The year 2024 is a crucial year for achieving the goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Facing the complex and severe situation of increasing external pressures and growing internal difficulties, the Party Central Committee has united and led the entire Party and people of all ethnic groups across the country to respond calmly and adaptively with comprehensive measures. The overall economic operation remains stable with progress, high-quality development is steadily advancing, the main goals and tasks of economic and social development are about to be successfully completed, and China's economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national power continue to grow. Chinese-style modernization has taken new solid steps forward.

The development journey over the past year has been extraordinary, and the achievements are encouraging. First, the economy showed a pattern of rising in the early and late parts of the year, with a dip in the middle. The first quarter started well, but the second and third quarters faced increased downward pressure. On September 26, the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee decisively deployed a package of incremental policies, effectively boosting the real estate market, stock market, market expectations, and social confidence, leading to a clear economic rebound. This not only promoted the achievement of annual goals but also laid a solid foundation for economic development in 2025. Second, new quality productive forces steadily developed. Important progress was made in technological innovations such as integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and quantum technology. The intelligent transformation and digital upgrading of traditional industries continued. The pace of green and low-carbon transformation accelerated. Third, reform and opening-up deepened continuously. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made deployments to further deepen reform comprehensively and promote Chinese-style modernization. The high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative advanced steadily. High-level opening-up to the outside world achieved positive results, with foreign trade exports contributing more to economic growth. Fourth, risk resolution in key areas was orderly and effective. Positive changes appeared in the real estate market, and risks related to local government debt and small and medium financial institutions are being effectively alleviated and managed. Fifth, social security was solid and strong. Employment and prices remained stable, poverty alleviation achievements were consolidated and expanded, grain output exceeded 1.4 trillion jin for the first time, ecological environment quality continued to improve, and social stability was maintained. All these have further strengthened our determination and confidence to forge ahead, overcome difficulties, and steadily advance Chinese-style modernization on the new journey in the new era.

Analyzing the situation requires adhering to the "two-point theory," which means fully acknowledging achievements while thoroughly addressing problems. Currently, the adverse impacts brought by changes in the external environment have deepened, and China's economic operation still faces many difficulties and challenges. The main issues are insufficient domestic demand; difficulties in production and operation for some enterprises; pressure on employment and income growth for the public; and many remaining risks and hidden dangers. At the same time, it must be recognized that China's economic foundation is solid, advantages are numerous, resilience is strong, and potential is great. The long-term positive support conditions and basic trends have not changed. As long as confidence does not waver, there are always more solutions than difficulties. We must face difficulties squarely, strengthen confidence, and strive to transform various positive factors into actual development achievements. In practice, we continuously deepen our understanding of the regularities of economic work. The greatest consensus formed throughout the Party is that the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is the fundamental guarantee for doing a good job in economic work. At critical moments and important nodes, the Party Central Committee timely assesses the situation and makes decisions and deployments to ensure that China's economic ship sails steadily and far against the wind and waves. Economic work involves many aspects and must coordinate several important relationships well.

First, we must coordinate the relationship between an effective market and a proactive government to form an economic order that is both "free enough" and "well regulated." The government must know when to act and when not to, addressing issues of absence and overreach. Acting means continuously building a rule-of-law economy and a credit economy, improving market rules and taking the lead in abiding by them, optimizing the market environment through resolute anti-corruption and ensuring public safety, focusing on correcting market failures, and regulating competition order so that the unified national market becomes a fair competition stage for all types of business entities. Not acting means respecting and giving full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, preventing improper interference in micro-subject activities, and avoiding local protectionism and self-contained small cycles. The more standardized government behavior is, the more effective the market role will be.

Second, we must coordinate the relationship between total supply and total demand to smooth the national economic cycle. We must insist on coordinated efforts and dynamic balance between supply and demand sides, continuously deepen supply-side structural reform with advances and retreats, guarantees and pressures, enhancing the adaptability and balance between supply and demand. Expanding domestic demand relates not only to economic stability but also to economic security; it is not a temporary measure but a strategic move. We must accelerate filling the gaps in domestic demand, especially consumption, making domestic demand the main driving force and stable anchor for economic growth.

Third, we must coordinate the relationship between cultivating new momentum and renewing old momentum, developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions. We should lead with technological innovation, vigorously cultivate and expand emerging and future industries, occupy the commanding heights of international competition, and shape new momentum and new advantages for economic development. At the same time, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, which are the basic support for economic growth and employment income, to revitalize them and promote a smooth transition between new and old development momentum.

Fourth, we must coordinate the relationship between optimizing increments and revitalizing stock, comprehensively improving resource allocation efficiency. After long-term development, China needs to strengthen both asset management and liability management, coordinate the use of various incremental and stock resources, and be adept at driving increments by revitalizing stock. We must continuously promote the "cage bird replacement" in industrial parks, make good use of policies such as replacing implicit stock debts and revitalizing stock land, coordinate optimizing increments and revitalizing stock, manage assets well and adjust liabilities, and expand new development space.

Fifth, we must coordinate the relationship between improving quality and expanding quantity, consolidating the material foundation of Chinese-style modernization. China has a huge economic scale, market capacity, and industrial supporting capabilities, which are favorable conditions for improving quality and strengthening excellence. China's per capita national income has not yet reached the world average level, and the problems of unbalanced and inadequate development remain prominent. We must adhere to the unity of winning by quality and leveraging scale effects, make good use of the advantages of a super-large-scale market and abundant application scenarios, cultivate more world-class enterprises and leading technologies, and unify effective quality improvement and reasonable quantity growth throughout the whole process of high-quality development.

※ This is part of the speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the Central Economic Work Conference on December 11, 2024.