During the year 2023, the country’s economy has mastered the storm, affirmed the Head of State, welcoming the emergence of industries such as that of electric vehicles, lithium batteries or solar panels, during this speech broadcast on the official CCTV channel.
For 2024, he called for “consolidating and improving” the economic recovery and “achieving long-term economic stabilization”. “Certain companies are facing pressure in their activities and certain people are encountering difficulties in terms of employment and living conditions,” he admitted, however.
“Helping people live better”
“Our goal is both ambitious and very simple. Ultimately, it’s about helping people live better lives,” he said. Weighed down by very costly management of the Covid-19 crisis, the world’s second largest economy struggled to rebound in 2023.
Record youth unemployment, a lack of consumer confidence and a lingering debt crisis in the key real estate sector have also weighed on growth. The figures for manufacturing activity, down for the third consecutive time in December, according to official data published on Sunday, showed that the difficulties are still significant.
In recent months, Beijing has announced a series of targeted measures as well as a large issuance of sovereign bonds to boost infrastructure spending and revive economic activity, with mixed results so far.
Despite some encouraging signs, such as China’s better-than-expected 4.9% GDP growth in the third quarter, Beijing is expected to struggle to meet its annual growth target of around 5%, the most modest in years.
Exchange of greetings with Putin
Some two weeks before the presidential election in Taiwan, the Chinese leader also declared that China will “surely be reunified”. “All Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common goal and share the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” he added. During his meeting in mid-November with the President of the United States, Xi Jinping had already deemed the reunification of Taiwan “inevitable”.
China considers Taiwan as a province that it has not yet succeeded in reunifying with the rest of its territory since the end of the civil war in 1949. Beijing, which has not given up on conquering the island by force , has exerted strong military and economic pressure on Taiwan since the coming to power in 2016 of Tsai Ing-wen, from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who, according to China, persists in advocating independence.
For Taipei, Beijing has increased military pressure around the island in recent months in the run-up to the January 13 election. The last day of the year was also the occasion for an exchange of greetings with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Looking back on the past year with Mr. Putin, the Chinese president estimated that “the material and public opinion bases of our relationship have become stronger”, according to the state channel CCTV.
“In the face of changes not seen in a century and a turbulent regional and international situation, China-Russia relations have maintained healthy and stable development and progressed steadily in the right direction,” Xi said.