As the weather turns cold, warmth comes from the east. The Central Economic Work Conference recently concluded in Beijing, and the world once again focuses on the direction of China's economic giant. Overseas individuals believe that this meeting not only focuses on the direction of the Chinese economy at the beginning of the 15th Five Year Plan, but also provides a stable expectation, innovative momentum, and opportunity list for the world economy. In a world full of uncertainty, the international community expects China to continue to serve as an important engine of global economic growth and inject strong certainty into the world. New starting point: Planning for a new journey. From the emergence of DeepSeek at the beginning of the year, which sparked a global artificial intelligence boom, to the end of the year when international institutions intensively raised their expectations for China's economic growth rate, the Chinese economy has experienced a challenging yet tenacious 2025. Standing at a new starting point, the Chinese economy is about to embark on a new chapter. 2025 is the year when China's 14th Five Year Plan comes to an end, and 2026 is the year when the 15th Five Year Plan begins. This Central Economic Work Conference bears the important responsibility of carrying forward the past, opening up the future, and anchoring the course. ”Chen Jiaxing, Acting Chairman of the Regional Strategy Research Institute, a Malaysian think tank, said. The Central Economic Work Conference summarized the economic work in 2025, pointing out that "the main goals of economic and social development will be successfully achieved" and "the 14th Five Year Plan is about to come to a successful end, and the new journey of the second centenary goal has achieved a good start". This meeting pointed out that China's economy is moving forward under pressure and moving towards new and better development. The construction of a modern industrial system continues to advance, new steps have been taken in reform and opening up, positive progress has been made in risk resolution in key areas, and people's livelihood security has become stronger. The international community has gained a clearer understanding of the strong resilience and enormous potential of the Chinese economy. Recently, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, OECD, and Asian Development Bank respectively raised their expectations for China's economic growth rate in 2025 by 0.4, 0.2, 0.1, and 0.1 percentage points. Lisaldo Gomez, Dean of the International Business School at Valparaiso University in Chile, said that the Chinese economy has extraordinary resilience and can still withstand multiple challenges. It will also maintain a steady growth momentum under the guidance of the new development blueprint. The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to fully tap into the economic potential, adhere to policy support and reform innovation simultaneously, achieve both "letting go" and "managing well", adhere to the close combination of investing in goods and investing in people, and respond to external challenges through hard work and internal strength. Kyrgyzstani economic expert Torombek Abdorov has a deep understanding of the need to tackle external challenges through hard work. He stated that in recent years, facing increasing external uncertainty, China's economic policy has always regarded expanding domestic demand as a key means of stabilizing the economy. The Chinese government has implemented targeted fiscal measures to further expand consumption, increase residents' income, and stabilize investment activities, all of which help cultivate a strong domestic market, effectively resist external shocks, and maintain stable operation and growth of the Chinese economy. Former Finance Minister of Thailand, Suthep Thattarongwei, said that China attaches great importance to reform, innovation, and talent cultivation. Scientific policy support and long-term strategic planning enable the Chinese economy to continuously unleash its potential and maintain a steady growth momentum even under external risk disturbances. 2026 is the starting year of the 15th Five Year Plan, and it is of great significance to do a good job in economic work. The meeting deployed the "Eight Adherences" key tasks for doing a good job in next year's economic work. Overseas individuals observe the direction and focus of China's economic development from it. Edward Kuseva, an economics lecturer at the University of Sao Paulo in Kenya, believes that the first year of the 15th Five Year Plan will be a new historical starting point for China's economic development. The Chinese economy will pay more attention to innovation, cultivate more emerging industries for development and growth, and achieve higher added value and more sustainable growth. Dia Hermi, Secretary General of the Egyptian Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said that the outside world is paying attention to the key economic tasks for next year determined by the conference, including innovation driven and expanding opening-up to the outside world. China's strategic planning closely integrates past development experience with future development goals, demonstrating a clear long-term development vision. China has demonstrated the ability to transform its strategic vision into reality, and the new development blueprint will bring high-quality, innovation driven, and sustainable economic growth, which will benefit both China itself and the world. ”Luigi Gambardira, President of the China Europe Digital Association, said. New momentum: Building a high-quality development engine. Located in the International Pharmaceutical Innovation Park of Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, Bayer, a German pharmaceutical company, officially opened its first innovation center in China in November. Adjacent to it are several international pharmaceutical giants, including AstraZeneca's sixth global strategic research and development center and Medtronic's first digital healthcare innovation base in China. The core innovation functions of multinational enterprises have settled in China one after another, driven by the surging new momentum of the Chinese economy and its powerful "magnetic field effect". In the eyes of overseas individuals, the continuous accumulation of new driving forces for economic development will profoundly change the landscape of China's economic development and inject momentum and vitality into high-quality development. New momentum comes from profound changes driven by innovation. The meeting emphasized the importance of "adhering to innovation driven development and accelerating the cultivation and growth of new driving forces", and proposed specific deployments such as "formulating an integrated plan to promote the development of education and technology talents" and "building international science and technology innovation centers in Beijing (Beijing Tianjin Hebei), Shanghai (Yangtze River Delta), and the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area". Ding Ke, director researcher of the Asia Economic Research Institute of the Japan External Trade Organization, believes that the series of deployments made at the conference will provide comprehensive support for the new driving force of China's economic development. The connotation of new driving forces has surpassed traditional high-tech industries and upgraded to a systematic policy combination from talent cultivation, technological innovation to industrial application, which will reshape China's overall competitiveness at a deeper level and promote the Chinese economy to enter a stage of higher quality, better efficiency, and stronger resilience. "Clemens Schutter, Chairman of the German Chinese Economic Federation, said that high-end and technology driven industries are becoming the key force for China to cultivate new driving forces and promote the development of new quality productivity. Using technological innovation as a key engine for economic transformation, China continues to optimize its industrial structure, enhance its international competitiveness, and leap towards the high-end of the global value chain. New momentum comes from the continuous promotion of green transformation. Building a beautiful China is an important goal of comprehensively building a socialist modernized country. The meeting proposed to adhere to the guidance of "dual carbon" and promote comprehensive green transformation. Kenyan economist James Hickswati believes that the measures proposed at the conference, such as "deepening the energy-saving and carbon reduction transformation of key industries," "formulating a plan outline for building an energy powerhouse," and "accelerating the construction of a new energy system," clearly demonstrate China's strategic vision of creating a strong green engine for high-quality development. China's green transformation provides actionable and replicable Chinese solutions and key driving forces for global response to climate change challenges. New momentum comes from the potential release of a strong market. A strong domestic market is the strategic support for Chinese path to modernization. The meeting will prioritize "adhering to domestic demand leadership and building a strong domestic market" as one of the eight key tasks for next year, and put forward specific deployments such as "deepening the implementation of the special action to boost consumption", "expanding the supply of high-quality goods and services", and "promoting investment to stop falling and stabilize". Gomez said that China has enormous market potential brought by its population size, technological advantages brought by technological innovation, and is able to maintain healthy and sustained growth in domestic demand, maintain development determination in the face of uncertainty in the world economy, and continuously consolidate its key position in the global economy. Herv é Azul é, a professor at the French Silk Road Business School and former executive of Schneider Group, said that domestic demand has become the most important stabilizer and growth source of the Chinese economy. When the world economy slows down or global supply chains are disrupted, a strong domestic market helps to cope with the pressure caused by a decline in external demand and fluctuations in the global economic cycle. New Opportunity: Expanding Global Cooperation and Win Win Space. On December 18th, Hainan Free Trade Port will officially launch the island wide closure operation, which is another landmark measure of China's unwavering commitment to expanding high-level opening up to the outside world and promoting the construction of an open world economy. Faced with the complex and ever-changing international situation and the uncertain world economy, China has always demonstrated strategic determination and governance wisdom, providing more opportunities for the world with its own sustained economic growth. When external environmental disputes persist, China chooses to focus on itself, improve its internal strength, cultivate people's livelihoods, and work together with the world to achieve development and prosperity. ”Fernando Fazorari, President of the Argentine Engineering and Technical Support Company, said. Among the 8 key tasks for next year's economic work deployment at the Central Economic Work Conference, "adhering to opening up to the outside world" has received high attention from overseas personnel. The meeting proposed to adhere to opening up to the outside world, promote win-win cooperation in multiple fields, and deploy specific measures such as "orderly expansion of independent opening up in the service sector", "optimizing the layout scope of free trade pilot zones", "encouraging and supporting service exports", and "promoting the signing of more regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements". In recent years, market access for multiple industries in China, including finance, automotive, education, healthcare, and digital services, has continued to expand; The pilot free trade zone and Hainan Free Trade Port have become important hubs for institutional innovation and international connectivity; The continuous improvement of the intellectual property protection system provides important guarantees for technological cooperation and long-term investment. This series of measures will enable foreign-funded enterprises to obtain a more predictable, transparent, and standardized market environment, and will also enable the world economy to find more new opportunities in a context full of uncertainty, "said Azoulay. Chile's "Cherry Express", Malaysia's durian "Air Silk Road", Africa's coffee online shopping journey in China... Driven by exhibitions such as the China International Import Expo, the China International Fair for Trade in Services, and the China International Import Expo, goods and services from various countries are more conveniently entering the Chinese consumer market. As the world's second largest consumer market, first largest online retail market, and second largest import market, China's continued expansion of opening-up and stimulation of domestic demand market vitality mean more growth opportunities for enterprises in various countries. Some Kenyan coffee brands are already using Chinese digital platforms to enter multiple provinces in China. ”Tom Arando, CEO of the Kenya Manufacturers Association, said that China's rapidly developing intelligent logistics and cross-border e-commerce platforms have enabled African goods to reach Chinese consumers faster and more effectively. Nowadays, China has built the world's largest renewable energy system and carried out green energy cooperation with more than 100 countries and regions. In the past five years, the wind and photovoltaic products provided to the world have reduced about 4.1 billion tons of carbon emissions for other countries. Hikwati said that looking ahead, one of China's most important contributions to the global economy will be to promote transformative digital technology infrastructure and green technology development. Rob Smith, CEO of KION Group, a globally renowned forklift manufacturing company with over 30 years of roots in China, stated that China will bring tremendous development opportunities in the fields of intelligent manufacturing, e-commerce logistics, and green technology. The promotion of carbon neutrality will accelerate the demand for energy-saving solutions, while investment in artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure will promote breakthroughs in automation and intelligent supply chains. Ganbadera said that looking ahead, the world will witness a more digital, sustainable, and deeply connected China. China is accelerating its transition from a "world factory" to a "global innovation laboratory and green engine", and will continue to make its own contributions to the long-term development of the global economy. (New Society)