Bauhinia Magazine:

The statistics from the NBS showed that the added value of the "three new" economy, namely, new industries, new business formats, and new business models, have accounted for an increasing share of the GDP in recent years. What's your comment on the propelling effect of the "three new" economy on the overall economy? How should we promote the sustained and rapid development of the "three new" economy in the future?

Liu Aihua:

Thank you for your question. We released the statistics on the proportion of the "three new" economy against GDP last year. Here, I'll brief you first on their conditions in 2020.

Generally, against the backdrop of the great impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the severe and complicated international situation, the new industries, new business formats, and new business models maintained rapid growth in 2020. The added value of the "three new" economy accounted for 17.08% of the country's GDP, up 0.7 percentage point year on year. The nominal growth of the "three new" economy grew by 4.5% year on year, 1.5 percentage points higher than that of the GDP growth during the same period. According to the statistics, their sustained and rapid growth and the increase of their proportion were attributed to four aspects.

First, a significant increase of scientific and technological investments. In 2020, China's R&D expenditure accounted for 2.4% of the GDP, 0.34 percentage point higher than that in 2015.

Second, the continuous expansion of scientific and technological talents. China has had the highest total number of R&D personnel in the world for the past eight consecutive years.

Third, the acceleration of scientific and technological industrialization. The integration of industrialization and informatization continues to deepen, and we have accelerated the application of research findings so that new industries keep developing rapidly. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), the output of high-tech manufacturing saw an annual average growth of 10.3%, much higher than the output of industrial enterprises with annual revenue of 20 million yuan or more from their main business operations.

Fourth, the increasing support from government policies. The pandemic is a challenge but also an opportunity for the development of new industries. Our country addressed the challenge positively and turned the crisis into an opportunity by releasing a series of support measures targeting key sectors, such as accelerating the improvement of the technological innovation system with enterprises as the main body, and adopting tax reduction and exemption measures on R&D expenditure and other support policies to step up innovation and entrepreneurship. The leading role of innovation has been significantly enhanced, hence promoting the growth of new industries and new business models.

Judging from the situation in the first half of this year, the rapid growth of the "three-new" economy (new industries, new formats, and new business models) has continued. Just now I introduced to you the growth of the added value, and new products of the high-tech industry, as well as the growth of new business models. As you can see, the rapid growth of the "three-new" economy played an important role in the sustained and stable recovery of the national economy in the first half of this year. From a longer-term perspective, it also provides strong strategic support for accelerating the construction of a new development pattern. Thank you.