BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has always put “high-quality development” among the top of his governance agenda, highlighting it as the first and foremost task in China’s efforts to build a modern socialist country in all respects.

Xi made a significant judgment in 2017 that China’s economy had been transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development.

He noted that China had reached a critical stage in transforming its growth model and was faced with prominent problems such as rising labor costs, growing constraints from resources and the environment, unsustainable models of extensive development, and impediments in the economic flows.

Since then, pursuing high-quality development has become a key requirement for Chinese authorities when formulating economic policies, leading to sweeping changes including rapid technological advancement, burgeoning green industries and wider market access for foreign investors.

In essence, high-quality development means a change from seeking growth to seeking better growth.

In Xi’s view, high-quality development is the kind of development that can meet the people’s ever-growing desire for a better life. It reflects the new development philosophy featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.

During China’s annual central economic work conference last December, Xi said: “It is imperative to uphold high-quality development as the unyielding principle of the new era.”  ■