China’s greatest progress over the past 5 years

Since 2013, China has experienced an extraordinary five year period. Reforms in birth policy, the abolition of re-education through labor, new urbanization, household registration, inspection, and other areas of decentralization have been implemented or unveiled; judicial reform, finance reform, and other fields are also eligible for consideration. Also, it would seem that some mysterious military reforms have been quietly carried out. Just a few days ago, on 5 March, the Chinese government issued a report on its work in 2018, summarizing their successes and historical changes over the past five years. Let us have a look at China’s achievements.

Economic strength has reached a new platform

In the past 5 years, China’s GDP has risen from 54 trillion to 82.7 trillion yuan, registering average annual growth of 7.1 percent; and its share in the global economy has grown to roughly 15 percent, up from 11.4 percent. Maintaining a relatively high level of growth is not an easy thing to do for a country with a population of over 1.3 billion.

China has made decisive progress in the fight against poverty. More than 68 million people have been lifted out of poverty, including 8.3 million relocated from inhospitable areas, and the poverty headcount ratio has dropped from 10.2 to 3.1 percent. Personal income has increased by an annual average of 7.4 percent, outpacing economic growth and creating the world’s largest middle-income group. Tourist departures have grown from 83 million to over 130 million. Social old-age pension schemes now cover more than 900 million people, and basic health insurance plans cover 1.35 billion people, forming the largest social safety net in the world. On average, life expectancy has reached 76.7 years. Over 26 million housing units have been rebuilt in rundown urban areas, and more than 17 million dilapidated houses have been renovated in rural areas. Thanks to these efforts, more than one hundred million Chinese people have moved into new homes.

In economic reform, it is worth mentioning that China has begun the country's supply-side structural reform (“供给侧改革”) with a stronger focus on supply quality and economic rebalancing. With the gradual disappearance of demographic dividend, the risk accumulation of the "middle income trap" and the change in international economic structure, the traditional economic stimulus (investment, consumption and export) has failed. Thus, the supply-side reform came into being. The so-called supply-side reform structure refers to further improving the productivity of the whole society by further decentralization, helping enterprises to innovate, reducing taxes and fees, and enhancing financial support for the real economy. Step by step, China has extended the replacement of business tax with value added tax (VAT) to all sectors across the country, calling time on the 66-year history of business tax. The result so far has been a tax cut of more than 2 trillion yuan. The proportion of service industries has risen from 45.3% to 51.6%, which has become an active force for economic growth. The average annual growth of high-tech manufacturing industry is 11.7%. The urbanization rate increased from 52.6% to 58.5%, and about 80,000,000 of the agricultural transfer population became urban residents.

The increase in scientific research investment and the return on talents

China’s investment in research and development (R&D) has grown at an average annual rate of 11 percent, ranking second in the world in scale. The contribution of technological advances to economic growth has risen from 52.2 to 57.5 percent. In manned spaceflight, deep-water exploration, quantum communications, large aircraft development and more, China has seen a stream of major outcomes in innovation. The Internet Plus (互联网+) model has permeated every industry and every field. Business startups and innovation are thriving all over the country, and the average number of new businesses opened daily has risen from over 5,000 to more than 16,000. Rapidly emerging new growth drivers are reshaping China’s growth model, and profoundly changing the way people live and work. This has become a new hallmark of China’s innovation-driven development.

In June 2017, the Renaissance EMU (High Speed Railway Train) of 350 km/h was unveiled and put into service. It only takes 4 hours and 28 minutes from Shanghai to Beijing (1213 km). China's high speed rail has a mileage of more than 22 thousand kilometers, accounting for 65% of the mileage of the world's high speed rail.

In September 2016, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope was built in Guizhou Province, which is the largest single aperture and the most sensitive radio telescope in the world.

In August 2017, China finished building the world’s largest oil platform called “Blue Whale II”.

In May 2017, China's self-developed large jet civil aircraft, C919, successfully flew its first flight.

China has broken through major technologies such as manned spaceflight, space rendezvous and docking, operation of combined operations and a mid-term stay of astronauts.

The Chinese government has encouraged a large number of overseas Chinese scholars to come to China through its high-level talent program, including the "thousand person plan"(千人计划), "Yangtze River Scholar Award Scheme"（长江学者）, and the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund. In 2016, the number of Chinese overseas students that returned to China was 432,500, a new record. Experts predict that in the next 5 years, China will transform from the world's largest talent flow out of the country to the largest talent flow into the country.

Government spending on education has remained above four percent of GDP. The number of students from rural and poor areas enrolled in key universities through special programs has grown from 10,000 to 100,000. It has increased financial aid to students from financially-challenged families studying in all types of schools, giving out 430 million grants in total. The average length of schooling of the working-age population has been raised to 10.5 years.

Anti-corruption: “take out tigers,” “swat flies,” and “hunt down foxes.”

China has given top priority to ensuring compliance with Party discipline, and tackled the prominent problems that threaten to erode the very foundation of the Party’s governance. They adopted the eight-point decision (“八项规定”) on improving Party and government conduct. It is reported that no place has been out of bounds, no ground left unturned, and no tolerance shown in the fight against corruption. The anti-corruption campaign has been built up into a crushing tide, and is being consolidated and developed.

Since 2014, a total of 7020 units, including the Party committee, the party general branch, the Party branch, the 430 Discipline Inspection Committee (Discipline Inspection Group), and 6.5 million Party members leading cadres have been questioned. In the anti-corruption storm, Zhou Yongkang (周永康), the former “political and law king” of the Communist Party of China, was suddenly officially declared to be being investigated for "serious violation of discipline". In the beginning, most Chinese people did not believe that senior leadership of the Communist Party of China would be investigated. Now people know that this is far more than smoke bombs. Anti-corruption action is likely to become the most persistent and tough practical action since reform and opening up in the late 1970s. In 2015, for example, more than 8200 officials were investigated for accepting bribes.

International Relations and openness with outside world

Over the past five years, China has pursued distinctively Chinese diplomacy with all major countries on all fronts. China has hosted the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the 22nd APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, the G20 Hangzhou Summit and the BRICS Xiamen Summit. The Belt and Road Initiative has been making major progress. The composition of both Chinese foreign trade and foreign investment in China has been improved, with volumes ranking among the largest in the world.

Beginning with the first China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, we have now established 11 pilot free trade zones. A number of successful outcomes from pilot reforms are now being applied nationwide.

China has set up 13 comprehensive experimental zones for cross-border e-commerce. Single-window document processing for international trade has been applied nationwide, cutting the average time for customs clearance by over half. Imports and exports have rebounded and steadily grown.

In addition, China has also created achievements and progress in the following areas:

Two-child policy: Since 2016, it has been implemented in China. The new policy allowing Chinese couples to have two children was proposed. During the 1970s, Chinese citizens were encouraged to have only one child. The ongoing Cultural Revolution and the strain it placed on the nation were large factors. The change in the family planning policy, irrespective of the controversy over its timing, will, in the long run, boost economic growth.

Deepening reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers, improve regulation, and strengthen services (放管服”改革)

The Government is trying to transform government functions, reduce micromanagement and direct intervention, and has done more to improve macro regulation, market regulation, and public services. Over the past five years, the number of items subject to approval by State Council offices and departments has been slashed by 44 percent; the practice of non-administrative approval has been brought to an end. The number of business investment items subject to central government approval has been cut by 90 percent, intermediary services needed for obtaining government approval have been cut by 74 percent, and the requirements for professional qualification approval and accreditation have been significantly reduced.

Can you guess who did all these?