China's fiscal revenue in the first quarter continued to recover as fiscal funds played a pivotal role in providing robust and effective support for economic and social development, Vice Finance Minister Wang Dongwei told a press conference in Beijing on Monday.
China's general public budget revenue stood at 6.0877 trillion yuan (around 840.33 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of this year, with a comparable growth of 2.2 percent, after deducting special factors, Wang said.
Expenditure in the national general public budget reached nearly seven trillion yuan (around 970 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, representing a year-on-year growth of 2.9 percent.
Various sectors registered relatively fast growth in fiscal spending, including those related to agriculture, forestry and water conservancy, which saw 13.1 percent growth.
Sectors related to urban and rural communities also saw accelerated fiscal spending growth, reporting a 12.1 percent figure, as did those related to housing guarantees, which saw 7.8 percent growth.
Social security and employment sectors saw fiscal spending growth of 3.7 percent, and education sectors reported growth of 2.5 percent.
"By the end of February this year, the Ministry of Finance had disbursed the entire one trillion yuan (around 140 billion U.S. dollars) of additional treasury bonds funds to local governments. In the first quarter, expenditure in the national general public budget reached 24.5 percent of the budgeted figure, surpassing the average level of the past three years. This reflects that our proactive fiscal policy took effect early on with improved quality and effectiveness," Wang said.
General public budget revenue refers to income for government finance through participation in the distribution of social products. It is the financial guarantee to ensure government functioning.
In this year's government work report, the country has pledged to continue implementing a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy in 2024.
China's fiscal revenue sees more recovery in Q1: official
Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to France marks a pivotal moment for strengthening Sino-French strategic cooperation amid global tensions, according to Pascal Boniface, founder of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs.
From May 5 to 10, Xi will tour Europe, including stops in France, Serbia, and Hungary -- his first European visit in five years.
During an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Paris, Boniface shared his perspectives on the importance of this visit.
"It's a very important visit, because, as you have mentioned, President Xi has not visited Europe for the last five years due to COVID-19. And it's a very important period of time due to many wars: the wars between Russia and Ukraine, the war in Gaza between Palestinians and Israelis. I think it's a very important time to enhance the cooperation, strategic cooperation between France and China, and to think about the way we could together try to ease the tension and to make progress towards peace," Boniface explained.
Boniface also discussed the potential impact of Xi's visit on Sino-French relations, emphasizing that it provides a platform for Xi to articulate Chinese policies to the French people.
"Because President Xi will be seen by most of the French people and will read important speeches, so he could elaborate Chinese policy and present its policy to the French people. It is good to have a visit, because it will be in the spotlight for two days, or even before by the fact, because we have begun to speak about the Chinese president's visit since now. So it's a very good way. And I think we need to have regular visits, regular meetings between our two leaders," Boniface noted.
Regarding Europe's strategic autonomy -- a policy endorsed by French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to China last year -- Boniface stressed the significant work still required for France to achieve this goal without compromising its commitments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
"To be frank, many of French people share this view, but not too many people inside Europe. So it's really a work in progress, because most European countries are dedicated to American umbrella, strategic umbrella. And so, for some of them, most of them, to be frank, the strategic autonomy of Europe could be a way to be separated from the USA. It's not the case, so we have to work a little bit more to convince our partners. But we could have strategic autonomy without leaving NATO," Boniface said.
Expert highlights significance of President Xi's upcoming visit to France
