CHINA'S gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 5 percent to reach 61.68 trillion yuan ($8.49 trillion) in the first half of 2024, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday, demonstrating the resilience and innate strength of the world's second-largest economy.

In the second quarter, China's GDP grew by 4.7 percent year on year, edging down slightly from the 5.3-percent growth recorded in the first quarter.

Chinese officials and analysts pointed out that this slowdown is just a short-term fluctuation that will not sway the economy from its sustained recovery momentum. The fundamentals of the economy remain positive and are set to improve in the second half, listing a number of standout economic drivers including ongoing industrial upgrade, robust exports, as well as substantial investment in high-end manufacturing.

The 5-percent stable growth in the first half also puts China on a firm track to hitting its full-year economic growth target of around 5 percent, economists said, which is a new piece of evidence squarely refuting certain foreign media outlets' bearish views on the Chinese economy. China's GDP growth is expected to lead major economies this year, further consolidating the country's role as a key engine and a stabilizer of the world economy.

As the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China started its third plenary session in Beijing on Monday, observers also expected the reform-themed plenum to channel new impetus into second-half economic growth and decisively lead the country to overcome rising headwinds and march toward Chinese modernization.

"The Chinese economy's operations have remained stable despite a complex global and domestic environment, achieving not only growth in quantity but also improvement in quality," an NBS spokesman said on Monday, according to a statement on the bureau's website.

The spokesman also stressed that for an economy as large as China's, maintaining a medium-to-high growth rate of around 5 percent is in itself also truly remarkable.

Growth highlights

Analysts said that the first-half economic growth is "stable and moderate," and it more importantly mirrors a comprehensive picture of the recovery of the world's second-largest economy while being confronted with challenges such as insufficient effective demand, prolonged property adjustment and weak social expectations, it is undergoing a stage of transformation toward a high-quality development model under which the development of new drivers, such as new quality productive forces, are gaining steam.

Cao Heping, an economist from Peking University, told the Global Times on Monday that despite the slightly slower GDP growth rate in the second quarter, the country's economic transformation and upgrading is picking up speed. He highlighted the country's compelling export data, rapid development of new industries such as electric vehicles and investment in sci-tech innovations.

Factory activity remains the main engine for the economy, partly fueled by resilient overseas demand. The value added of industrial enterprises above a designated size jumped 6 percent year on year in the first six months, with the development of new quality productive forces showing more palpable drive.

Breaking the figures down, the output of 3D printing equipment, new energy vehicles and integrated circuit products jumped 51.6 percent, 34.3 percent and 28.9 percent, respectively, in the same period.

In the first six months, China's exports grew a stunning 6.9 percent in yuan-denominated terms, customs data showed on Friday. As major economies like the US and EU bring down interest rates, the strength of external demand is accumulating, which will be favorable to China's foreign trade throughout the year, analysts said.

Meanwhile, retail sales of consumer goods in the first six months were up 3.7 percent, and fixed-asset investment edged up by 3.9 percent, NBS data showed. In particular, investment in high-tech industries soared an impressive 10.6 percent year on year.

The investment data is a reflection of the country's competitiveness in the manufacturing sector, particularly high-end manufacturing, Darius Tang, associate director of corporate at Fitch Bohua, told the Global Times on Monday.

"With the acceleration of special local government bonds as well as the 1 trillion yuan ultra long-term special treasury bond issuance, the gradual formation of physical workloads will help infrastructure investments, especially those that utilize funds from treasury bonds, to maintain a moderate growth rate," Tang noted.