BEIJING -- Economic growth has little meaning unless it can give people a better life. China takes aim at a 5.5-percent growth target for 2022, vowing to create more than 11 million urban jobs and place development and people's livelihoods front and center.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping has said, "To meet people's desire for a happy life is our mission."

The people-centered approach, embodied in Xi's economic thought widely known as "Xiconomics," is charting course for China's high-quality growth and common development of all nations through win-win cooperation.

MEETING PEOPLE'S NEEDS

"What we now face is the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life," Xi said at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017.

From meeting people's growing material and cultural needs to delivering a better life to all Chinese people, as Xi has stressed that "Putting people first is our fundamental philosophy of governance."

"The thought, which creatively combines the aspiration of human beings for a better life with the practice of people-oriented development, is of global influence," said Australian economist Guo Shengxiang.

To meet the people's desire for a happy life is a challenge for governments worldwide, particularly at a time when the international community is struggling to reduce the development gap, and prevent environmental degradation.

In this regard, the Chinese president stressed efforts to unswervingly pursue high-quality development and improve the people's well-being.

By drawing a blueprint for China's development, Xi is leading the country along the path for high-quality growth and towards building a modern economic system and promoting common development.

Guided by his economic thought, China's economy is contributing to building an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that boasts lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity with better products, better services and a bigger market.

Xi's economic philosophy is full of oriental wisdom and is conducive to the development of the world, noted Honson To, chairman of KPMG China and Asia Pacific.

"It is an advanced thought that suits China's national conditions and the development trend of the world," he said.