Beijing hosts forum to tackle swift response to public complaints

The 2024 Beijing Forum on Swift Response to Public Complaints opened in the Chinese capital on Wednesday, where leading global academics and representatives share their insights and explore strategies for modernizing urban governance.

With the theme of "Modernizing for People-Centered Urban Governance," the two day event from Wednesday to Thursday has gathered more than 700 participants, including domestic and international guests, representatives from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Macao SAR and the Taiwan region, scholars from universities and representatives of grassroots workers.

Beijing is a city with a profound history and rich cultural heritage, as well as a vibrant, modern international metropolis. Covering an area of over 16,000 square kilometers, it has a permanent population of 21.858 million.

In response to urban governance challenges, Beijing launched the swift response to public complaints reform in 2019, providing rapid responses and efficient handling of citizens' concerns through the 12345 Citizen Service Hotline.

Over the past five years, the city has handled 150 million complaints from citizens, achieving a resolution rate of 96.5 percent and a satisfaction rate of 96.9 percent.

The attendees have been invited to visit the Beijing 12345 Citizen Hotline Service Center on the sideline of the forum, to gain firsthand insights into Beijing's exploration and innovation in the governance of mega-cities.

Sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Media Group, Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee and the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, the forum has a main forum and six parallel sessions.

Beijing hosts forum to tackle swift response to public complaints

Beijing hosts forum to tackle swift response to public complaints

China's external debt remained generally stable, with outstanding external debt reaching nearly 2.33 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of last year, official data showed on Friday.

This figure was down 15.5 billion dollars, or 0.7 percent, from the end of 2024, according to data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

China's external debt currency structure had improved in 2025, while the maturity structure remained basically stable, said Li Bin, deputy head and spokesperson of the administration.

At the end of 2025, local currency-denominated external debt had accounted for 55.5 percent of the total, up 1.4 percentage points from the end of 2024, said Li.

In terms of maturity structure, medium- and long-term external debt accounted for 43.5 percent of the total at the end of 2025, down 0.6 percentage points from the end of 2024, Li noted.

Data also revealed that at the end of last year, China's ratio of outstanding external debt to gross domestic product had stood at 11.9 percent, while the ratio of outstanding external debt to export revenue was 56.3 percent.

These indicators remained within internationally recognized safety thresholds, and China's external debt risks are generally controllable, Li explained.

China reports generally stable external debt in 2025