CGTN: Ringing in 2025, China vows to bring more smiles to its people

BEIJING, Dec. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CGTN publishes an article on Chinese President Xi Jinping's annual New Year address. Through looking back China's achievements in improving people's well-being and promoting friendship and cooperation with other countries, the article highlights Xi's important remarks and showcases China's commitments to providing a better life for people and deepening solidarity and cooperation among the Global South.

On New Year's Eve, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered his annual New Year address from his office in Beijing.

Xi described 2024 as an "extraordinary year," during which the country marched forward in great strides in the pursuit of Chinese modernization.

The address also featured a promise to bring more smiles to the Chinese people and to strive to create a better future for the world in the year ahead.

'Real benefits' to people

Xi said the concerns of the people about jobs and incomes, elderly and child care, education and medical services are always on his mind.

During his tours around China in 2024, Xi visited ordinary people to learn about their lives, from their incomes and housing conditions to healthcare, children's education and elderly care services.

According to China's Ministry of Finance, 70 percent of government expenditure in 2024 went toward ensuring the people's well-being.

A batch of effective measures were released throughout the year to improve people's lives. Renovations of over 50,000 old urban residential communities began in 2024. Tens of millions of people across China benefited from a multi-billion-dollar consumer goods trade-in program. And the lowering of mortgage interest rates helped 50 million households, equivalent to around 150 million people.

In the first three quarters of 2024, nationwide per capita disposable income stood at 30,941 yuan (around $4,178), an increase of 5.2 percent over the previous year.

Facing the challenges of an aging population, with more than one-fifth of China's citizens now aged over 60, the central government in 2024 allocated 300 million yuan to support elderly meal assistance programs nationwide while additional initiatives led to the installation of 358,000 in-home care beds.

"Of all the jobs in front of us, the most important is to ensure a happy life for our people," Xi said in his address.

'A major responsible country'

"In a world of both transformation and turbulence, China, as a responsible major country, is actively promoting global governance reform and deepening solidarity and cooperation among the Global South," Xi said in his address.

In 2024, China's unwavering commitment to embracing the world through high-level opening up and win-win cooperation brought broad opportunities for other countries in their pursuit of modernization.

China's major trading partners increased from over 140 countries and regions to more than 150 in the 12 months to December 31, and citizens of 54 countries can now enjoy China's 240-hour transit visa exemptions.

China interacted with partners and friends from the Global South throughout 2024. At the gathering marking the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles and Peaceful Coexistence, Xi put forward eight measures to support Global South cooperation, covering training, youth exchange, economic development, free trade, agricultural cooperation, digital economy, green development and ecological conservation.

Meanwhile, China established five cooperation frameworks with Arab states in innovation, finance, energy, economy and trade, and people-to-people exchanges. It also deepened the synergy of development strategies with Latin American and Caribbean countries, and further upgraded cooperation with Pacific island countries.

Also, the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation saw the announcement of an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era. Thus, China pledged to jointly advance modernization with Africa by implementing 10 partnership actions over the next three years.

From pushing for the adoption of the first UN Security Council ceasefire resolution in Gaza in March and the signing of the Beijing Declaration on strengthening Palestinian unity in July to launching the "Friends for Peace" group on the Ukraine crisis with other Global South countries, China's pursuit of peaceful solutions through dialogue and consensus stood out in 2024 amid rising geopolitical tensions and escalating global instability.

"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 mankind," Xi vowed.

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