Opinion | Chinese development model remains best growth model for Global South
As the year draws to a close, looking back at China's economic performance in 2025, Marcus Vinicius De Freitas, Visiting Professor of China Foreign Affairs University told China Youth Daily in a recent interview that China shows capacity to maintain macroeconomic stability while advancing structural transformation.He believed that the Chinese development model remains the best model for growth, particularly for the Global South.
A series of recent Chinese economic data releases have been released. For example, China's value-added industrial output expanded 4.8 percent year-on-year in November; China's total goods imports and exports rose to 41.21 trillion yuan ($5.82 trillion) in the first 11 months of this year, up 3.6 percent year-on-year; and stronger demand from Chinese exporters and a softening U.S. dollar have pushed the RMB to 7.0508 per dollar onshore and 7.0487 offshore on December 15, marking the RMB's strongest position against the U.S. dollar in 14 months.
While the global economy has experienced inflationary shocks, geopolitical fragmentation, and policy improvisation, China has maintained a relatively stable course anchored in long-term planning, institutional continuity, and adaptive governance, Marcus noted. He added that the ongoing upgrading of manufacturing, consolidation of green industries, and increasing sophistication of domestic supply chains indicate that China now pursues purposeful development rather than growth for its own sake. This is reflected in policies supporting advanced manufacturing, digital infrastructure, and energy transition.
"The social dimension of this development is equally significant. China's focus on employment stability, regional coordination, and poverty alleviation has reduced many of the social disruptions that often accompany economic transition. In this regard, China's experience by 2025 exemplifies how scale, stability, and reform can coexist within a coherent development framework," Marcus said.
Noting that the recent Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing set the priorities for economic work in 2026, Marcus emphasized that the Chinese leadership approaches economic governance as a process of continuous calibration rather than abrupt correction. The focus on stability, predictability, and risk prevention demonstrates an understanding that transformation should be managed, not imposed. There was clarity in acknowledging external challenges without overstating them. Rather than using global uncertainty as an excuse to retreat inward, the meeting positioned it as a reason to strengthen domestic fundamentals while preserving openness. This reflects a mature understanding of global economic cycles.
Looking ahead, Marcus stressed the need for China's high-quality development strategy to be further refined, with emphasis likely to continue to be placed on innovation, domestic demand, industrial upgrading, and risk management as mutually reinforcing pillars of growth rather than as separate policies. This coherence distinguishes China's economic governance from more reactive models in other contexts. (By Ma Ziqian/China Youth Daily)
