At the Helm of Chinese Modernization: An important key to China's success

**SPEAKER_1** (0:03)
Our story begins with a photograph taken in the 1980s. Inside a modest office in northern China's Hebei province, a young man stood before a county map on the wall, a painting hand pointing to a specific location. He was studying the landscape and planning for the county's future.
This young man was Xi Jinping, who would later become the nation's top leader. At the time, he had just arrived in Zhending County, not far from Beijing. People who work with him still remember those days.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:37)
Zhao Guilin, then a local official, recalled, After arriving in Zhending, he frequently visited local villages. In those days, he'd ride the bicycle out to the fields, talking with villagers, asking about their earnings, harvests, and whether they had enough to eat.
Whether production was high and whether people were satisfied with their lives.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:03)
After conducting field research and assessing local conditions, Xi Jinping proposed a development plan leveraging the area's proximity to the provincial capital. It was termed a semi-suburban economy. The strategy was to take full advantage of the county's location, supply the city with what it needed while tapping into the city's strengths. As he summarized, borrowing from an ancient Chinese saying, live of the mountains if you are near mountains, live of the water if you are near water, live of the city if you are near a city. In more modern terms, this means developing the service sector. And the results were impressive. Agri-industrial output as well as farmers' incomes doubled from the level in 1980 The local economic conditions took on a completely new look.
The commitment to long-range planning was carried far beyond this county.
When working in the coastal city of Fuzhou in the 1990s, Xi Jinping led the drafting of a long-term development plan known as the 3820 Strategic Project, a roadmap that outlined goals for the city over the next three, eight, and 20 years. Many people found the 20-year horizon surprising. Qi Xinzhong, who headed the Policy Research Division on Rural Construction in Fuzhou, said, When drafting local plans, people usually only consider the three to five years of their term in office.

**Friedrich Merz** (2:55)
Was it really necessary to think as far ahead as 20 years?
But Xi Jinping said, officials must look far ahead. Without long-term planning, development can go seriously wrong and leave lasting regrets for generations.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:15)
Today's Fuzhou proves that long-term planning truly pays off. As a rising Trillian Yuan economic entity, the city has not only built up real economic strength, but also won the Global Award for Sustainable Development in Cities.
Later, while working in Zhejiang Province, Xi Jinping developed the Double Eight Strategy. This plan focused on maximizing Zhejiang's strengths in eight areas and implementing eight corresponding measures. Guo Zhanheng was a senior policy researcher in the Zhejiang Provincial Government at the time. He said.

**Guo Zhanheng** (4:02)
Actually, since starting at his new post in Zhejiang, he began thinking systematically about the province's future. Through pioneering innovative practices, he crafted a comprehensive top-level design for both present and future development, a strategic vision that looked decades ahead.

**SPEAKER_1** (4:24)
The impact of this strategy reshaped Zhejiang into a global powerhouse. The province now isn't just an economic giant, it's a thriving cradle for next-generation technology, incubating world-class innovators like unitary robotics. From Zhengding to Fuzhou and later to Zhejiang, Xi Jinping's leadership across every chapter of his career highlights a deep commitment to long-term strategy. And this philosophy is being vividly demonstrated today.
In early 2025, the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the global tech industry by launching DeepSeek R1, an open-source model that delivered elite performance at a fraction of the cost and resources of its peers. Tech giants like NVIDIA, Amazon, and Microsoft announced integration of the model into their platforms on the same day. The world marvels at China's AI achievements. Yet, Rome wasn't built in a day. Every breakthrough has a long story behind it.
As early as 2018, Xi Jinping pointed out that artificial intelligence would be a key driving force behind a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. Two years later, he once again emphasized this point of view in Shanghai.

**SPEAKER_5** (6:01)
We need to focus on key sectors and accelerate the creation of world-class industrial clusters in areas such as integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence.

**SPEAKER_1** (6:20)
Today, AI is opening up entirely new possibilities for China. The lesson is clear. When historic opportunities emerge, success depends on seeing them early and planning ahead.
On October 20th, 2025, while summing up the results of the 14th five-year plan, Xi Jinping highlighted a series of milestones. China's annual GDP surpassed 140 trillion yuan. The manufacturing sector remained the world's largest for 16 consecutive year. China contributed around 30% of global economic growth. Per capita grain possession stayed above 500 kg, well beyond the internationally recognized food security benchmark. Forest coverage rate exceeded 25%, making China one of the world's fastest growing contributors to global forest resources. The 20 major goals, 17 strategic tasks, and 102 key projects set out in the 14th five-year plan were successfully completed.