On 11 March 2024, China’s Two Sessions, the annual sessions of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (NPC & CPPCC), were concluded, where the Chinese economy had once again become a hot topic. The Report on the Work of the Government delivered by Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council of China, on 5 March set the GDP growth target in 2024 at around 5%, the same as 2023. This sends a signal of confidence that the Chinese economy will continue to enjoy bright prospects in the medium and long run.
Against the backdrop of overall weak recovery of the global economy, the Chinese economy has maintained a solid momentum of growth despite all the difficulties and turbulences. In 2023, China’s GDP surpassed 126 trillion RMB yuan, an increase of 5.2 percent, making it one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world and once again the largest engine of world economic growth, by contributing to one-third of global growth. A 30-percent increase in the exports of the “new trio”, namely electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products, was registered. Since the beginning of 2024, a steady momentum of growth has become evident. During the recent Spring Festival holiday, China recorded 474 million domestic tourists and 2.293 billion cross-regional travels, with a total consumption of 632.687 billion RMB yuan, an increase of 7.7% over the same period of 2019. Total earnings at the domestic box office reached a record 8 plus billion RMB yuan.
China’s economic development has distinctive institutional strengths and the advantages of vast market demand, a complete industrial system to ensure supply, as well as a huge and high-caliber workforce. First, China insists on developing and improving the socialist market economy, with sufficient policy space and room for maneuver. Second, China’s per capita GDP has exceeded 12,000 US dollars, with a middle-income group of more than 400 million people, and China’s super-sized market, with over 1.4 billion people, keeps offering opportunities to the world. Third, China’s industrial system is complete, with 41 major industrial categories, 207 medium industrial categories, and 666 small industrial categories. Taking Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory as an example, it has established a 4-hour circle of friends in the Yangtze River Delta region, covering the entire industry chain of new energy vehicle parts, such as batteries, vehicle chips and autonomous driving systems. Fourth, China’s demographic dividend continues to transform into a talent dividend. China has established the largest public education system in the world, and the number of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates ranks the first in the world. As of the end of 2023, China’s valid invention patents had exceeded 4 million. At present, China’s emerging industries are booming, the capacity for scientific and technological innovation continues to grow, transformation into a green economy has yielded impressive outcomes, and the new quality productive forces are taking shape at a faster pace. The underlying trend of economic recovery and long-term growth remains unchanged and will not change.
China prospers through interaction with the world, and the world becomes better off when China does well. The bright future of China’s economy will surely bring unlimited opportunities to China-Zambia cooperation. According to the important consensus reached by the two Heads of State, China and Zambia are deepening high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. The achievements of China-Zambia cooperation in 2023 were remarkable. Zambia’s export to China in 2023 amounted to 4.39 billion US dollars, while China’s export to Zambia reached around 1 billion US dollars. By October 2023, China’s direct investment in Zambia had surpassed 178.6 million US dollars, exceeding that of the entire year of 2022. The pie of China-Zambia cooperation in such fields as agriculture, mining, green energy, infrastructure, culture and education is growing bigger. The revitalization of TAZARA is being steadily advanced. The Chinese and Zambian people are feeling closer to each other.
2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Zambia. It is also the Year of Business Cooperation as well as the Year of Culture and Tourism designated by the two Heads of State. By exchanging delegations and jointly hosting a series of economic, trade, culture and tourism activities, the two countries will work together to build an open and inclusive platform for business cooperation and create opportunities for mutual benefit and common development. The China-Zambia High-Quality Development Forum will be held in Lusaka in mid-May. The Technology Empowers Mining Development Forum will be held in the Copperbelt Province in late May. And the next meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in Beijing this autumn. China and Zambia will further discuss ways of cooperation under these frameworks to fully tap cooperation potentials and better benefit the two countries and their people.
I firmly believe that as all-weather friends and comprehensive strategic and cooperative partners, China and Zambia will join hands in moving towards a brighter and better future and make due contribution to the collective rise of the Global South, and to the creation of an equal and orderly multi-polar world, a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization and a community with a shared future for mankind.
（The author is Mr. Wang Sheng, Chargé d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Zambia.）