Recent national economic performance figures for January to April, released by the National Bureau of Statistics, indicate that China's economy continues to exhibit a stable and progressive development trend. Against the backdrop of a sluggish global economic recovery, rising trade protectionism, and deepening spillover effects from geopolitical conflicts, the recovery across key indicators further confirms that China's economic fundamentals remain unchanged, the supporting conditions for its long-term positive trajectory are intact, and the internal logic of high-quality development is unwavering. The more unstable and uncertain the global supply chain becomes, the more it tests a nation's systemic manufacturing advantages. From January to April, the value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size increased by 5.6% year-on-year, with the value added of equipment manufacturing rising by 8.7% and that of high-tech manufacturing by 12.6%, outpacing the overall industrial value added by 3.1 and 7.0 percentage points, respectively. This demonstrates that the advantages of Chinese manufacturing are not merely confined to traditional scale, comprehensiveness, and low cost but are advancing towards higher technological content, elevated positions in industrial chains, and greater added value. An economy with a complete industrial system, robust supporting capabilities, and continuous innovation vitality will not easily lose its competitiveness due to external environmental changes. On the contrary, the more turbulent the conditions, the more it highlights the core strength and developmental resilience of Chinese manufacturing in stabilizing the foundation, withstanding shocks, and exploring new opportunities.
The stability of China's economy is also reflected in the continued enhancement of its resilience in opening-up. Currently, many enterprises and consumers worldwide are grappling with rising costs and unstable supply. Despite this, China's foreign trade has maintained strong resilience. From January to April, the total value of China's goods imports and exports increased by 14.9% year-on-year, with exports rising by 11.3% and imports by 20.0%. Within China's export structure, the proportion of products with higher technological and industrial content, such as mechanical and electrical products, continues to increase, indicating that the competitiveness of Chinese foreign trade is shifting from traditional cost advantages to comprehensive strengths. More importantly, China's commitment to expanding high-level opening-up, continuously optimizing the business environment, and advancing institutional opening-up provides a stable market, complete industrial support, and sustained growth opportunities for enterprises worldwide. Similarly, on the 18th, six departments including the Ministry of Commerce issued a notice on intensifying efforts to optimize tax refund measures for departing visitors and expanding inbound consumption, signaling that China's door to openness is widening further.
Employment and prices, linking enterprise production on one end and people's livelihoods on the other, serve as crucial barometers for macroeconomic stability. From January to April, the national urban surveyed unemployment rate averaged 5.3%, dropping to 5.2% in April. The consumer price index rose by 0.9% year-on-year during this period, with a 1.2% increase in April alone. China possesses a supersized market where resident consumption is transitioning from quantity expansion to quality enhancement, extending from goods consumption to services consumption, and expanding from traditional consumption to green, smart, and digital consumption. With continued efforts to stabilize employment, promote consumption, and benefit people's livelihoods, coupled with the gradual recovery of income expectations and market confidence, the stabilizing role of the Chinese market will become even more pronounced.
The underlying confidence in China's economic stability stems from the certainty of its development path. Faced with a complex external environment, China has not relied on short-term stimulus nor been swayed by external noise. Instead, it adheres to high-quality development, combines expanding domestic demand with deepening supply-side structural reforms, insists on technological innovation to lead the construction of a modern industrial system, and promotes reform and development through opening-up. In recent years, whenever China's economy enters a phase of structural adjustment, pessimistic assessments often emerge in international discourse. However, facts have repeatedly proven that China's economy possesses the problem-solving capabilities and the resilience to advance under pressure. Today, China's economy remains in a critical stage of overcoming challenges and transforming and upgrading. The more critical this period, the greater the need to view the economic situation comprehensively, dialectically, and from a long-term perspective. Stability amid progress indicates that the overall situation remains unchanged; quality improvement within progress shows that the direction is not deviating; advancing under pressure demonstrates that resilience has not weakened. The confidence in China's economy derives from its complete industrial system, supersized market, continuous innovation capacity, high-level openness, and the firm will of the Chinese people in pursuing modernization. As long as strategic resolve is maintained, development confidence is strengthened, and efforts to stabilize employment, enterprises, markets, and expectations are sustained, China's economy will undoubtedly advance steadily and far along the path of high-quality development, continuing to inject much-needed stability and certainty into the world economy.
