Economic growth has little meaning unless it can give people a better life. China takes aim at a 5.5-percent growth target for 2022, vowing to create more than 11 million urban jobs and place development and people's livelihoods front and center.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping has said, "To meet people's desire for a happy life is our mission."
The people-centered approach, embodied in Xi's economic thought widely known as "Xiconomics," is charting course for China's high-quality growth and common development of all nations through win-win cooperation.
MEETING PEOPLE'S NEEDS
"What we now face is the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life," Xi said at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017.
From meeting people's growing material and cultural needs to delivering a better life to all Chinese people, as Xi has stressed that "Putting people first is our fundamental philosophy of governance."
"The thought, which creatively combines the aspiration of human beings for a better life with the practice of people-oriented development, is of global influence," said Australian economist Guo Shengxiang.
To meet the people's desire for a happy life is a challenge for governments worldwide, particularly at a time when the international community is struggling to reduce the development gap, and prevent environmental degradation.
In this regard, the Chinese president stressed efforts to unswervingly pursue high-quality development and improve the people's well-being.
By drawing a blueprint for China's development, Xi is leading the country along the path for high-quality growth and towards building a modern economic system and promoting common development.
Guided by his economic thought, China's economy is contributing to building an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that boasts lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity with better products, better services and a bigger market.
Xi's economic philosophy is full of oriental wisdom and is conducive to the development of the world, noted Honson To, chairman of KPMG China and Asia Pacific.
"It is an advanced thought that suits China's national conditions and the development trend of the world," he said.
BOOSTING COMMON DEVELOPMENT
From China's growth to the common development of countries worldwide, Xi's economic thought addresses the needs and difficulties of global development through cooperation frameworks such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Global Development Initiative.
"We need to have the vision to dissect these problems; more importantly, we need to have the courage to take actions to address them," Xi said at the 2017 World Economic Forum.
In carrying out foreign economic and trade cooperation, China has taken into full consideration the needs and development interests of its partners.
"China's train is the most beautiful ... We will have the same train soon in our country," said Khamphet Keomixay, a Lao pupil who participated in a sub-forum on people-to-people exchanges during the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in 2019.
Keomixay's dream came true when the China-Laos Railway was put into operation in 2021. The railway, which connects Kunming, the capital city of southwestern China's Yunnan Province, and Vientiane, the capital of Laos, ushered in a bright prospect for the development of both countries and the Southeast Asia.
From the China-Laos Railway to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, from the Chinese-Belarusian industrial park to the Port of Piraeus, China and its partners have jointly built infrastructure projects which have brought substantial benefits to local people.
By the end of February 2022, over 140 countries as well as more than 30 international organizations have signed BRI cooperation documents with China.
The BRI cooperation is "not only aimed at promoting economic integration but also solving social problems in the countries taking part in this initiative, particularly issues like raising the level and quality of people's lives," said Alexander Petrov, a professor of St. Petersburg State University.
PURSUING MULTILATERALISM
The problems facing the world are intricate and complex. The way out of them, as is advocated by China, is through upholding multilateralism and building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Xi has, on various occasions, reiterated his call for carrying forward multilateralism and pursuing win-win cooperation.
"We need to practice true multilateralism, stick to dialogue rather than confrontation, inclusiveness rather than exclusion, and integration rather than decoupling," Xi said at the 28th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in 2021.
Jose Ignacio Martinez Cortes, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said "China does not just talk about multilateralism, but has taken real actions."
From supplying more than 2.1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations to proposing the Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative, China has honored true multilateralism in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Natee Taweesrifuengfung, president of the Thailand-based Siam Think Tank, said that in the current international situation, China has held high the banner of multilateralism, actively promoted win-win cooperation, vigorously boosted world economic recovery, and has shouldered its responsibility as a major country.
As an ancient Chinese statesman observed, "Designs for justice prevail, and acts for people's benefit succeed." The aspiration for a happy life is a common pursuit of humanity that nothing can hold back. Under the guidance of Xi's economic thought, China is working hand in hand with the rest of the world to build a community with a shared future for mankind and make the world even more prosperous and beautiful.
