This year's "two sessions" -- the annual meetings of China's top legislature and top political advisory body -- are drawing intense global interest, as international observers hail the country's high-quality development.
The fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference commenced on Wednesday, one day before the opening of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC).
Lawmakers are set to deliberate on the annual government work report, review the draft government budget and development plan for 2026, and examine a draft outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development.
The new five-year plan will offer a strategic roadmap -- not merely a list of tasks, but a framework guiding how the country will navigate its development priorities, ranging from strengthening its supply-chain capacity to advancing its low-carbon transformation.
For global corporations with deep roots in the Chinese market, the signals from the two sessions are critical for long-term strategy.
"For many years, we have not only been doing research and development and production in China, but in recent years we have also set up innovation centers to collaborate with the entire local ecosystem. The huge size of the Chinese market benefits us greatly, and the changes brought about by digitalization are also very exciting. I believe both sides can benefit each other," said Elisabeth Staudinger, a member of the Siemens Healthineers managing board.
This sentiment of mutual benefit was echoed by Janusz Kuzmicki, director of the Shipping Department at Chipolbrok, the Chinese-Polish joint venture shipping company.
"During these years, I could see big changes which happened with Chinese economy, how it is now, how it was in the past. And we can see how deeply China became not only part of business relations in the world, but China creating the worldwide business in the way that they are coming with competitive and technologically advanced solutions. [In] China there is a lot of know-how and technology, which is comparable to the leading worldwide producers. And nowadays it's difficult to imagine the world economy without the strong participation of China in all the projects worldwide," he said.
Muhammad Ali, managing director and CEO of the News Agency of Nigeria, expressed admiration for China's policy focus, particularly in social development.
"I'm particularly impressed by the ability or the focus to create more jobs and increasing research development. And China, given its numerical strength, creating multitude of jobs, especially in the urban areas, is quite an impressive thing," he said.
Government officials and lawmakers from around the world are also watching with keen interest as to China's path forward.
"From the two sessions, like I said, China is moving a step ahead, is moving forward very well. Why am I saying so? If you go to China, you see all these. In terms of technology, infrastructure, running the economy, they are moving very well. The figures show that there is tremendous, good progress," said Harry Kamboni, a member of parliament in Zambia.
Global observers hail China's high-quality development
