In his New Year address on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted China’s solid strides towards high-quality development, emphasizing the pivotal role of reform in the nation’s recent achievements.
Reform has emerged as a defining theme for China in 2024, underpinning the country’s progress over the past year. The determination to deepen and broaden reforms reflects the central leadership’s commitment to enhancing and evolving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, while modernizing governance systems and capabilities.
In July, the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) set forth directives for future reform endeavors. The plenum adopted a resolution on further deepening reform to advance Chinese modernization—a landmark document outlining the significance and overarching goals of these reforms. It introduced over 300 specific measures spanning the economy, culture, social development, ecological sustainability, national security, and the CPC’s leadership and governance capacity.
Following the plenum, these directives began implementation with a “hammer-and-nail” approach to ensure reforms achieve their intended targets. The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee devised plans to execute the major reforms identified, focusing on boosting consumption to expand domestic demand, nurturing emerging and future industries, and advancing high-standard opening-up. Targeted policies were unveiled to address pressing economic challenges.
“New business sectors, forms, and models have continued to emerge. For the first time, China has produced over 10 million new energy vehicles in a year,” President Xi remarked in his address.
To turn the plenum’s vision into reality, the government issued a series of reform-centered documents. Legislative efforts were also made to tackle critical issues such as the gradual extension of the statutory retirement age, support for the private sector, and restructuring local government debt.
Policies related to opening-up have garnered significant international attention. Transit visas for travelers from select countries were extended from the original 72 and 144 hours to 240 hours. Starting November 30, nine more countries were added to the visa-free list. Moreover, ordinary passport holders from 38 countries covered by the visa-free policy can now stay in China for up to 30 days without a visa for business, tourism, family visits, exchange visits, and transit purposes.
These comprehensive reforms signal China’s unwavering commitment to modernization and high-quality development, setting the stage for continued progress in the years ahead.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
