Guangdong exhibits its high-quality development

Journalists are set to get a close-up view of Guangdong's high-quality development as the province has not only leveraged its traditional strengths such as foreign trade and manufacturing, but also fostered productive forces in talent, technologies and innovation.

"We expect journalists will experience the vibrant momentum of Guangdong's high-quality development and produce more exemplary works that vividly reflect the province's strategies, measures and proactive explorations in advancing high-quality development," said Chen Jianwen, head of the publicity department of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Chen made the remarks at a kickoff event on Tuesday, preceding the start of the province's 2024 "High-Quality Development Research Tour", during which over 110 journalists from central and provincial media outlets will embark on a seven-day trip to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhaoqing and Zhuhai, with the aim of decrypting Guangdong's strategy to boost growth.

In response to the United States' economic and technological sanctions, China has been emphasizing the importance of high-quality development and "new quality productive forces" to promote advanced manufacturing and green development, creating strategic high-tech industry clusters, next-generation information and communications technologies, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, new energy, new materials and advanced manufacturing equipment.

Under the initiative, Guangdong's achievements have underscored its leadership — the province's GDP reached 13.5 trillion yuan ($1.87 trillion), securing its status as the top province for a 35th consecutive year. Guangdong also led the nation in research and development, with R&D spending accounting for 3.4 percent of regional GDP.

"In the pursuit of cultivating new quality productive forces, Guangdong remains steadfast in fortifying the resilience and security standards of its industrial and supply chains," said Zou Yongbing, chief economist of Guangdong's department of industry and information technology. This approach aims to safeguard the autonomy, controllability, safety and reliability of the province's industrial ecosystem, he said.

In line with that pursuit, Lin Yi, deputy head of Shenzhen's industry and information technology bureau, reaffirmed on Tuesday Shenzhen's commitment to support the development of native HarmonyOS apps.

HarmonyOS, or Hongmeng in Chinese, is an open-source operating system developed by Chinese telecom giant Huawei for various devices and scenarios, including intelligent screens, tablets, wearables and cars.

"Shenzhen is leading the way as the first city in China to promote development of the HarmonyOS native application at the municipal government level," Lin said, adding that this effort will strengthen Shenzhen's reputation as a top software city, an innovation hub and a major export center in China.

"Meanwhile, by doing so, Shenzhen also aims to build a model ecosystem for the HarmonyOS operating system, thereby boosting the global competitiveness of Chinese tech companies," Lin added.

Li Yihui contributed to this story.