Experts say Xi’s speech sets key goals for 2021

CHINA (China Daily/ANN) -- President Xi Jinping’s New Year’s address has emphasised the importance of people and set important national development and economic goals for 2021, global experts said.
Christopher Bovis, a professor of international business law at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, said Xi welcomed the New Year by praising the resilience and courage of the Chinese people and their efforts to combat the pandemic over the past year. He appreciated

President Xi Jinping delivers a New Year speech Thursday evening in Beijing to ring in 2021.   --Photo Xinhua

that Xi reaffirmed China’s commitment to international cooperation, multilateralism, and continuous reform of domestic systems which will focus on economic growth without losing touch with policies destined to promote human development and the protection of individuals.
Rana Mitter, a professor of the history and politics of modern China at the University of Oxford, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has been an economic blow to the entire world.
“China can take a lead by making it clear that mutual trade, open markets, and a genuine willingness to exchange human capital and talent across borders will create a high-value global economy for all,” he said.
Noting that Xi put an emphasis on revitalising rural China in his address, Joe Thomas Karackattu from the China Studies Centre at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras said it seems to be a strong directional message and is crucial for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).
Xi’s statement that China should create more “stories of spring” is inextricably linked to fostering more interdependence with the rest of the world, he said.
“The economic dimension is also paired with the societal dimension of ‘a shared future for mankind’. Clearly, China’s outreach to the world is being projected as a multidimensional effort,” said Karackattu.
“It is interesting to note Xi’s stress on a new pattern for development for China, built on the cornerstone of ‘high-quality’ development,” Karackattu said.”Clearly the direction for the Chinese economy to focus on innovative growth is underlined in his message.”
Gerald Mbanda, founder of Africa China Review, a website focusing on news reports and commentary on China-Africa cooperation, said Xi’s speech dwelt much on the COVID-19 pandemic, in which he lauded the country’s efforts in the fight against COVID-19 and took time to thank different institutions, professionals and ordinary citizens for their hard work and sacrifice.
He said that Xi’s advocacy for a community with a shared future for mankind was more significant and relevant in 2020, as no single country could claim to win the war against the pandemic without working together with other countries.
Jon Taylor, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said Xi’s speech set important national development and economic goals while also noting some significant milestones that will take place in 2021, such as the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

(Latest Update January 4, 2021)