Amidst Turbulence, China's Economy Demonstrates "Stability, Progress, Innovation, and Resilience" for Steady Long-Term Growth

Deep News01-21

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on the 19th, China's GDP reached 140.1879 trillion yuan in 2025, surpassing the 140 trillion yuan mark for the first time, representing a 5.0% year-on-year growth calculated at constant prices. This achievement serves as the most striking highlight for the concluding year of the "14th Five-Year Plan," showcasing the distinct characteristics of China's economy: a solid foundation, numerous advantages, strong resilience, and vast potential. "Stability" forms the bedrock of development, acting as the ballast that steadies the course through turbulent waters. Against a backdrop of global economic growth hovering around 3%, intensifying geopolitical rivalries, and intertwined domestic and external risks and challenges, China's ability to break the 140 trillion yuan barrier and achieve 5% growth underscores the hard-won nature of this stability. This "stability" is reflected in the solid support from key indicators: the average annual surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2%, indicating overall stability in employment; foreign exchange reserves exceeded $3.3 trillion, reinforcing the safety net for external payments; total imports and exports grew by 3.8% year-on-year, demonstrating the stability of market demand. This "stability" further stems from precise macro-control efforts and the safety net provided by institutional advantages. Proactive policies have both cushioned short-term downward pressures and stabilized market expectations while unlocking domestic demand potential. Steady improvements in people's livelihoods add further confidence, with per capita disposable income of residents growing by 5.0% in real terms, keeping pace with economic growth, and continuous advancements in elderly care, child rearing, and healthcare, ensuring that development is rooted in the well-being of the people. Building upon this foundation of "stability," the pace of "progress" is resolute and powerful, with the quality of high-quality development becoming increasingly pronounced. The 5% growth rate is the inevitable outcome of profound transformations in the development model and steady improvements in the quality and efficiency of growth. Optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure continue to make breakthroughs, with the value-added of large-scale high-tech manufacturing rising to 17.1% of the total. The deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy is evident, as the value-added of large-scale digital product manufacturing grew by 9.3%, with server and industrial robot production experiencing rapid growth, forming a new industrial pattern supported by multiple pillars. The deepening of reform and opening-up adds further momentum, exemplified by the formal implementation of the Private Economy Promotion Law, effective rectification of "involution-style" competition, and steady progress in building a unified national market. The full island customs closure operation of the Hainan Free Trade Port marks a critical step in advancing high-level opening-up, allowing the Chinese economy to continuously rejuvenate through domestic and international linkages. Ultimately, final consumption expenditure contributed over 50% to economic growth, with consumption and investment working in synergy to drive the economy towards a model of intensive growth. The momentum of "progress" is rooted in the cultivation and expansion of the "new," where new quality productive forces have become the core engine. Innovation is the primary driver of development. In 2025, China's R&D expenditure intensity reached 2.8%, surpassing the average level of OECD countries for the first time, and its innovation index ranking entered the global top ten. A series of major scientific and technological achievements emerged, injecting a vital source of dynamism into economic growth. Green transformation resonates with innovation-driven development, as the green economy thrives, with new energy vehicles accounting for over 50% of domestic new car sales, and the application of green electricity and energy accelerates, making growth more sustainable. From technological breakthroughs to factor reconfiguration, and from the iteration of traditional industries to the rise of emerging industries, the trend of shifting from factor-driven to innovation-driven growth is becoming increasingly distinct, providing lasting momentum for long-term economic expansion. This combination of stability amid progress, empowered by the new, ultimately culminates in the distinct trait of "resilience," which is the core capability of the Chinese economy to adapt and overcome challenges amidst change. Confronting turbulence in the global trade order and the growing pains of domestic transitions between old and new drivers of growth, China's economy has not only achieved a quantitative leap but also realized a qualitative improvement, demonstrating formidable pressure-resistant resilience. China has become a major trading partner for over 150 countries and regions, with high-tech, high-value-added products becoming the mainstay of exports. The export value of high-tech products increased by 13.2% year-on-year, accelerating the formation of a diversified pattern for stabilizing foreign trade. This resilience originates from the advantages of a super-large economy's scale and a comprehensive industrial system, and even more so from the coordinated governance capacity endowed by institutional advantages, which maintains strategic focus when facing external shocks and unites diverse forces when resolving internal contradictions. The report card of 140 trillion yuan and 5% growth is China's solemn answer to the world. China's contribution to global economic growth is estimated to be around 30%, continuously serving as the most stable and reliable source of power for the world economy. Standing at the new starting point of the "15th Five-Year Plan," as long as we firmly maintain the baseline of "stability," continuously activate the momentum of "progress," deeply cultivate new quality productive forces, and vigorously advance reform and opening-up, the Chinese economy will undoubtedly navigate through complex environments, injecting certainty into global economic recovery through its own stable development and writing a new chapter in Chinese modernization.

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