Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 27

Speech at the 2025 Spring Festival Gathering

(January 27, 2025, Morning)

Xi Jinping

Comrades, friends:

The Year of the Snake is approaching. We gather here to celebrate the New Year together.

First of all, on behalf of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, I would like to extend my best wishes for the holiday to everyone! I would also like to extend New Year greetings to people of all ethnic groups across the country, as well as to our compatriots in the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, Taiwan compatriots, and overseas Chinese!

The Year of the Dragon that is about to pass was a year in which we demonstrated our spirit and weathered storms and sunshine. Over the past year, faced with a complex and severe situation, we responded calmly, adopted comprehensive measures, overcame difficulties, and forged ahead, enabling Chinese-style modernization to take new and solid steps.

We have steadily promoted high-quality development, effectively implemented various existing policies, and vigorously introduced a package of incremental policies to promote economic recovery and improvement. Significant achievements have been made in scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, and new productive forces have steadily developed. Regional coordinated development and integrated urban-rural development have shown a new look. Looking at the world, China remains an important engine for global economic growth.

We have focused on the coordinated advancement of various undertakings, and have made new progress in socialist democracy, the rule of law, cultural development, social development, ecological civilization, national defense and military construction. We grandly celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held to further comprehensively deepen reforms. We have focused on ensuring and improving people's livelihoods, maintaining stable employment and prices, and further consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation. We have coordinated development and security, orderly and effectively resolved risks in key areas, and maintained social stability. We effectively responded to major natural disasters and efficiently carried out disaster relief in the high-altitude, oxygen-deficient areas of Dingri County, Tibet. We continued to do a good job in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan affairs, and grandly celebrated the 25th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland. Our athletes achieved the best results in overseas competitions at the Paris Olympics, making overseas and domestic Chinese people deeply proud.

We accurately grasped the general trend of world development, deepened the advancement of China's distinctive major-country diplomacy, actively promoted the reform of the global governance system, deepened solidarity and cooperation with the Global South, and promoted the high-quality Belt and Road Initiative to go deeper and achieve more solid results, injecting more positive energy into maintaining world peace and stability and promoting human progress.

We have adhered to the guidance of Party self-revolution to lead social revolution, consistently promoted comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, carried out in-depth Party discipline education, and continued to increase efforts in anti-corruption. The Party's leadership is strong and effective, and Party and government conduct continues to improve, providing a fundamental guarantee for the development of all undertakings.

The development process of the past year has been extraordinary, and the achievements are encouraging. Through our hard work and struggle, we have once again proved that no difficulties or obstacles can stop the Chinese people's pursuit of a better life, nor can they stop our historical process of building a strong nation and achieving national rejuvenation. As long as we remain unwavering in our beliefs and confidence, face contradictions and problems without evasion, and do not shrink from risks and challenges, we will surely be able to open up new horizons for reform and development!

Comrades, friends!

2025 is the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan. We must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of its 20th Central Committee, adhere to the general principle of pursuing progress while maintaining stability, adhere to placing the focus of development on high-quality development, fully and accurately implement the new development philosophy, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, further comprehensively deepen reforms, expand high-level opening up, prevent and resolve risks in key areas and external shocks, promote sustained economic recovery and improvement, maintain social harmony and stability, and advance comprehensive and strict governance of the Party in depth. We will formulate proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan and continue to strive towards our grand goals.

Governance has its principles, and benefiting the people is fundamental. We must always adhere to the people-centered approach, respond promptly and effectively to the needs and concerns of the masses, earnestly and wholeheartedly handle matters concerning people's livelihoods, continuously improve people's living standards, and ensure that the fruits of modernization are more equitably shared by all people.

Comrades, friends!

In Chinese culture, the snake symbolizes spirituality, wisdom, and vitality, signifying harvest, auspiciousness, and good fortune. In the Year of the Snake, we hope that people of all ethnic groups across the country will, with the spirit of a snake traveling thousands of miles, remain firm in their confidence and full of hope, be pioneering and enterprising, and work hard together to write a new chapter in Chinese-style modernization.

Finally, I wish you all good health, smooth work, happiness for your families, and good fortune in the Year of the Snake!

Thank you!