Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends,

Good afternoon. It is a great pleasure to join you at the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2025 - New York Satellite Forum via video link. 

Last week, the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded its fourth plenary session, an event that had drawn global attention. At the session, the Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development was adopted after deliberation. The document is a top-level strategic design of China’s development in the coming five years, sounding a clarion call for seizing the momentum and further advancing Chinese modernization. It also provides a “golden key” to understanding China’s development in the next five years.

At the session, the Central Committee established the following guiding principles for national economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period: upholding the Party’s overall leadership; putting the people first; pursuing high-quality development; comprehensively deepening reform; promoting interplay between an efficient market and a well-functioning government; and ensuring both development and security.

The Central Committee also set the following major objectives for the period: significant achievements in high-quality development; substantial improvements in scientific and technological self-reliance and strength; fresh breakthroughs in further deepening reform comprehensively; notable cultural and ethical progress across society; further improvements in quality of life; major new strides in advancing the Beautiful China Initiative; and further advances in strengthening the national security shield.

On this new journey, the Chinese people will forge ahead with resolve and open up new horizons for Chinese modernization.

We will keep prioritizing the real economy. In recent years, new progress has been achieved in China’s new industrialization. We have been the world’s largest manufacturer for 15 years in a row, with manufacturing value-added accounting for nearly 30% of the global total, and have led the world in output for over 200 major industrial products. In short, we can produce a greater variety with higher quality.

In the next five years, we will keep our focus on the real economy, continue to pursue smart, green and integrated development, and boost China’s strength in manufacturing, product quality, aerospace, transportation and cyberspace at a faster pace. We will keep the share of manufacturing in the national economy at an appropriate level, and develop a modernized industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone. We will upgrade traditional industries, foster emerging industries and industries of the future, promote high-quality, efficient development in the service sector, and develop a modernized infrastructure system.

We will adhere to the innovation-driven development strategy. In recent years, China has made great headway in scientific and technological innovation. We have achieved significant results in original innovation in areas such as quantum technology, life science, physical science and space science, and moved up in the Global Innovation Index from 34th in 2012 to 10th in 2025.

In the next five years, we will seize the historic opportunity presented by the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, to boost China’s strength in education, science and technology, and human resources in a well-coordinated manner. We will enhance the overall performance of our innovation system, raise our innovation capacity across the board, strive to take a leading position in scientific and technological development, and keep fostering new quality productive forces. We will also promote advances in original innovation and breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, facilitate full integration between technological and industrial innovation, pursue integrated development of education, science and technology and talent, and advance the Digital China Initiative.

We will continue to make domestic demand a main driver. In recent years, China has resolutely implemented the strategy of expanding domestic demand, and kept unlocking consumption potential. From 2021 to 2024, domestic demand contributed 86.4% to China’s economic growth on average.

In the next five years, we will stay committed to this strategy, aim to both improve living standards and increase consumer spending, and coordinate investments in physical assets and human capital. We will see that new demand drives new supply, new supply helps create fresh demand, and positive interactions are fostered between consumption and investment, and between supply and demand. All these will help enhance the dynamism and reliability of the domestic economy. To this end, we will boost consumption, expand effective investment, and eliminate bottlenecks and obstacles hindering the development of a unified national market.

We will stay committed to openness and cooperation. In recent years, China has accelerated its high-standard opening-up, and has become a major trading partner for over 150 countries and regions around the globe. We have kept shortening the negative list for foreign investment, removed all market access restrictions for foreign investors in the manufacturing sector, implemented pilot programs to open up the services sector in an orderly way, and provided zero-tariff treatment on 100% of tariff lines to all Least Developed Countries having diplomatic relations with China. These measures have been warmly welcomed worldwide.

In the next five years, we will continue to expand opening up at the institutional level, safeguard the multilateral trading system, and promote broader international economic flows. We will advance reform and development through greater openness, and seek to share opportunities and achieve common development with the rest of the world. We will take the initiative to open up wider, promote the innovative development of trade, create greater space for two-way investment cooperation, and pursue high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

We will continue to pursue common prosperity. In recent years, we have safeguarded and improved people’s wellbeing through development, and worked hard to ensure that the gains of development benefit all our people fairly. We have lifted 800 million people out of poverty, and established the world’s largest education, social security and medical service systems.

In the next five years, we will ensure that public services are inclusive, meet essential needs, and provide a cushion for those most in need, while working to resolve the pressing problems that concern the people most. We will keep the channels of social mobility unimpeded, and further improve living standards. We will promote high-quality and full employment, refine the income distribution system, develop education that meets the people’s expectations, improve the social security system, and facilitate high-quality development of the real estate sector. We will also advance the Healthy China Initiative, promote high-quality population development, and take solid steps to ensure equitable access to basic public services.

We will remain focused on green development. In recent years, China has made remarkable progress in green transition. We have put in place the world’s largest renewable energy system, with renewable energy accounting for around 60% of the total installed power capacity. Today, one in every three kilowatt-hours used in China comes from green sources, and green industries have become new drivers of economic growth.

In the next five years, we will unswervingly uphold the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and put it into concrete action. Guided by our carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, we will make concerted efforts to cut carbon emissions, reduce pollution, pursue green development, and boost economic growth. We will reinforce our ecological security shields and strengthen our green development drivers. We will press ahead with the critical battle against pollution and the drive to upgrade ecosystems, move faster to develop a new energy system, work actively and prudently toward peaking carbon emissions, and accelerate the shift to eco-friendly production practices and lifestyles.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends,

The scientific formulation and consistent implementation of Five-Year Plans are an important experience of the Communist Party of China in governing the country, and also a major political strength of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Step by step, we carry out each blueprint to the end, and keep working hard from one generation to the next. This has not only ensured the continuity of our national governance and macro policies, and charted the course for China’s economic and social development, but also injected strategic certainty and development stability into a turbulent world.

China will continue to serve as an “anchor of stability”, injecting certainty into global economic growth. From 2021 to 2025, the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s GDP surpassed the thresholds of 110 trillion, 120 trillion, and 130 trillion yuan one after another. For more than a decade, China has contributed over 30% of global economic growth annually. Despite the impacts of the tariff war, the Chinese economy still managed to grow by 5.2% year over year in the first three quarters of 2025. Facts have proven that the Chinese economy enjoys solid foundations, multiple advantages, strong resilience and great potential. The conditions and underlying trends supporting its long-term growth remain unchanged. We have enough capability and confidence to address various domestic and external risks and challenges. In the next five years, China, as a major country, will continue to demonstrate its economic resilience and vitality, and remain a major engine of global growth.

China will continue to share market opportunities, giving a boost to the growth of global enterprises. China’s market currently records nearly 50 trillion yuan (about 7.02 trillion U.S. dollars) in annual consumption and over 20 trillion yuan (2.81 trillion U.S. dollars) in imports. As China’s middle-income group exceeds 800 million in the next decade, its supersized market will unlock huge opportunities for businesses worldwide. China also has the world’s most complete industrial system and is a thriving global innovation hub, providing vast investment potential with its urbanization, industrial upgrading and green transition. Believing in China is believing in a better tomorrow, and investing in China is investing in the future. In the next five years, China will open its doors even wider, and share market and investment opportunities with the world.

China will continue to unleash development dividends, providing a catalyst for the prosperity of all countries. As a firm champion of economic globalization, China has offered the world many widely popular public goods. The Belt and Road cooperation has expanded to more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations, and has witnessed major achievements in multiple areas, including industry, transportation, employment and people’s livelihoods. China has also been leading global green development with concrete action. From 2021 to 2024, its energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped by 11.6%, and its exports of wind and solar power products had reduced carbon emissions in other countries by about 4.1 billion metric tons in total, making major contributions to the global low-carbon transition and demonstrating China’s sense of duty as a responsible major country. In the next five years, China will continue to join hands with other countries on our shared path toward modernization, and we welcome all to ride the express train of our development.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends,

Finance is the lifeblood of economy and an important force driving economic and social development. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China has comprehensively deepened reform of the financial system, and taken the modernization of the system and capacity for financial governance to a new level. The financial sector’s ability to serve the real economy has improved significantly in both quality and efficiency, and the industry’s overall strength and international competitiveness have increased substantially.

China has continuously advanced high-standard opening up of the financial sector. We have approved 13 new foreign-controlled securities, fund, and futures companies to operate in China, and overseas institutions and individuals hold over 10 trillion yuan (1.4 trillion U.S. dollars) worth of China’s stocks, bonds, deposits and loans. 43 of the world’s top 50 banks have established offices in China, and half of the top 40 insurance companies are now in the Chinese market. The total assets under foreign-funded banks and insurance institutions in China have surpassed 7 trillion yuan (980 billion U.S. dollars). The circle of friends of China’s capital market keeps expanding. 

Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, financial cooperation between China and the United States has yielded fruitful outcomes, which many of you here have witnessed, supported, contributed to, and benefited from. With joint efforts of both sides, American financial enterprises have achieved many firsts in China: J.P. Morgan Securities became the first wholly foreign-owned securities company in China, American Express was the first foreign-funded institution authorized to provide bank card clearing services in China, and BlackRock set up the first wholly foreign-owned public equity mutual fund company in China. Goldman Sachs has been approved to set up a wholly foreign-funded securities company in China. Morgan Stanley has gained a full controlling stake in its joint-venture securities company there. International rating companies such as Standard & Poor’s and Fitch have launched operations in the Chinese market. MasterCard NUCC, Mastercard’s joint venture in China, has started operation upon receiving the license. All these are testament to China’s efforts to open up its financial sector wider to American businesses. Likewise, we hope the U.S. side will also create an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese financial institutions operating here.

It has to be pointed out that for China-U.S. cooperation in finance and other areas, a steady, sound and sustainable bilateral relationship is critical. History and reality have proven once and again that the China-U.S. relationship is not a zero-sum game. Our two countries working together can get big things done, while any conflict between us would be a disaster for all. Dialogue is better than confrontation, cooperation is better than decoupling, and stability is better than volatility. This should be a consensus between the two sides and a shared responsibility of our two countries no matter how U.S. domestic politics may evolve. In this chaotic world, we have a thousand reasons to get the China-U.S. relationship right, and no single one to mess it up. I encourage friends from the financial sector to remain staunch advocates for the China-U.S. relationship, inject more certainty and positive energy into its development, and help our two countries find a right way to get along with each other in the new era.

Thank you very much.