On April 28, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee (中共中央政治局) held a meeting to analyze the current economic situation. The meeting noted that China's economy saw a strong start in the first quarter (GDP grew 5.0% year-on-year), with major indicators exceeding expectations. As the first Politburo meeting focused on economic work following the start of the "15th Five-Year Plan" (十五五) cycle, it released policy signals characterized by a high sense of urgency.
Development of digital economy
The meeting emphasized adhering to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, implementing a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy. Notably, it explicitly called for "deepening the construction of a unified national market and thoroughly addressing 'involuted' (内卷式) competition," signaling a strong commitment to regulating market order and protecting reasonable corporate profit margins.
Regarding industrial upgrading, the meeting proposed a comprehensive implementation plan for the "AI +" initiative, requiring the development of new forms of the intelligent economy and the improvement of AI governance. This marks the transition of integrating large-scale models with the real economy into a national strategic execution level. Simultaneously, in deploying domestic demand expansion, the meeting systematically mentioned strengthening the planning and construction of "Six Networks" for the first time: the water network, new power grid, computing power network, next-generation communication network, urban underground pipe network, and logistics network. This aims to drive effective investment through new infrastructure construction. In response to external uncertainties, the meeting emphasized "systematically addressing external shocks and challenges" and enhancing energy and resource security to counter external risks with the certainty of high-quality development.
In terms of risk prevention and livelihood protection, the meeting reaffirmed the importance of stabilizing the real estate market and solidly advancing urban renewal. It explicitly required efforts to resolve the issue of arrears owed to enterprises to stabilize corporate expectations. The meeting also made deployments for local government debt resolution, the reform of small and medium-sized financial institutions, and boosting capital market confidence. General Secretary Xi Jinping, while presiding over the meeting, emphasized strengthening the employment-first policy orientation and deepening education on establishing and practicing a correct view of political performance to ensure that policy efforts are truly focused on the practical results of high-quality development.