Five-year plan outlined at Party plenum to enhance high-quality growth, people’s livelihoods

China is finalizing its proposed 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), the key agenda at the fourth plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee that convened in Beijing from Oct 20 to 23.

Outlining major goals and measures for economic growth, technological innovation, people’s livelihood and sustainable development, the plan is expected to prioritize high-quality development fueled by innovation and further opening-up.

Rigorous and wide-ranging consultations among relevant government departments and social sectors have taken place for the drafting of the plan in line with China’s principle of democratic and scientific decision-making.

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A notable feature is the whole-process democracy throughout the formulation of the 15th Five-Year Plan. Over the years, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee

Xi Jinping, who is also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has rightly stressed sound, consultative and law-based decision-making to ensure that the next five-year plan for national economic and social development is of high quality.

Xi also emphasized the importance of integrating top-level design along with seeking advice from the public, enhancing research and discussions, and building broad consensus.

It is pertinent to mention that, apart from investigative reports of professional teams, more than 3.11 million suggestions for the plan were received by policy makers between May and June, showing people’s massive participation in the decision-making process, as Xinhua News Agency reported.

Policy statements and important speeches of President Xi have already reflected probable salient features of the socio-economic development plan for the coming years. Xi’s emphasis on scientifically planning economic and people-centered social development for the next five years has led to clear parameters, with approaches and measures to be proposed for each specific field.

The Chinese leader highlighted that expanded high-standard opening-up, promotion of high-quality development on all fronts, ensuring both development and security, with a comprehensive assessment of domestic and external risks and challenges should also be part of the 15th Five-Year Plan.

Obviously, the new plan will be a crucial step in achieving China’s long-term goal, set by the 20th National Congress of the CPC, to “basically realize socialist modernization” by 2035, with the 14th, 15th and 16th Five-Year Plans serving as important periods in advancing toward the goal. Thus, adhering to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, and accelerating the forging of a new development paradigm, would be institutionalized under the plan.

The plan is also expected to reflect Xi’s stress on improving the national innovation system by stimulating the vitality of various innovation entities and zeroing in on global scientific and technological frontiers.

Solid foundational and strategic support for new quality productive forces will depend on the coordinated integration of education, technology and talents, which should be nurtured. Maintaining sustained focus on development of new quality productive forces will help clarify the direction for shaping new drivers for China’s growth.

The desired targets of new quality productive forces may be achieved by taking major steps of pursuing common prosperity, improving income distribution, boosting purchasing power of middle- and low-income groups and investing in public welfare. The integrated structural reforms would stimulate domestic demand while addressing social concerns, moving the nation and its economy toward greater stability, sustainability and prosperity, while mitigating external risks and domestic hurdles.

Stable reallocation of capital to frontier technologies and green infrastructure, along with development of well-regulated energy and carbon markets could also be highlighted under the new plan. The CPC’s supervision, economic insight, good governance, and people-centric policies can steer investment toward long-term productive capacity.

A new model of opening up, ensuring regulatory consistency and expansion of cross-border investment and data regimes through legal mechanisms would strengthen stakeholder trust and reduce investor friction. Furthermore, promoting constructive competition should be the way forward, integrating rule of law and virtue to deliver efficient, flexible, and disciplined administration at the grassroots level.

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In summary, the five-year plans have become a key mechanism for advancing the modernization of China through high-quality development, further opening-up, and digitalization, a process where social consensus, market forces, and people- and business-friendly policies of the government are playing an important role.

The rest of the world has reasons to celebrate as the 15th Five-Year Plan will continue to deepen high-level opening-up by promoting trade facilitation and liberalization, strengthening international economic cooperation, and enhancing stability of global industrial and supply chains. This will not only add certainty to a changing world economy but also yield more opportunities of jobs, income increases and better connections for people in the rest of the world.

The author is president of the Center for Knowledge and Public Policy and chief executive of the Center for South Asia and International Studies in Islamabad. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.