International Review: "World Opportunities" in the Growth Target for the First Year

As an important window for observing China's economic and social development, the annual "Two Sessions" in China have attracted global attention. On the 5th, the Chinese government submitted to the National People's Congress for review the 2026 government work report, which not only clarified what to do this year, but also deployed how to go in the next five years. Among them, the report sets the expected GDP growth target for the first year of the 15th Five Year Plan at 4.5% -5%, while emphasizing efforts to achieve better results in practical work. The global attention is focused on China's development roadmap, and it points out the direction for China's future development during the profound international transformation period. World public opinion has made evaluations one after another.

From the perspective of China's economic development plan, this year's interval growth target is organically linked with the 2035 long-term goal, reflecting foresight and rationality. According to expert calculations, in order to achieve a doubling of per capita GDP compared to 2020 and reach the level of a moderately developed country by 2035, China's economy needs to maintain an average annual growth rate of over 4.17% in the next decade. This year's target setting is higher than this estimated value, which meets the requirements of consolidating the foundation and making comprehensive efforts during the 15th Five Year Plan period, and can lay the foundation for the realization of long-term goals.

More importantly, this year's economic growth target is set with the following sentence: 'Strive for better results in practical work', which reflects a proactive goal orientation and policy orientation, 'both jumping up and reaching new heights, and keeping pace'. From a global perspective, this goal still ranks among the top in the world's major economies.

Many foreign media believe that, given that this year is the beginning of China's 15th Five Year Plan, the growth target of 4.5% -5% means that China's development strategy will further shift from "digital priority" to "quality priority", and high-quality development will become a prominent theme during the "15th Five Year Plan" period. This year's government work report elaborates on the major strategic tasks for the development of the 15th Five Year Plan, highlighting the promotion of high-quality development. When China pays more attention to "quality" in its development, what new opportunities will the world gain from it?

Focusing on building a strong domestic market is the top priority of the Chinese government this year, and an important manifestation of improving the quality of economic growth is the transformation towards consumption driven development. Currently, the consumption rate of Chinese residents is about 40%, which is lower than the world average, especially the proportion of service consumption is relatively low. This year's government work report proposes a series of measures, including formulating and implementing plans to increase the income of urban and rural residents, promoting the expansion and upgrading of commodity consumption, implementing actions to improve service consumption and benefit the people, and creating the "Buy in China" brand, which will further open up space for the world to share the opportunities of the Chinese market.

Innovation is the primary driving force behind development. In today's China, hundreds of large models are integrated into various industries, and intelligent robots have entered numerous real-life scenarios. The group of humanoid robots showcasing their skills during the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse has sparked a heated discussion across the internet; International Olympic Committee President Coventry praised China's artificial intelligence technology for making the Milan Winter Olympics the "smartest" Olympics in history; During his recent visit to China, German Chancellor Merkel made a special trip to Yushu Technology to experience the vitality of China's robotics industry development

This year's government work report proposes to "intensify the cultivation and strengthening of new driving forces" and "accelerate high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement", which conforms to the trend of technological development. The proposal of "creating a new form of intelligent economy" means that artificial intelligence technology will leave the laboratory, enter the market and thousands of households, and its industrial scale application is worth looking forward to. The CNN website commented that the news coming from Beijing this week is that China's promotion of innovative development will benefit the world.

At the same time, the trend of China leading the way in opening up has become more apparent. This year's government work report proposed measures such as expanding market access and opening areas, expanding two-way investment cooperation, promoting stable scale and excellent structure of foreign trade, and jointly building the "the Belt and Road" with high quality, focusing on the service industry, demonstrating China's determination to steadily expand institutional openness and expand international circulation. Many foreign-funded enterprises have noticed that the report proposes that China will further expand pilot projects for opening up value-added telecommunications, biotechnology, foreign-owned hospitals and other fields, and orderly expand the opening up of the digital field... They have started to increase their investment in China. Many foreign media believe that in the current era of rising protectionism, China's expansion of high-level opening up to the outside world confirms its commitment to mutual benefit and win-win in a multipolar world.

Taking the "Five Year Plan" as the ladder, China is constantly climbing towards the goal of achieving Chinese path to modernization. The 14th Five Year Plan ended successfully, and Chinese path to modernization took new and solid steps, becoming the "anchor of stability" of the world economy; The 15th Five Year Plan has opened up a new chapter, and China is striving forward, bringing vitality and new opportunities to the world.