CGTN publishes an article about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s annual New Year’s address. Reviewing China’s achievements in improving people’s living standards and promoting friendship and cooperation with other countries, the article highlights Xi’s important remarks and illustrates China’s commitment to improving people’s quality of life and deepening solidarity and cooperation in the Global South .
On New Year’s Eve, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered his annual New Year’s address from his official residence in Beijing.
Xi called 2024 an “extraordinary year” in which the country will make great strides on the path of China’s modernization.
In his speech, he also promised to give the Chinese people more reasons to rejoice and work for a better global future in the coming year.
“Real progress” for people
Xi said he always cares about people’s concerns about jobs and income, elderly and child care, education and medical care.
During his tour of China in 2024, Xi visited ordinary citizens to learn about their lives, from their income and housing to health care, their children’s education and elder care.
In 2024, according to the Chinese Ministry of Finance, 70 percent of government spending was used for the welfare of the people.
During the year, a number of effective measures were implemented to improve people’s living conditions. Renovation of more than 50,000 old urban housing estates began in 2024. Tens of millions of people across China benefited from a billion-dollar exchange program for consumer goods. And the reduction in mortgage rates helped 50 million households – the equivalent of about 150 million people.
In the first three quarters of 2024, the country’s per capita disposable income was 30,941 yuan (about $4,178), an increase of 5.2 percent year-on-year.
Facing the challenges of an aging population – more than a fifth of China’s population is now over 60 – the central government allocated 300 million yuan to support meal assistance programs for the elderly nationwide in 2024, and other initiatives led to the establishment of 358,000 Home care beds.
“The most important of all the tasks before us is to ensure a happy life for our people,” Xi said in his address.
“A great responsible country”
“In a world of change and turmoil, China, as a responsible major country, actively promotes global governance reform and deepens solidarity and cooperation among countries in the South,” Xi said in his speech.
In 2024, China made unremitting efforts to bring the world together through high-level opening-up and win-win cooperation, and provided extensive opportunities for other countries in their pursuit of modernization.
The number of China’s major trading partners increased from over 140 to more than 150 in the 12 months ended December 31, and citizens of 54 countries can now benefit from China’s 240-hour transit visa exemption.
China has been working with partners and friends from the Global South throughout 2024. At the gathering to mark the 70th anniversary of the “Five Principles and Peaceful Coexistence,” Xi proposed eight measures to support cooperation in the Global South, covering education, youth exchanges, economic development, free trade, agricultural cooperation, digital economy, green development and cover environmental protection.
China has now created five frameworks for cooperation with Arab states in the areas of innovation, finance, energy, economics and trade, as well as exchanges on a people-to-people level. Furthermore, the synergies of development strategies with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean were deepened and cooperation with the Pacific island states was expanded.
The summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing also announced an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared vision for the new era. China committed to advancing modernization together with Africa by implementing 10 partnership projects over the next three years.
From enforcing the UN Security Council’s first ceasefire resolution in Gaza in March and signing the Beijing Declaration on Strengthening Palestinian Unity in July to the founding of the Friends for Peace group on the Ukraine crisis with other countries in the Global South, China’s Pursuing peaceful solutions through dialogue and consensus in 2024 amid growing geopolitical tensions and escalating global instability attracts global attention.
“China will work with all countries to promote friendship and cooperation, enhance mutual learning among different cultures and build a community with a shared future for humanity,” Xi said.
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