Comrades and Friends,

The Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake is coming. We are gathered here to welcome the New Year together.

First of all, on behalf of the Party Central Committee and The State Council, I would like to extend holiday wishes to all of you. I wish Chinese people of all ethnic groups and our compatriots in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, Taiwan and overseas Chinese a happy New Year!

The year of Jia Chen Long, which is about to pass, is a year in which we have excited the spirit of Longma and gone through storms and rainbows. Over the past year, in the face of a complex and grave situation, we responded calmly and took comprehensive measures to overcome difficulties and forge ahead, making new and solid strides toward Chinese-style modernization.

We made solid efforts to promote high-quality development, effectively implemented various stock policies, and stepped up efforts to introduce a package of incremental policies to promote economic recovery. Scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation have yielded fruitful results, and new quality productivity has developed steadily. Coordinated development among regions and integrated development between urban and rural areas have taken on a new look. Our country remains the important engine of world economic growth.

We have focused on coordinated progress in various undertakings, and new progress has been made in building socialist democracy, the rule of law, culture, society, ecological progress, and national defense and the armed forces. We celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of New China. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was convened to further deepen reform in an all-round way. We worked hard to ensure and improve people's wellbeing, kept employment and prices stable, and further consolidated and expanded our achievements in poverty alleviation. We coordinated development and security, effectively and orderly defused risks in key areas, and maintained overall social stability. We effectively responded to major natural disasters and effectively carried out earthquake relief in the high-cold and oxygen-deficient areas of Dingri, Tibet. We will continue to do a good job in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and solemnly celebrate the 25th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland. Chinese athletes achieved the best results in the Paris Olympic Games, which made Chinese people at home and abroad deeply proud.

With an accurate grasp of the general trend of world development, we have advanced major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, actively promoted reform of the global governance system, deepened unity and cooperation in the Global South, and made deep and solid progress in high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, so as to inject more positive energy into maintaining world peace and stability and promoting human development and progress.

We are committed to leading the social revolution through the Party's self-revolution, consistently promoting comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, steadily carrying out study and education in Party discipline, and continuing to step up efforts to fight corruption. The Party's leadership is strong and strong, and the Party's conduct and government conduct continue to improve, providing a fundamental guarantee for the development of various undertakings.

The course of development in the past year has been extraordinary, and the results are encouraging. We have proved once again through hard work that no difficulties or obstacles can stop the Chinese people from advancing their pursuit of a better life, nor can they stop the historical process of building a strong country and national rejuvenation. As long as we remain firm in our faith and confidence, do not shy away from confronting problems, and do not shrink from addressing risks and challenges, we will surely open new horizons for reform and development.

Comrades and Friends,

The year 2025 is the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan. We must follow the guidance of the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee, adhere to the general principle of seeking progress while ensuring stability, focus on high-quality development, fully and accurately implement the new vision for development, accelerate the establishment of a new pattern of development, further deepen reform across the board, and expand opening-up at a high level. We will guard against and defuse risks and external shocks in key areas, promote sustained economic recovery, maintain social harmony and stability, and comprehensively and strictly govern the Party. We will formulate proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan and continue to forge ahead towards our ambitious goals.

Rule the country regularly and benefit the people is the foundation. We must always put the people first, respond to people's needs and concerns in a timely and effective manner, work hard and with appropriate circumstances to deliver tangible results for people's well-being, and continuously improve people's living standards so that all people will benefit more from the fruits of modernization in a fairer way.

Comrades and Friends,

In Chinese culture, the snake is a symbol of spirituality, wisdom and vitality, which means good harvest, good luck and happiness. In the Year of the Snake, I hope that people of all ethnic groups in China will forge ahead and work doggedly together to write a new chapter in Chinese-style modernization with confidence and hope.

Finally, I wish you good health, success in your work, happiness for your family and a happy Year of the Snake!

Thank you all!

Source: Chinese government website