Chinese Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang and his wife Counsellor Hua Mei held a special new year reception in London on Friday.

The couple hosted around 500 guests from the UK's Chinese community to celebrate Spring Festival and welcome in the Year of the Horse.

In his speech before the reception, the ambassador said that 2025 had been an extraordinary year for China.

Over the last year, China convened the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, laying out a comprehensive blueprint for the country's development over the next five years, Zheng said.

The nation marked the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War, established Commemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration, and celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Xizang autonomous region and the 70th anniversary of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"These events demonstrated China's firm commitment to peace and justice and strengthened the collective momentum toward national rejuvenation," the ambassador added.

Zheng said that China met its major economic and social development targets in 2025, recording an annual GDP growth of 5 percent, amounting to over 140 trillion yuan ($20.3 trillion). He added that China continues to contribute around 30 percent of global economic growth annually, providing stability, certainty and positive energy to the world economy.

The ambassador also noted that the upcoming Year of the Horse marks the beginning of China's 15th Five-Year Plan(2026-30): "China will fully implement the strategic decisions of the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and the Central Economic Work Conference, comprehensively deepen reform and opening up for high-quality development, and continue to expand high-standard opening-up to advance Chinese modernization," he said.

In pointing out that the recent official visit to China by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer marked the first visit by a British prime minister to China in eight years, Zheng remarked approvingly on how Starmer and President Xi Jinping reached an "important consensus on advancing a long-term, stable and comprehensive strategic partnership, setting the direction for future bilateral relations.

"The more than 20 cooperation agreements signed during the visit underscore the depth and breadth of China-UK cooperation."

Zheng also thanked overseas Chinese, Chinese enterprises and Chinese students in the UK for their vigorous support, recognizing their crucial role as promoters of Chinese culture and facilitators of bilateral friendship.