Moving toward new and superior development, China’s economy is on the right track.

January 8, 2026 | Source: People's Daily | Author: Zhong Caiping

China’s economy has always grown through trials and tribulations, strengthening itself as it endures various tests. By 2025, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, we will continue to meet the uncertainties of the international environment with the certainty of high-quality development, steadfastly focus on doing our own things well, and bolster our internal strengths to tackle external challenges head-on, thereby driving China’s economy toward both qualitative improvements in effectiveness and reasonable quantitative growth.

Faced with a turbulent and challenging international environment, we remain calm and composed, pressing forward under pressure.

Since the beginning of last year, the U.S. government has repeatedly escalated its tariff crackdown against us, citing the so-called “fentanyl issue” and “reciprocal tariffs,” and the additional tariff rates once reached as high as 145%. Under the unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, we have adhered to a “dual-pronged approach.”

On the one hand, we have responded in kind with a firm countermeasure. In response to the U.S.’s bullying practices, we launched a “combination punch” of five rounds of tariff and non-tariff countermeasures, forcing the U.S. to take the initiative and propose negotiations with us. After multiple rounds of talks—especially following the summit meeting between the two countries’ leaders in Busan—the U.S.-China tariff and trade war has been put on “pause,” and Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations have seen a temporary easing.

On the other hand, we are actively promoting a breakthrough in foreign trade. By implementing a diversified export strategy, in the first 11 months of 2025, exports to ASEAN and the European Union grew by 14.6% and 8.9%, respectively, while exports to countries jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative increased by 11.3%. Although exports of goods to the U.S. declined by 18.3% year-on-year, total exports denominated in U.S. dollars still rose by 5.4%, effectively cushioning the impact of the tariff and trade wars.

Practice has fully demonstrated that the Chinese economy boasts a solid foundation and strong resilience, and is fully capable of withstanding major tests—even those marked by fierce winds and towering waves.

Faced with the arduous and heavy tasks of domestic reform, development, and stability, we are implementing more proactive and effective macro policies, focusing on stabilizing employment, businesses, markets, and expectations, and driving the economy toward new and higher-quality development.

The economy is operating steadily while making progress. For the year 2025, economic growth is expected to be around 5%, continuing to place China among the world’s leading major economies. The country’s total economic output will reach 140 trillion yuan, smoothly achieving the key goals and tasks set for economic and social development this year.

The industrial structure continues to optimize. In the first 11 months of 2025, the value-added of equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing enterprises above designated size grew by 9.3% and 9.2% respectively, outpacing the growth rate of the overall industrial sector above designated size by 3.3 and 3.2 percentage points. The share of value-added from equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing in the overall industrial sector above designated size reached 36.4% and 16.7%, respectively—increasing by 2.7 and 1.6 percentage points compared to 2020. The industrial structure continues to shift toward new, higher-quality sectors, helping us gain a competitive edge in the global industrial chain’s restructuring.

A flood of innovative achievements is emerging one after another. The more the United States tries to contain and suppress us, the more it spurs our own innovation capabilities. The list of “chokepoints” is getting shorter and shorter, while the list of technologies we can independently control is growing longer and longer. In the first 11 months of 2025, China’s exports of high-tech products have shown remarkable performance. Among them, integrated circuit exports reached 1.29 trillion yuan, an increase of 25.6%. China is at the forefront globally in the research and application of artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals, robotics, and other fields, emerging as a new highlight following the “new three major industries.” Chinese products such as the game “Black Myth: Wukong” and the Labubu doll have sparked wave after wave of “China fever” around the world.

Reform and opening-up has taken new strides. The Law on Promoting the Private Economy has been introduced and implemented, further reducing the negative list for market access, comprehensively addressing “involutionary” competition, and building a nationwide unified large market. Deepening reform is being advanced in a comprehensive and sustained manner. The scope of countries eligible for China’s unilateral visa-free entry policy has been expanded. Hainan Free Trade Port has begun operating under a fully closed-border regime. Autonomous and unilateral opening-up initiatives are steadily advancing, and high-level opening-up to the outside world is expanding steadily. Recently, the U.S. magazine The Diplomat published an article stating that the rise of China’s electric vehicle industry provides a vivid example of how openness can triumph over protectionism.

The quality of the ecological environment has markedly improved. Energy consumption has become cleaner, and the world’s largest renewable energy system has been established—by 2025, one out of every three kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed will be green power. Pollution control efforts have yielded significant results; in the first 11 months of 2025, the concentration of PM₂.₅ in the air across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region... _2.5 The concentration has dropped to 31 micrograms per cubic meter, a 54% decrease compared to ten years ago. China is a global leader in “greening,” having contributed one-quarter of the world’s newly added green space. China’s achievements in ecological and environmental development have received high recognition both at home and abroad.

Social security has become even stronger. The achievements in poverty alleviation have continued to be consolidated and expanded, earning widespread international acclaim. The share of social security spending in GDP has doubled from 4% in 2012 to about 8% today, roughly matching the level seen in upper-middle-income countries, and continues to grow at a relatively rapid pace. Life expectancy has reached 79 years, on par with that of the United States. In 2024, China recorded only 0.44 homicides per 100,000 people, with a clearance rate of 99.94%. "Safe China" has become a shining national hallmark. China has now established the world’s largest education, healthcare, and social security systems. The level of basic public services has been steadily improving, and common prosperity for all the people is advancing steadily.

Judging from the economic performance in the fourth quarter of 2025, many indicators—including prices, profitability, and expectations—have clearly improved. Positive factors continue to accumulate and multiply, and the strong momentum of China’s economy moving toward new heights and higher quality will persist.

In November 2025, the growth rate of the consumer price index rose for the third consecutive month, and the decline in industrial producer ex-factory prices generally narrowed after August. In the first 11 months, profits of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 0.1% year-on-year, with the cumulative growth rate remaining positive for four consecutive months. The manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index—a leading indicator—stood at 50.1% in December, up 0.9 percentage points from November, returning to the expansion range for the first time in eight months. Meanwhile, the non-manufacturing business activity index also rebounded to the expansion range after a one-month pause.

“Though battered and bruised, it remains steadfast; let the winds blow from east, west, north, or south.” The reason China’s economy has been able to withstand pressure and forge ahead toward new heights and greater prosperity lies fundamentally in the visionary leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. This is our greatest source of confidence and strength in overcoming all difficulties and obstacles. As long as the entire nation remains closely united around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, China’s economic giant ship will surely ride the waves, overcome all challenges, and sail steadily toward a bright future.

Editor-in-charge: Bailina