China's National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (Two Sessions) serve as a key window for the world to observe China. The Government Work Report sets the 2026 GDP growth target of 4.5% to 5%, while striving for better in practice. With China's economic output exceeding 140 trillion yuan, a growth rate of 4.5% to 5% remains relatively rapid for such a massive economy.
Compared to other major global economies, this pace is also considered fast. Amidst the complex and challenging domestic and international landscape, with various risks and challenges intertwining and compounding, multiple international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have successively raised their 2026 growth projections for China. "Optimism about China" has become an international consensus.
As the international economic order undergoes reshaping, green China holds abundant opportunities.
During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will strengthen the comprehensive green transformation of its economic and social development. China's economy possesses a solid foundation, multiple advantages, strong resilience, and vast potential. Green and low-carbon development will undoubtedly become the most compelling feature of China's drive toward high-quality development.
With a population exceeding 1.4 billion and over 400 million middle-income individuals, China possesses vast domestic demand space and potential. Upgraded consumption and enhanced investment quality are synergistically driving growth, with green and low-carbon development gaining stronger momentum. This approach also encompasses multiple new avenues for green and low-carbon development, providing sustained and stable domestic demand to fuel economic growth. China actively fulfills its multilateral commitments, with its overall tariff level now reduced to 7.3%, below the 9.8% commitment made upon joining the WTO and approaching the average level of developed countries.
As a participant in international trade and an active practitioner of multilateral rules, China has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus. The strategic focus of China's economic development is to expand domestic demand and build a new development paradigm centered on the domestic cycle while promoting mutual reinforcement between the domestic and international cycles.
A core tenet of this paradigm is to make the domestic market the primary source of final demand. China has hosted eight editions of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) over eight consecutive years, with cumulative intended transactions exceeding $580 billion. Effective December 1, 2024, China granted zero-tariff treatment to 100% of tariff lines for all least-developed countries (LDCs) with established diplomatic relations, becoming the first major developing country and global economy to implement this measure.
China is not only the "world's factory" but is also accelerating its growth into the "world's market". China stands as the world's most significant contributor to green and low-carbon development. Its accelerating emergence as a global market itself represents a major boost to aggregate global demand, providing growth momentum for enterprises worldwide and offering a Chinese solution for the global green and low-carbon transition.
Better connecting with international circulation and investing in China to share in its dividends.
As the only country in the world with all industrial categories in the United Nations Industrial Classification, China possesses autonomous, controllable, secure, and efficient industrial and supply chains that can effectively withstand external shocks, laying a solid foundation for the stable operation of the real economy.
China's economic growth target for this year fully considers current challenges such as insufficient global growth momentum and ongoing geopolitical conflicts, while also taking into account domestic consumption and investment potential. Notably, China possesses enormous potential for innovation and development, with emerging industries like artificial intelligence, new energy, and high-end manufacturing thriving, and talent dividends continuously emerging.
This can inject a steady stream of new momentum into high-quality development. Facing the major shocks to the world economy caused by tariff wars and trade wars, China has consistently prioritized driving the development of its trading partners through its own growth.
Currently, China has implemented mutual visa exemptions with 29 countries, unilateral exemptions for 50 countries, and 240-hour transit visa exemptions for 55 countries. Measures such as immediate tax refunds upon purchase, lowering the minimum refund threshold, and increasing refund amounts have attracted a large number of foreign tourists to shop in China. Leveraging its complete industrial system and supply chain, China has provided substantial quantities of epidemic prevention and daily necessities to the world.
The service sector of China accounts for over two-thirds of global GDP at present. China has long maintained a substantial trade deficit in services, yet does not view this as a disadvantage. China is willing to leverage its super-large market advantage to further expand imports, strengthen industrial cooperation for mutual benefit, and enable all countries to better share in the dividends of China's development.
Deepening international economic and trade cooperation, China innovates for a win-win future.
China's economic growth reflects the overall tone of steady progress with improved quality and efficiency, injecting greater certainty into an uncertain world. Global economic growth momentum remains weak. The IMF projects 2026 global growth at 3.3%, below the pre-pandemic historical average of 3.7%. More concerning is the growing disparity in development equity, posing severe challenges to sustainable development. China's manufacturing value-added accounts for approximately 30% of the global total. This stems from decades of accumulated advantages in technological innovation, market openness, industrial integration, and talent cultivation.
Such scale inevitably generates significant economies of scale, driving down costs, boosting efficiency, and accelerating R&D. China's trade surplus is not "exclusively enjoyed" by China, but rather shared with the world through the dividends of digitalization and intelligent manufacturing. It helps the global community tackle climate change and accelerate green transformation, ultimately benefiting the entire world. From an innovation perspective, China's comprehensive industrial system and exceptionally high supply chain coordination efficiency enable global innovators to rapidly complete the entire process chain-from concept and design to prototyping, pilot testing, and mass production-within China.
As highlighted in the International Renewable Energy Agency's report, the average levelized cost of electricity for global wind and solar power projects has cumulatively decreased by over 60% and 80% respectively over the past decade. A substantial portion of this progress is attributable to Chinese innovation, Chinese manufacturing, and Chinese engineering.
Through green product trade, technology sharing, and project development, China is aiding global efforts to combat climate change and accelerate green transformation. As the foremost leader in global digital industries, particularly AI, China is collaborating with nations to build a global ecosystem spanning algorithms, applications, and scenarios, thereby bridging the digital divide.
Policy measures unveiled at the Two Sessions not only chart the course for China's development but also create new opportunities for countries worldwide to strengthen cooperation with China. The Government Work Report sets China's economic growth target for 2026 at 4.5% to 5%, while emphasizing efforts to achieve even better results in practice. This target primarily considers the need to reserve space for structural adjustments, risk prevention, and reforms in the opening year, laying a solid foundation for better development later on.
It balances development needs with realistic possibilities, conveying the confidence and resilience of China's steady economic progress. It will undoubtedly create excellent development opportunities for deepening cooperation between China and Malta.
Zhang Zuo is Chinese Ambassador to Malta