Beijing, China, Dec. 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The annual Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC) was held in Beijing from December 10 to 11. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at the conference. The conference reviewed the country\u2019s economic work in 2025, analyzed the current economic situation, and arranged next year’s economic work economic work, providing guidance and direction for ensuring a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30).<\/p>\n
The meeting took into consideration both domestic and international situations and made a scientific assessment of China\u2019s development situation. Building on new practical experience, it summarized and outlined \u201cfive imperatives\u201d as new understandings and insights, and identified key tasks for next year\u2019s economic work through \u201ceight commitments.\u201d These range from continuously expanding domestic demand as a focus and enhancing innovation-driven development, to deepening reform and expanding opening-up; from promoting coordinated development and advancing the carbon emissions peaking and carbon neutrality goals, to prioritizing people’s livelihoods and safeguarding the bottom line against systemic risks \u2013 covering all aspects of economic and social development.<\/p>\n
Since the new era, the Central Economic Work Conference has consistently attached great importance to theoretical summary as a means of guiding economic development and practices. As circumstances evolve, the conference has continued to deepen its understanding of the underlying laws governing economic work. The book series Xi Jinping: The Governance of China include important speeches delivered by President Xi at the CEWCs in 2014 (Volume II), 2017 (Volume III), 2021 (Volume IV), 2022 (Volume V), and 2024 (Volume V), which have provided guidance and direction for promoting China\u2019s high-quality economic development.<\/p>\n
In the 18th installment of the special series “Decoding the Book of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China,” the Global Times (GT), along with the People’s Daily Overseas Edition, continues to invite Chinese and foreign scholars, translators of Xi’s works, practitioners with firsthand experience, and international readers to discuss how under the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy, the CEWC plays a key role in steering China\u2019s economic development and practices, and, with a focus on this year\u2019s conference, explores the key priorities for China\u2019s economic work in the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan.<\/p>\n
In the 17th installment of the “Practitioner’s Insights” column, a patient and a medical expert at the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone in South China\u2019s Hainan Province share their personal experiences related to China\u2019s high-standard opening-up.<\/p>\n
A beam of bright laser light flashed before her eyes, leaving a microscopic incision on the surface of the cornea \u2013 so small it was almost imperceptible. Yet it was this barely visible cut that allowed Zhou Suyun, a patient from Southwest China\u2019s Sichuan Province, to see the world clearly again.<\/p>\n
This winter, at Boao Super Hospital in the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone in South China\u2019s Hainan Province, Zhou, now in her 60s, underwent refractive surgery using the latest-generation Zeiss robotic femtosecond laser system, VISUMAX 800. On the operating table, the laser completed the corneal procedure in less than 10 seconds. But those few seconds put an end to years of inconvenience that had shaped her daily life.<\/p>\n
When Zhou opened her eyes, morning sunlight streamed through rows of palm trees outside the hospital. The clarity was so striking that she hesitated to blink. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen things this bright in many years,\u201d she said softly.<\/p>\n
Such moments of \u201cpleasant surprise\u201d are far from rare in Lecheng.<\/p>\n
As one of the earliest ophthalmology experts to establish a presence in the pilot zone, Qu Jia views the changes behind these surgeries as a mirror of China\u2019s broader opening-up process in the medical field. From the introduction of cutting-edge technologies and their standardized application to the growth of indigenous innovation, he has witnessed nearly every stage firsthand.<\/p>\n
On March 1, 2018, Qu led a team from Wenzhou Medical University, in East China\u2019s Zhejiang Province, into Lecheng, spearheading the development of its ophthalmology platform and playing a key role in building the pilot zone\u2019s real-world evidence (RWE) research system, which generates clinical evidence on the use, benefits and potential risks of medical products based on real-world data (RWD). Today, he serves as president of the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University and dean of the Boao Super TCM Hospital (Research-oriented Hospital) \u2013 positions that place him at the intersection of China\u2019s leading clinical ophthalmology network and the institutional innovation unfolding in Hainan\u2019s medical opening-up trial zone. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat patients see is a long-lost brightness. What lies behind that brightness is a set of tailor-made policies designed by the country specifically for the pilot zone,\u201d Qu told the Global Times. These include the \u201cnine preferential policies,\u201d which grant special approvals for the import of medical technologies, equipment and pharmaceuticals \u2013 an institutional framework that allows Lecheng to pioneer reforms on a trial basis.<\/p>\n
One example is the introduction of the VISUMAX 800 on November 7, 2022. Under the policy framework, the device was allowed to be used in the pilot zone despite not yet being approved domestically, enabling patients to access cutting-edge technologies much earlier than would otherwise be possible.<\/p>\n
On March 1 this year, the VISUMAX 800 was officially approved for sale in China. Prior to that, the ophthalmology department at Boao Super Hospital, where Qu works, had already completed more than 270 procedures using the device. Of these, 62 cases were included in real-world research and submitted as supporting evidence for domestic registration, significantly accelerating the approval process. \u201cFrom acceptance to approval, it took just a year and a half, dramatically shortening the time to market,\u201d Qu said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlobally speaking, medical special zones like Lecheng are extremely rare,\u201d Qu noted. \u201cNow, with the added advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) and the policy emphasis under the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) on \u201cadvancing the healthy China initiative,\u201d Lecheng is well positioned to become a world-leading comprehensive health service hub.\u201d As the island-wide special customs operation approaches, he added, institutional and resource advantages will be further unleashed.<\/p>\n
Like a faint glimmer at sea that signals the direction of the tide, the practice of the pilot zone reflects the broader landscape of China\u2019s high-standard opening-up. The recently concluded 2025 Central Economic Work Conference underscored the need to steadily advance institutional opening-up, expand self-initiated opening-up in the service sector in an orderly manner, and make solid progress in developing the Hainan FTP.<\/p>\n
A pilot zone for institutional innovation<\/p>\n
Turning the clock back to 2018, when Qu\u2019s team was building the ophthalmology platform in Lecheng, China was sending a clear signal to the world about its determination to expand opening-up. That year marked the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up, as socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a new era and reform reached another critical historical juncture.<\/p>\n
On April 10, 2018, President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia. Later included in Volume III of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China<\/i>, the speech reaffirmed that \u201cthe Chinese people will continue to open up further and expand cooperation. We will stay committed to the strategy of opening up for win-win results.\u201d President Xi said in the speech that \u201cI wish to make it clear to all that China\u2019s door will not be closed and will only open even wider.\u201d <\/p>\n
The following day, on April 11, 2018, President Xi inspected the planning hall of Lecheng international medical tourism pilot zone in Boao. <\/p>\n
That year also marked the 30th anniversary of Hainan\u2019s establishment as a province and special economic zone. Today, China\u2019s youngest province and largest special economic zone is approaching another historic milestone.<\/p>\n
On November 6, when hearing a work report in Sanya on the building of the Hainan FTP, President Xi stressed to build the Hainan FTP into a key gateway driving the country’s opening up in the new era.<\/p>\n
Top-level design is now translating into on-the-ground practice. Qu and his team have felt the acceleration of institutional changes in Lecheng firsthand. \u201cThese changes are a microcosm of China\u2019s push for high-standard opening-up,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter the special customs operation begins, we will be operating under a full set of high-standard procedures, rules and mechanisms aligned with international norms.\u201d<\/p>\n
As policies take effect, Lecheng has established deep cooperation with more than 180 pharmaceutical and medical device companies from 20 countries and regions. International collaboration is also evolving from simple product introduction to joint technology development. Over the past six or seven years, Qu\u2019s institute has attracted experts from the US, Singapore and other countries. \u201cMany of them see Hainan as a land of tremendous potential \u2013 a place that hosts the world\u2019s largest testing ground for the application of innovative drugs and devices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the accumulation of cooperation, our real-world research data in several disease areas are already at the global forefront,\u201d Qu added. \u201cMany overseas peers are impressed by the speed and results of China\u2019s medical development.\u201d Benefiting from China\u2019s continued opening-up and its drive to develop new quality productive forces, breakthroughs have emerged across medical technology fields, with some domestically developed drugs and devices achieving global leadership, such as those for myopia prevention and control.<\/p>\n
Beyond technological innovation, Lecheng is also emerging as a world-class medical tourism destination. Official data show that from January to October 2025, the pilot zone received 564,900 medical tourism visits, up 81 percent year on year. Following the arrival of its first fully serviced international medical tourism group in December 2024, Lecheng has since welcomed visitors from Canada, Spain, Russia, Cuba and other countries.<\/p>\n
Special operations for high-standard opening-up<\/p>\n
Lecheng\u2019s explorations in medical technology application, international cooperation and health services are increasingly being integrated into Hainan\u2019s broader institutional framework \u2013 one that benchmarks the world\u2019s highest standards of opening-up.<\/p>\n
What constitutes the world\u2019s highest level of opening-up? Chi Fulin, president of Hainan Institute for Free Trade Port Studies, said that the \u201czero tariffs, low tax rates and a simple tax system\u201d outlined in the Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port forms the core of its policy framework, enabling \u201cfive key freedoms and conveniences\u201d alongside the secure and orderly flow of data.<\/p>\n
The plan envisions that by 2035, the system and operational mode of the FTP will be more mature, while trade and investment rules featuring freedom, fairness, rule of law, and high-level process supervision will be basically built, and liberalization and facilitation of trade, investment, cross-border capital flows, entry\/exit of people, transportation, as well as data transfers in a secure and orderly manner, will be seen.<\/p>\n
As a cornerstone policy, the \u201czero-tariff\u201d program has delivered tangible results. By October, imports covered by the policy had reached 27.188 billion yuan ($3.8 billion), generating 5.155 billion yuan in tax reductions and exemptions. With the launch of the special operations, the share of zero-tariff items will rise from 21 percent to 74 percent, further amplifying policy benefits. Lecheng has been a direct beneficiary. By October 15, zero-tariff imports of drugs and medical devices had cumulatively reduced taxes by nearly 30 million yuan.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Zero tariff\u2019 is not simply about tariff levels; it represents a special institutional arrangement \u2013 a special customs supervision system,\u201d Chi told the Global Times. \u201cUnder this framework, other free trade port policies can be effectively implemented. That is why the island-wide special customs operation is the top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chi said that Hainan\u2019s service-oriented development holds vast potential. \u201cDuty-free shopping and healthcare are two trump cards for Hainan\u2019s service trade,\u201d he said, adding that extending Lecheng\u2019s policies across the island and further transforming it toward an \u201cinternational medical Silicon Valley\u201d would significantly enhance Hainan\u2019s overall appeal.<\/p>\n
Amid growing global economic uncertainty, the timing of Hainan\u2019s special customs operation carries broader significance. \u201cIt will demonstrate China\u2019s firm commitment and practical actions in advancing high-standard opening-up,\u201d Chi said. \u201cBy responding to new challenges and demands in the global economic landscape, it is expected to strengthen confidence and expectations among all parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Chi noted that the next decade will be a critical period for China\u2019s economic transformation and upgrading. \u201cIf structural reforms centered on upgrading consumption achieve substantive breakthroughs, China\u2019s contribution to global economic growth could still reach 25 to 30 percent, maintaining its role as a key engine of global growth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A steady path allows boundless progress. For Qu Jia, the next decade translates into a more concrete goal: enabling more patients at home and abroad to benefit from technological progress. \u201cWe have institutional strengths, an industrial foundation, and policy dividends,\u201d he said. \u201cAs long as the direction remains unchanged, China\u2019s medical innovation can truly take the global lead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope these policies will continue to take root,\u201d he said, \u201cso that the economy improves, people stay healthier, and everyday life keeps getting better \u2013 right here on this land.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0Global Times:<\/a> Disclaimer: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies (including product offerings, regulatory plans and business plans) and may change without notice. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.<\/p>\n Beijing, China, Dec. 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The annual Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC) was held in Beijing from December 10 to 11. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at the conference. The conference […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":393382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ml.globenewswire.com\/media\/Mjc0OGQ0NzMtMGYwNS00NTdlLWI1MDYtZmNlNzQ2MWQwNTY3LTEzMDkwMTYtMjAyNS0xMi0yMi1lbg==\/tiny\/Global-Times.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-globenewswire"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailybanglanewspapers.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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