President says future starts now

President Xi Jinping delivers his New Year address on Sunday. It was aired on television, radio and the internet. XINHUA

Reform, opening-up will be carried out fully so people can realize the 'Chinese dream', Xi says in his New Year speech

Speech highlights

"Reform and opening-up has been the only path to the development and progress of contemporary China."

"Building a high-rise begins with mounds of soil."

"I feel the millions of ordinary Chinese are the greatest, and I also feel that happiness is achieved through hard work."

"Our great development has been achieved by the people, and its fruits should be shared by the people."

"This will be the first time in thousands of years of Chinese history that extreme poverty has been eliminated."

China will take the opportunity on the 40th anniversary of the start of the reform and opening-up policy this year to carry them through to the end, President Xi Jinping said on Sunday, while pledging efforts to "surmount all obstacles to carry the reform further to its ultimate triumph".

"Reform and opening-up has been the only path to the development and progress of contemporary China, and the only path to the realization of the Chinese dream," Xi said in his New Year address.

Xi stressed that 2018 is the launch of implementing the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a key meeting that drew the blueprint for the country's development for decades to come.

"Building a high-rise begins with mounds of soil. To translate the blueprint into reality, we have to avoid the distractions of unsubstantial ideas and superficial fame, take one step at a time and approach our work with a firm footing," he said.

The president reaffirmed his solemn commitment to lift all of the country's rural impoverished people out of poverty under current standards by 2020.

"This will be the first time in thousands of years of Chinese history that extreme poverty has been eliminated," Xi said.