A view of Shanghai (Photo: VCG)

"While the world burns, China defines the future." As China's two sessions convene, a foreign media outlet published an article under this headline, noting that everything that happens in China will have a ripple effect on the world. Each of its decisions affects everyone, either directly or indirectly.

Many overseas Chinese feel this deeply: While they may be facing a world of chaos and turbulence, they have behind them a motherland as firm as a rock. As one netizen put it, "We are not living in a peaceful era, but we are living in a peaceful country."

This year's two sessions have focused heavily on the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), rallying people around a shared vision of the future. The event allows the world to witness China's determination and resilience in economic development featuring "maintaining strategic resolve, forging ahead step by step, and advancing steadily from one stage to another."

A steadily developing China is injecting greater stability and certainty into a world marked by turbulence and transformation.

"Nurture industries of the future such as future energy, quantum technology, embodied AI, brain computer interfaces, and 6G technology" - foreign companies operating in China have taken note of signals from the government work report, viewing them as a "list of opportunities" for deeper engagement in China. China's stability is the reassurance that allows Indonesian companies to confidently expand their overseas business, said the head of an Indonesian media outlet.

A China committed to peaceful development is enabling its hundreds of millions of people to stride more confidently toward the future.

Plans include raising the average years of schooling among the working-age population to 11.7, increasing life expectancy to 80 years, and building around 1,000 closely integrated medical and health consortia at the county level. Through this "livelihood agenda" of the 15th Five-Year Plan, one can glimpse a vibrant and promising future.

From planning the 15th Five-Year Plan to legislating the development planning system, China has become "an oasis of certainty and a hot spot for investment and entrepreneurship," bringing opportunities and hope, warmth and reassurance to the world.

This article was originally published by the Opinion Department of the People's Daily.