Yicai:

2025 marked the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan period. How would you evaluate China's economic performance last year? Thank you.

Kang Yi:

Thank you for your question. The year 2025 marked the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan period and was a year of special importance in China's modernization drive. It was a truly remarkable year of development, with inspiring achievements. The economy forged ahead despite challenges, moving toward innovation and quality while successfully meeting all major targets. The 14th Five-Year Plan came to a successful conclusion, and a solid start was made to the new journey toward the second centenary goal. Regarding the economic performance of the past year, I would like to briefly summarize it in four words: stability, progress, innovation and resilience.

First, the overall pattern of stability was reinforced. Stability was a defining feature of China's economy in 2025. In the face of sharply shifting external conditions and complex domestic challenges, China implemented more proactive and effective macroeconomic policies. These measures not only mitigated the adverse effects of external changes but also secured the foundations of development amid turbulence. In 2025, China's GDP exceeded 140 trillion yuan for the first time, growing 5.0% year on year. The average urban surveyed unemployment rate stood at 5.2%, indicating overall stable employment. The goods trade reached a new high, and foreign exchange reserves surpassed $3.3 trillion. For an economy of China's massive scale, achieving such stable development amid intertwined risks and challenges was no easy feat.

Second, the momentum of development progress strengthened. Despite an increasingly complex environment and rising pressure to stabilize growth this year, China remained steadfast on the path of high-quality development. We accelerated the transition from old to new growth drivers and deepened reform and opening-up, maintaining an economic momentum that improved in quality. The economic structure was optimized: value added from high-tech manufacturing above the designated size accounted for 17.1% of all large-scale industrial enterprises, and final consumption expenditure contributed more than 50% to economic growth. Reform and opening-up continued to deepen, the construction of a unified national market advanced, the private sector promotion law was officially implemented, and efforts to curb involution-style competition yielded results. The launch of island-wide special customs operations in the Hainan Free Trade Port marked a major step in high-standard opening-up. In 2025, China's total goods import and export volume increased 3.8% year on year. People's livelihoods were effectively safeguarded, with residents' per capita disposable income increasing 5.0% in real terms, keeping pace with economic growth. Positive progress was made in public welfare undertakings such as elderly care, child care and medical care.

Third, innovation became more prominent as a driver of growth. The year was distinctly characterized by a drive toward innovation. In 2025, China's R&D intensity reached 2.8%, an increase of 0.11 percentage point from the previous year, exceeding the average level of OECD countries for the first time. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, China's Global Innovation Index ranking broke into the top 10 for the first time. From new explorations in basic research to breakthroughs in key technologies, and from the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation to the widespread application of innovations benefiting the people, China delivered frequent successes in cutting-edge fields such as AI, quantum technology, and brain-computer interfaces. A number of major scientific research achievements emerged, and new quality productive forces continued to grow. In 2025, the value added of digital product manufacturing above the designated size  increased 9.3% year on year, with rapid growth in output of servers and industrial robots. Green electricity, green energy and the green economy flourished, with new energy vehicles exceeding 50% of domestic new car sales.

Fourth, the resilience of the economy became more evident.   Amid a severely disrupted global trade order and domestic growing pains from shifting growth drivers, China's economy still achieved both quantitative and qualitative gains, fully demonstrating its capacity to navigate challenges and withstand pressure in an unstable and uncertain environment. Globally, China's economic growth rate ranked among the highest of major economies, making it the most stable and reliable engine for global economic growth, with its contribution expected to reach around 30%. A more diversified pattern for stabilizing foreign trade rapidly took shape. China became a major trading partner of more than 150 countries and regions, with high-tech and high-value-added products becoming the main drivers of export growth, demonstrating the strong resilience of foreign trade. The export value of high-tech products increased 13.2% in 2025 compared with the previous year.

The above four aspects reflect China's solid economic foundation, numerous advantages, strong resilience and great potential. They are the result of the hard work and relentless efforts of the Chinese people, greatly enhancing our confidence for future development. Of course, we must also be clearly aware that there are still many long-standing issues and new challenges in economic development. The impact of external changes is deepening, the domestic imbalance between strong supply and weak demand remains prominent, and many risk factors persist in key areas. We must face problems and challenges head-on, diligently focus on our own work, strive to stabilize employment, enterprises, markets and expectations, and strengthen the internal driving force of development. This will enable us to achieve effective quality improvement and reasonable quantitative growth, steering the Chinese economy steadily forward through waves and on a long-term trajectory.

Thank you.