南方财经全媒体集团全国两会报道组 李依农 杨雨莱 北京、广州报道
What topics of China’s "Two Sessions" interest you?
On March 5, 2025, the Third Session of the 14th National People's Congress opens in Beijing. The Two Sessions set the course for China's development, drawing global attention.
We asked different AI the same question, and see how they respond. The diverse applications of AI have provided us with a rich array of responses. We have identified three keywords that appear most frequently: "Economic Growth", "Technology", "Private Economy". How do they align with this year’s Government Work Report? Let’s take a closer look.
The GDP growth target for 2025 is set at around 5%
Economic growth remains a key driver of development. According to this year’s Government Work Report, China’s GDP reached 134.9 trillion yuan in the past year, growing by 5%, ranking among the world’s leading economies in terms of growth rate, and contributing around 30% to global economic growth. Furthermore, the government work report sets the economic growth target for 2025 at around 5%. Let's hear what experts have to say about China's economic development.
Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive and Chief Economist at European Policy Centre
Clearly, China has made huge economic progress over the last few decades, which is very impressive. And it has resulted in a great decrease in poverty and a rise in living standards, which is probably unprecedented. We've never seen that before. So there has been a lot of development. Clearly, also the role of China in the world has changed over that period. China is now one of the great powers in the world.
Paul Gruenwald, Global chief Economist at S&P Global Ratings
China is still going to be the major contributor to global growth. The U.S. and China and Europe are roughly the same size, but since China is growing faster than the U.S. and faster than Europe, China is still going to be the main contributor to global growth in 2025.
Technological innovation drives new quality productive forces
In recent years, "new quality productive forces" has become a buzzword of significant social interest. Artificial intelligence, humanoid robots, and other innovations have continuously captured the public's attention, with emerging industries coming into the spotlight. The government work report emphasizes the need to develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions and to accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system. How should we view China's path of technological innovation? How can new quality productive forces contribute to high-quality development? Let's see what the experts have to say.
Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive and Chief Economist at European Policy Centre
Clearly, there have been great advances in technology in many areas, more technology than I would see in Europe. But I think, yes, it certainly has been quite impressive. But I mean, for me, what also is always fascinating is the very ancient culture, seeing the heritage of China and the long history also of innovation and of development over the millennia.
Paul Gruenwald, Global chief Economist at S&P Global Ratings
So we've just got the DeepSeek, (it) has been a big surprise and something that people didn't think was possible, bringing high quality AI out of sort of lesser set of resources, chips, etc., that points to the strength in the economy. We know about the success of the electric cars. China continues to make progress on batteries, and solar and wind and renewable.
Tian Xuan, Head of Tsinghua University's National Institute of Financial Research
Since the beginning of this year, we have witnessed phenomenal and nation-shaping innovations such as DeepSeek and robots that can perform traditional Chinese dances. These are examples of cutting-edge technological advancements.
However, we have also watched the movie "Ne Zha 2", which has achieved nearly 15 billion yuan in box office revenue. as a cultural and creative innovation. Additionally, Pangdonglai in Henan, can be exemplified as the business model innovation.
Thus, we have hard technology innovation in the eastern region, such as in Hangzhou; business model innovation in the central region, like in Henan; and cultural and creative innovation in Chengdu, where the director of “Ne Zha 2” lived. Our innovations are blossoming in multiple areas, indicating that the soil for innovation in our country has already been cultivated. The next step for us is to carefully nurture the atmosphere of innovation, further enrich the soil for innovation, and better construct an ecosystem for innovation to truly foster technological advancements and the development of new quality productive forces. I believe this is crucial for developing our economy and achieving this year's GDP growth target of around 5%.
Supporting the development of the private economy
The private economy has also been a focal topic of discussion at this year's Two Sessions. As a vital component of China's economy, private economy has consistently served as a significant force driving innovation, employment, and economic growth. This year's government work report also particularly emphasized support for the development of the private economy. What is the significance of promoting the healthy development of the private economy? What does it mean for private enterprises? Let's find out together.
Zhong Zheng, Vice-president of Midea Group
The state's emphasis on the private economy makes us feel very confident and more secure. However, our sense of mission and responsibility has also increased. Together with other private enterprises, we will also work together to tackle the "choke points" that need breakthroughs in technology.
Zhou Yunjie, Chairman and CEO of Haier
The central government is highly supportive of the development of the private economy. Although Haier is a collective-owned enterprise, we have also seen the strong support for enterprises and the confidence in them. I believe I am quite optimistic about the future.
Tian Xuan, Head of Tsinghua University's National Institute of Financial Research
The private economy is characterized by the "five-six-seven-eight-nine" pattern. This is extremely important for economic development. Finance is a crucial instrument of the nation. The support that finance provides to private entrepreneurs is actually support throughout the entire lifecycle. In the early stages, we may rely more on equity investment, angel investment, and venture capital. As it grows and strengthens, other modes of investment, such as bank investment, may emerge. However, I believe that for private enterprises, what is more important is their expectation for technological innovation, people's livelihoods, and employment. Therefore, vigorously developing direct financing, especially venture capital, is very important for the development of the private economy.
Shi Jinchuan, Chairman of the Center for Research of Private Economy at Zhejiang University. Dean of the Academy of Financial Research of Zhejiang University
The Two Sessions of 2025 place great emphasis on the development of China's private economy. The government work report contains a number of measures on how to encourage and support the development of the private sector. The development prospects for China's private economy are broad.
The vast number of private enterprises have greater room for development, which can be seen from the following aspects: First, the Two Sessions will introduce the draft private economy promotion law. By enacting important and fundamental regulations such as the draft private economy promotion law, the legal status of the private sector is further strengthened. I think this is of great importance.Looking ahead, based on the Constitution and the draft private economy promotion law, we can further revise and improve some specific laws and regulations.
The second aspect is that we now have more comprehensive legislation for the development of the private economy. The next crucial step is to further improve the judicial environment for protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the private sector.
The third aspect is that we need to provide a better policy environment for the development of the private economy. We need to further improve the environment that incentivizes private enterprises to innovate, including technological innovation, business model innovation, and so on.
First of all, including companies such as Alibaba, Ant Financial, and Tencent, their development over the past two decades has actually proven that private enterprises, as a component of the basic socialist economic system, like state-owned enterprises, are capable of participating in and shouldering national strategies.
Second, a variety of significant technological innovation programs have been introduced. In the implementation of these projects, there should be a conscious tilt towards private enterprises, especially those in the technology sector and leading private enterprises in technology.
Third, in terms of talent, private enterprises should be enabled to attract more high-end talent, becoming a crucial part of the national innovation ecosystem.
Fourth, in terms of finance, we must build a more robust financial system. Through innovation in the financial system, we can better integrate national and government financial support, including government industrial capital and private investment, to support the innovation of private enterprises.
Lastly, we need to focus on creating a social environment that supports the development of private enterprises. We should encourage private entrepreneurs to speak up boldly and absorb their suggestions on reform and opening up, economic development, to achieve better economic growth in our country.
Chief Producer: Yu Xiaona
Supervising Producer: Shi Shi
Editor: Li Yinong
Reporter: Li Yinong, Yang Yulai，Jiao Yifei
Video Editor: Xiao Hang, Cai Yutian
Photographer: Xiao Hang
New Media Coordination: Ding Qingyun, Zeng Tingfang, Lai Xi, Huang Daxun
Overseas Operations Supervising Producer: Huang Yanshu
Overseas Content Coordinator: Huang Zihao
Overseas Operations Editors: Zhuang Huan, Wu Wanjie, Long Lihua, Zhang Weitao
Produced by: Southern Finance Omnimedia Group
