Data of self-reliance and shared future

If globalization once looked like a seamless web, China's 2025 statistical communique would read like the blueprint of a nation steadfastly reinforcing its own corner of that web — increasing bandwidth, rerouting circuits and installing backup generators in anticipation of a stormier world. The latest scorecard from the world's second-largest economy is a dense ledger of hedging: a major country recalibrating its exposure to an unpredictable global system.

That China's economy expanded 5 percent last year, pushing output beyond 140 trillion yuan ($20.4 trillion), is a hard-earned result. At this scale, that growth adds more than 5 trillion yuan in new output, an increment larger than the annual economy of many G20 economies. The more revealing shift, however, lies in the growth's composition. About 67.3 percent of growth came from domestic demand, with consumption contributing 52 percent. Retail sales surpassed 50 trillion yuan, and express deliveries exceeded 190 billion parcels, signaling an effective effort to construct an economy that can better resist external shocks.

By cultivating a consumption-driven model that reduces dependence on export markets vulnerable to tariffs, sanctions and geopolitical whims, while stressing on high-standard opening-up, Chinese policymakers are further consolidating the fundamentals of the economy. The country's pragmatic policy portfolio is conducive to leveraging the global market to strengthen its internal economic system, while contributing to the common development of the world.