China’s annual two-day central economic work conference, which concluded on Tuesday, laid down expansive policy priorities for the world’s second-largest economy to carve out a stronger recovery path in 2024.
From boosting business sentiment to better coordination among ministries, the 4,355-character readout of the meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping contained a long to-do list.
1. Commercial space flight, hi-tech ambitions
Chinese leaders explicitly stated their ambitions in advancing frontier technologies, including low-attitude aerospace, commercial space flight and quantum science, seeing these realms as new sources of economic growth.
China’s development biggest political priority at key economic meeting
China’s development biggest political priority at key economic meeting
“China has made progress in related research and development, but it’s a different story to commercialise research and development outcomes and develop products that meet the needs of businesses and people,” said Wu Xinjian, a manager at a Shanghai-based incubator and tech consultancy.
2. Become a powerful marine country
The readout also contained Beijing’s imperative to bolster the development of China’s marine economy and be an oceanic superpower, but it did not elaborate on how such an undertaking would be achieved.
China has grown the size of its marine economy to 7.2 trillion yuan (US$1 trillion) in the first three quarters of 2023, up 5.8 per cent from a year earlier, government data showed.
Don’t make waves: openness advised in wake of South China Sea disputes
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3. Silver economy
The central economic work conference statement specifically mentioned the “silver economy”, with leaders seeking to turn demographic challenges into an opportunity to shore up the economy.
Justin Lin, a prominent economics professor at Peking University and a veteran government adviser, said last month that his findings indicate the demographic shift is an opportunity to boost efficiency, productivity and consumption demand.
China had 209.78 million aged 65 or older last year, accounting for 14.9 per cent of the population.
4. More sales of home-grown brands
Beijing listed guohuo, or new and competitive domestic brands, as new growth points for next year when it hopes the spending power of the 1.4 billion people can carry the economy forward.
Many domestic players can already offer cost-effective products while geopolitical tensions add patriotic cachet to buying them.
In electric vehicles and consumer goods segments, the “made in China” label is being associated with not only patriotism but also with good quality and a design that suits the needs of Chinese customers.
5. Food security
There was much more content in the central economic work conference statement on agriculture and food security than in readouts from previous years.
Specifically, Beijing vowed to secure the supply of grain and other staple foods, stabilise the size of arable land, and invest more in farmland preservation and construction.
China records bumper grain harvest again, helped by 16% increase from Xinjiang
China records bumper grain harvest again, helped by 16% increase from Xinjiang
“Beijing increasingly sees it as a key safeguard for the economy, sending the message that protecting farmlands and growing crops are part of the economy,” said Alex Ma, a Peking University professor in public administration.
6. More pragmatic work style
Beijing added a new work principle of establishing the new before abolishing the old, meaning they will not rush to abolish something, such as property policies, and would avoid certain types of campaigns to achieve policy goals.
Campaigns to save energy, reduce carbon emissions and crack down on the nation’s private-tutoring sector have backfired or invited new problems in recent years.
Chinese leaders are also putting more emphasis on managing market expectations.
They requested a new approach to balance macro data and macro-management with how ordinary grass-roots people may feel and think, prepare an ample “policy reserve” in advance, and leave room for adjustments and manoeuvring. And they say policy appraisals should focus on effectiveness, or implementations.