Common prosperity long-term goal

China's goal of achieving common prosperity will be realized in the process of achieving high-quality growth without an overreliance on distribution, experts said.

When speaking at a news briefing held by the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on introducing the guiding principles of its sixth plenary session, which concluded on Thursday, Han Wenxiu, an official with the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, said that development will remain the top priority for China, and the country will work to achieve common prosperity by advancing high-quality growth.

"As China is still the largest developing country in the world, we still need to address issues and problems along the way via advancing development. Development in the new era requires a complete, accurate and comprehensive delivery of the new development philosophy to achieve high quality growth," Han said.

Though China's annual per capita GDP has now exceeded $10,000, it has yet to reach the level of high-income countries, Han said. He pointed out that there is no shortcut to common prosperity, and the goal will have to be realized through the arduous efforts of all Chinese people.

While the issue of distribution is critical, our goal of reaching common prosperity shall not rely merely on distribution, he said at the briefing.

Han added that it is necessary to enhance the degree of balance, coordination and inclusiveness of development and further narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas. This will help to lay a solid foundation for common prosperity, and efforts in advancing high-quality growth are also a process of coping with unbalanced and inadequate development.

"While the issue of income gaps widely exists in a large number of countries, numerous studies worldwide have proved that as a country grows in size economically, its income gaps are not likely to narrow naturally, which means public policy does have a critical role to play in this aspect and in achieving high-quality growth," said Su Jingchun, an associate professor at the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, who has spent years studying income distribution.

Su said efforts in realizing common prosperity while pushing forward growth are mutually reinforcing.

She said that for high-quality growth to manifest itself, the government should foster an environment that helps business leaders fully leverage their entrepreneurial spirit.

"This may include business innovations, wealth generation and shouldering greater social responsibilities," Su added.