Xi's New Year message reaffirms commitment to improving people's lives: expert

The New Year address delivered by President Xi Jinping emphasized the need to ensure a happy life for the people, with more policies aimed at benefiting both the public and businesses expected in 2025, a political analyst said on Tuesday.

On the New Year's eve, Xi delivered his 2025 New Year message through China Media Group (CMG) and the Internet. In an interview with CMG later that night, Professor Hong Xianghua of the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) elaborated on the extensive significance President Xi's message carries in ensuring a happy life for the people in the coming year.

"In his New Year address, President Xi said 'Of all the jobs in front of us, the most important is to ensure a happy life for our people,' [highlighting the need to] address issues -- big or small-- that affect the people' daily lives. In 2024, the government introduced a range of policies designed to benefit the public and support businesses. Similarly, in 2025, more favorable measures will be implemented, such as the private sector promotion law, increases in pension payments, and higher fiscal subsidies," Hong said.

The private sector promotion law is the country's first basic law specifically focused on the development of the private sector of the economy. A draft version was released in October 2024 for public input.

Moreover, to improve the people's well-being, the expert noted, the country's economy will put more emphasis on technological innovation and emerging industries to drive new growth.

"The economy will continue to prioritize technological innovation as a driver of new quality productive forces, giving a further boost to national economic development," he said.

Xi's New Year message reaffirms commitment to improving people's lives: expert

The Zhuhai Port on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge handled 27 million passenger trips and 5.55 million vehicle trips in 2024, both record highs, official data showed on Friday.

In 2024, the passenger flow and vehicle flow through the Zhuhai Port rose by 72 percent and 71 percent year on year, respectively, according to the border inspection station on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

The 55-kilometer bridge links China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the Macao SAR and the city of Zhuhai in south China's Guangdong Province. It is the world's longest bridge-and-tunnel sea crossing. In 2024, the Zhuhai Port registered 16.2 million border entries and exits by travelers from Hong Kong and Macao, a sharp increase of 63 percent year on year, and accounting for nearly 60 percent of the total passenger flow through the port, the data showed.

Peak passenger flow through the port occurred frequently on weekends and holidays.

In the year, more than 5.24 million of the border entries and exits were made by tourists, 55 percent higher than 2023. The surge can be attributed to the constant expansion of the Individual Travel Scheme to allow more mainland cities to issue individual travel endorsements for trips to Hong Kong and Macao.

In 2024, there were 50 days in which the daily passenger flow through the port exceeded 100,000 trips, a 10-fold increase over 2023.

On February 13, 2024, the daily passenger flow reached 144,000 trips, the highest since the bridge opened to public traffic in October 2018.

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge sees record high traffic flow in 2024