead to missed opportunities.
China and Kazakhstan are not only friendly neighbors and permanent comprehensive strategic partners, but also intertwined in a community of common destiny for humanity, common benefits and sorrows. China is willing to work with Kazakhstan to seize the historic opportunity to develop bilateral relations, take the next “golden decade” of joint high-quality construction of the Belt and Road as an opportunity, actively utilize our complementary economic advantages, pragmatically promote mutually beneficial cooperation, and develop new areas of cooperation , promote continued significant progress in cooperation between the two countries in various fields and make greater contributions to global economic development.
