The Chinese President’s new quality productive forces have become a hot topic in the regional as well as international mass media. It is a new concept which is based on superior innovations, modernization, digitalization, Artificial Intelligence, green technologies and above all human capital to achieve the desired goals of socio-economic prosperity, economic globalization and international cooperation in the days to come.  Thus it is a new road map of China’s industrial growth integrating all sectors of its macro-economy.

The concept was first put forward by President Xi Jinping during his inspection tour in China’s northeast Heilongjiang Province in September 2023, highlighting the integration of scientific and technological innovation resources to lead the development of strategic emerging industries and future-oriented industries, so as to accelerate the formation of new quality productive forces.

It is creating new products, new technology and new business models, which will broaden the room for global economic sharing and mutual development, injecting impetus into the world's development. High-quality development is the first and foremost task of transforming China into a modern socialist country in all respects, while developing new quality productive forces is an intrinsic requirement for promoting high-quality growth in China.

These high-tech products are a vivid display of China's new quality productive forces, which not only empower the country's economic transformation and high-quality development but can fuel the development of modern and intelligent industrialization around the world, especially in developing countries.

Undoubtedly, new quality productive forces are described by innovation with high quality and advanced productivity. The sci-tech innovation plays an important role and is the fundamental element in the development of new quality productive forces. The key for developing new quality productive forces is enhancing the country's self-innovation capability.

Driven by the strategy of innovation-driven development, China has consolidated a series of achievements in areas including aviation, quantum computing and nuclear power. Notable progress has been made in developing China into an innovative country.

It carries a new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation. It is suggested to seizing opportunities, intensifying and invigorating innovation efforts, transforming and upgrading traditional industries, cultivating and strengthening emerging industries, and with a visionary approach lay out the construction of future-oriented industries, and refining the modernized industrial system.

It seems that the Chinese government is promoting high-quality development with great efforts, with new quality productive forces already taking shape and robustly propelling high-quality development in practice.

Despite hype of China’s economic peak or collapse and constant fake and false propaganda China’s economy has generally remained stable and sustainable and rebounded and improved. It has achieved significant progress in building a modernized industrial system, global supply chains, new breakthroughs in sci-tech innovation, initiated structural reforms and opening up, consolidated and strengthened the foundation for secure development, steady improvement in environment and substantial well-being of the people.

According to Chinese official figures, in 2023, China’s GDP exceeded 126 trillion yuan (US$17.51 trillion). The growth rate of 5.2 percent achieved national target and ranked high among world’s major economies, contributing to 30 percent of the growth of the global economy. The year 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and all indicators of its macro-economy are solid and strong which will remain stable and sustainable in the years to come.

The policy makers of China have already announced a GDP growth rate of 2024 up to 5 percent with the primary task to vigorously promote the building of a modernized industrial system and accelerate the development of new quality productive forces.

It is crystal clear that persuasion of new quality productive forces will benefit the improvement of the total factor productivity, constantly shape new momentum and advantages for development, promote a new leap in productivity, and sustain the continuous high-quality growth of China’s economy, bringing new opportunities to countries around the world, in particular to our iron-clad friend Pakistan.

Pakistan is situated with a strategic geographical location, significant demographic dividend, and abundant natural resources, which provide uniquely advantageous conditions for development. Its firm belief is that geo-economic is the right and long term policy to move forward.

Critical analysis reveals that the Pakistani government’s “5Es” framework, pillared by growth, security, reform, livelihood, innovation, productivity and connectivity, not only meets Pakistan’s current development needs, but also chimes with China’s approach of promoting high-quality development through new productive forces.

Pakistan and China enjoy all-weather strategic cooperative partnership under the main framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will yield more befitting propositions in the days to come. The achievements of CPEC Phase-I have provided crucial support for Pakistan’s economic and social development, including early gains made in cooperation in fields of renewable energy, information technology and biotechnology.  

China has helped Pakistan build four wind farms, one hydropower dam and one solar power station, with two more hydropower dams near to completion. The steady supply of clean energy helps maintain Pakistan’s energy security.

Chinese private companies have also built the Lahore Safe City, employing technology to greatly enhance police response efficiency and reduce traffic violations by 40 percent. The establishment of a buffalo embryo laboratory by a Chinese company in Pakistan with an annual production capacity of 30,000 embryos has empowered agricultural cooperation between our two countries.

As CPEC enters Phase-II, both countries will hopefully seize the opportunity of jointly building an upgraded version of the corridor with high standards, to turn Pakistan’s unique advantages into development momentum and help Pakistan achieve self-reliance and sustainable development.

The new government has initiated numerous reforms across the board, committed to breaking new ground for national development. China stands committed to work with Pakistan to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, meet each other halfway and forge ahead hand in hand, promote the integration of CPEC’s “Five Corridors” (5Cs), namely corridors of growth, livelihood enhancement, innovation, greenness and openness, and Pakistan’s “5Es” framework, to build an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, and jointly open up a bright future of peace, development and win-win cooperation.

In summary, Xi’s new quality productive forces will be the new road map even for the CPEC Phase-II covering all aspects of qualitative industrial development, modernization, green technologies, and last but not least artificial intelligence. The Corridors of social development and AI must be included in the CPEC Phase-II. 

Author: Dr. Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan, President Pak-China Corridor of Knowledge, Executive Director of the Center for South Asia & International Studies (CSAIS)