China highlights tech-driven growth, green transition at Davos

China highlighted wider opening-up, tech innovation and green transformation to boost its high-quality development featuring cutting-edge technologies and fair competition market at Davos forum on Tuesday.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2025 in Davos, Switzerland, kicked off on Monday. Themed “Cooperation in the Intelligent Age,” the event discusses critical topics ranging from geopolitical tensions, the accelerating climate crisis to rapid technological transformation and its impact on artificial intelligence and automation on the global economy.

Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang attended the meeting and delivered a speech on Tuesday. He expressed firm confidence in China’s economic development and stressed global cooperation for open and inclusive development.

Ding said China’s economic growth is generally stable with steady progress as China’s economy is transitioning from traditional growth drivers to new ones, with emerging and high-tech industries booming.

High-tech driven development

China is actively advancing its industrial landscape by focusing on emerging and future-oriented industries to drive economic growth and global competitiveness. These strategic industries are centered around innovation, sustainability, and digital transformation. Key areas include high-tech and smart manufacturing, new energy, digital economy, Artificial Intelligence (AI), biotechnology, and aerospace.

Over the years, China has made significant strides in technological development across various sectors. According to National Bureau of Statistics, China’s research and development (R&D) expenditure surpassed 3.3 trillion yuan (about $454 billion) in 2023, an 8.4 percent increase compared to the previous year. Currently, China’s total R&D expenditure ranks second in the world, just behind the United States. Besides, China’s innovation index stood at 165.3 in 2023 (with 2015 as the baseline of 100), marking a 6 percent increase from the previous year.

Economic contribution by the high-tech sector is encouraging. According to a recent press briefing by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the number of science and technology-driven enterprises in China has exceeded 600,000 as of 2024. Among them, there are a total of 14,600 “little giant” firms – small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are leaders in their respective industries.

On average, “little giant” firms allocate seven percent of their revenue to research and development. Despite comprising just 3.2 percent of the total number of small and medium-sized industrial enterprises in the country, they contribute 10.9 percent of the profits, showcasing their significant impact on China’s economy.

Furthermore, in the global AI competition, between 2014 and 2023, China filed over 38,000 patents related to generative AI, leading the global race in the technology.

Green transformation

At the forum, Ding also highlighted China’s green transition achievements and its significant contributions to addressing climate change. He emphasized China’s remarkable progress in its green and low-carbon transformation, a trend that has become a defining feature of its economy.

China has set an ambitious goal for green development: It aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Since 2012, China’s energy consumption per unit of GDP and carbon emission intensity have decreased by over 26 percent and 35 percent respectively, according to Ding.

Official data shows that China has built the world’s largest and most complete new energy industrial chain. Its renewable energy now accounts for more than 35 percent of the country’s total power generation. Furthermore, it produces 70 percent of the world’s photovoltaic components and 60 percent of wind power equipment, underscoring China’s pivotal role in advancing global green development and climate action.

In the area of circular economy, China has also seen robust growth, with new material technologies leading to innovative solutions. For instance, a Chinese company has developed a process that produces one T-shirt using polyester yarn extracted from eight plastic bottles and manufactures one hardshell jacket using 28 plastic bottles. The process recycles over 30 billion plastic bottles annually, creating both ecological and economic benefits.

“China’s stable and sound economic development will inject strong and sustained impetus to global economic development,” Ding said. He called on all countries to strengthen international cooperation in an era of rapidly emerging new technologies, bridge the digital divide, narrow the development gap between the Global North and South, and foster an open, inclusive and non-discriminatory environment for international economic cooperation.