A view of the Suzhou Industrial Park Photo: Courtesy of Suzhou Industrial Park publicity authority

China's State Council Information Office held a press conference on Wednesday to introduce information on the results of the fifth national economic census. As one of the three major periodic national censuses, including the population census and agriculture census, the national economic census and its results were highly anticipated.

It took more than 2.1 million enumerators nationwide for two years to comprehensively map out China's secondary and tertiary industries. The results of the census cover a wide range of aspects, including the number of entities and persons employed in secondary and tertiary industries, the scale of enterprise assets, scientific and technological innovation capacity, as well as the structure of industries, marking the obvious results of China's high-quality development over the past five years.

First of all, the picture of China's economic development presented by the census results is inspiring. Over the past five years, China's contribution to the world's economic growth has averaged around 30 percent, while presenting five major features for development: a stronger foundation, a better structure, more dynamics, stronger security, and better sustainability.

Judged by sectors, by the end of 2023, legal entities in the secondary and tertiary industries saw an increase of 52.7 percent compared with that at the end of 2018, and the total assets of legal entities engaged in these industries increased by 57.4 percent compared with that at the end of 2018. There were over 420 million persons employed by legal entities in the secondary and tertiary industries, up by 11.9 percent compared with that at the end of 2018. During the same period, the proportion of legal entities engaged in the secondary and tertiary industries in the central region to the national total grew 1.4 percentage points, while those in the western region were 0.6 percentage points higher, proving that regional development became more coordinated. There is a development trend from "big" to "new" and "strong" in various industrial categories.

At the same time, by incorporating new census data on the "three new" economy, including platform economics and the digital economy and conducting input-output surveys for the first time, a clearer and more comprehensive picture of the solid foundation of China's economy could be seen. The core industries of the nation's digital economy, with 36.159 million persons employed and 48.4 trillion yuan in business revenue, have become a highlight, while the combination of digital enablement, green transformation and industrial manufacturing has become greater and newer impetus to economic development.

According to the results of the census, more than half of the industrial enterprises above designated size in the country have used digital technology in all aspects of production and operation, and the legal entities of digital products manufacturing enterprises have realized business revenue of 20.5 trillion yuan. The output of new-energy vehicles has ranked first in the world for nine consecutive years, and the output of solar batteries and wind turbines has increased by 4.9 times and 7.4 times, respectively, compared with 2018.

The fast cultivation and development of new quality productive forces is the second prominent highlight in the survey results. By the end of 2023, there were 96,000 industrial enterprises above the designated size engaged in strategic emerging industries nationwide, accounting for 19.5 percent of all industrial enterprises of this size. 

Additionally, 62,000 service industry enterprises above designated size were involved in strategic emerging activities, representing 24.5 percent of all such service enterprises. Both research and development (R&D) investment and talent input have shown rapid growth. R&D expenditure by high-tech manufacturing enterprises above designated size increased by 95.6 percent compared to 2018, and the number of employees in scientific research and technical services grew by 5.17 million over the past five years. Some assessments suggest that China's investment in R&D is rapidly approaching the average level of the 38 developed countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

These achievements were made against the backdrop of many uncertainties and instabilities in the global economy. At the beginning of this year, several international economic organizations issued relatively cautious and even somewhat pessimistic forecasts for the 2024 global economy. Global debt risks, prolonged geopolitical conflicts, and the strained atmosphere caused by trade protectionism have all cast a shadow over global economic recovery.

Against this backdrop, the composure and resolve demonstrated by China's decision-makers, along with the resilience of the Chinese economy, have attracted global attention. From the precise and effective implementation of a comprehensive package of incremental policies to the rollout of a series of high-level opening-up measures, China continues to serve as the "largest engine of global economic growth," steadily contributing development momentum to the world. In the first 11 months of this year, China's total goods imports and exports increased by 4.9 percent year-on-year, while newly established foreign-invested enterprises grew by 8.9 percent. China's economic growth rate remains among the highest of the world's major economies, and the annual economic and social development targets are set to be successfully achieved.

We should also be sober to see that the complex and volatile international environment and the challenges of domestic economic transformation will continue to exist. Promoting China's transformation from "large" to "strong" and from "old" to "new" won't be easy. "Deployment is important, but implementation is more significant."

Only by rising to the challenges and fully implementing the central government's decisions and plans can the momentum for high-quality economic development be consolidated. Once the direction is clear, action must follow swiftly.

As next year marks the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), we should make good use of the significant results of this census and the "combination of policies" to stimulate market vitality and vigorously develop new quality productive forces, so that the huge ship of China's economy continues to break the waves.