Critical moments, key junctures: Xi urges head-on approach as external threats mount

President Xi Jinping has called on the nation to “face difficulties head-on and strengthen confidence” amid mounting external challenges, while highlighting the crucial decision-making of the party’s Central Committee in steering the country’s economic work.

His comments, included in the latest Communist Party magazine Qiushi to be issued on Saturday, came after the release of a readout from a meeting of the party’s Politburo, which has doubled down on economic stability and quality development with tech advancements in the country’s economic work in 2025.

“Centralised and unified leadership by the Party Central Committee is the fundamental guarantee for effective economic work,” Xi said in the publication, according to Xinhua on Friday.

“At critical moments and key junctures, the Party Central Committee promptly assesses the situation and makes strategic decisions, ensuring that China’s economic ship sails through the winds and waves, moving steadily towards the future.”

The statements were released after US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US would not only impose his originally outlined 10 per cent tariffs on all Chinese imports beginning on Tuesday, but that these were to be doubled for an effective rate of 20 per cent.

Some of the top priorities for economic work, according to Xi, include ensuring an effective relationship between the market and the government, balancing demand and supply, enhancing resource-allocation efficiency, and pursuing both quality and scale in development.