— Ringing in 2025, China vows to bring more smiles to its people

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday stressed efforts to maintain strategic resolve and stay united in forging ahead against all odds to build a strong country.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a gathering held by China’s top political advisory body to usher in the new year.

“On the journey of Chinese modernization, we will not only encounter clear skies and gentle breezes but also face high winds, choppy waters, and even dangerous storms,” said Xi. “We must maintain strategic resolve and pool the great strength of all Chinese people striving in unity to cut through the waves and forge ahead with courage.”

In 2024, faced with challenges arising from both domestic and international situations, China responded calmly with a full range of steps, meeting the major economic and social development targets for the year, Xi noted.

The development journey in 2024 has been extraordinary with encouraging achievements, which has further strengthened the country’s determination and confidence in advancing Chinese modernization, Xi said.

In 2025, which marks the conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), efforts will be made to implement more proactive macro policies to promote sustained economic recovery and improvement, continuously enhance people’s living standards, and maintain social harmony and stability, Xi said.

Xi stressed high-quality fulfillment of the goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan to lay a solid foundation for a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan.

Xi also lauded the contributions of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) to the Party and the country over the past year and called on it to fully leverage its role as a specialized consultative body in actively offering suggestions and proposals and garnering broader public support and common understandings.

Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC, presided over the gathering.

Other Party and state leaders, including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi, and Han Zheng, also attended the event.

Ringing in 2025, China vows to bring more smiles to its people

On New Year’s Eve, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered his annual New Year address from his office in Beijing.

Xi described 2024 as an “extraordinary year,” during which the country marched forward in great strides in the pursuit of Chinese modernization.

The address also featured a promise to bring more smiles to the Chinese people and to strive to create a better future for the world in the year ahead.

‘Real benefits’ to people

Xi said the concerns of the people about jobs and incomes, elderly and child care, education and medical services are always on his mind.

During his tours around China in 2024, Xi visited ordinary people to learn about their lives, from their incomes and housing conditions to healthcare, children’s education and elderly care services.

According to China’s Ministry of Finance, 70 percent of government expenditure in 2024 went toward ensuring the people’s well-being.

A batch of effective measures were released throughout the year to improve people’s lives. Renovations of over 50,000 old urban residential communities began in 2024. Tens of millions of people across China benefited from a multi-billion-dollar consumer goods trade-in program. And the lowering of mortgage interest rates helped 50 million households, equivalent to around 150 million people.

In the first three quarters of 2024, nationwide per capita disposable income stood at 30,941 yuan (around $4,178), an increase of 5.2 percent over the previous year.

Facing the challenges of an aging population, with more than one-fifth of China’s citizens now aged over 60, the central government in 2024 allocated 300 million yuan to support elderly meal assistance programs nationwide while additional initiatives led to the installation of 358,000 in-home care beds.

“Of all the jobs in front of us, the most important is to ensure a happy life for our people,” Xi said in his address.

‘A major responsible country’

“In a world of both transformation and turbulence, China, as a responsible major country, is actively promoting global governance reform and deepening solidarity and cooperation among the Global South,” Xi said in his address.

In 2024, China’s unwavering commitment to embracing the world through high-level opening up and win-win cooperation brought broad opportunities for other countries in their pursuit of modernization.

China’s major trading partners increased from over 140 countries and regions to more than 150 in the 12 months to December 31, and citizens of 54 countries can now enjoy China’s 240-hour transit visa exemptions.

China interacted with partners and friends from the Global South throughout 2024. At the gathering marking the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles and Peaceful Coexistence, Xi put forward eight measures to support Global South cooperation, covering training, youth exchange, economic development, free trade, agricultural cooperation, digital economy, green development and ecological conservation.

Meanwhile, China established five cooperation frameworks with Arab states in innovation, finance, energy, economy and trade, and people-to-people exchanges. It also deepened the synergy of development strategies with Latin American and Caribbean countries, and further upgraded cooperation with Pacific island countries.

Also, the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation saw the announcement of an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era. Thus, China pledged to jointly advance modernization with Africa by implementing 10 partnership actions over the next three years.

From pushing for the adoption of the first UN Security Council ceasefire resolution in Gaza in March and the signing of the Beijing Declaration on strengthening Palestinian unity in July to launching the “Friends for Peace” group on the Ukraine crisis with other Global South countries, China’s pursuit of peaceful solutions through dialogue and consensus stood out in 2024 amid rising geopolitical tensions and escalating global instability.

“China will work with all countries to promote friendship and cooperation, enhance mutual learning among different cultures, and build a community with a shared future for mankind,” Xi vowed.