Experts, foreign envoys hail Chinese leadership’s push of deeper reforms, high-quality growth

Reform and modernization were the key takeaways from the communique issued at the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which was held from July 15 to 18, said experts from a think tank in the United States.

They see reform and modernization as crucial to boosting productivity and long-term growth through technological innovation.

Guoguang Wu, a senior fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, said the CPC is sending a “very strong signal to Chinese people and the international society that we will have reform”.

Wu offered his observations on July 26 at a webinar titled “The Third Plenum: What is Xi Jinping’s Plan for China?”, hosted by Asia Society, a think tank and nonprofit headquartered in New York.

Lizzi Lee, a fellow on Chinese economy at the ASPI’s Center for China Analysis, noted that the emphasis of the third plenary session was on

“Chinese-style modernization”, including an emphasis on technology innovation and the “new quality productive forces”.

The plenary session also highlighted challenges such as income inequality, trade tensions, and fiscal issues, and noted strategies to address those issues through supply chain policies, market roles, and financial reforms.

Lee noted two other points: self-sufficiency and major breakthroughs, especially in frontier science, which is “no surprise given the rising geopolitical tensions, particularly with the US”.

She said the plan also emphasizes a dual role of State guidance and intense competition among private sector companies and entrepreneurs.

The government “will continue to provide guidance and support for industry supply chains, while the private sector drives growth and innovation”. That strategy has already been successful in the electric vehicle and battery sectors, and China plans to extend it to key areas such as semiconductors, medical equipment, and machine tools, Lee said.

China has a major goal to lift per capita GDP to that of a mid-level developed country by 2035, and to reach that target, the economy would need to grow at about 4.5 to 5 percent annually, she said.

According to data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on July 15, the economy grew by 4.7 percent in the second quarter of the year after 5.3 percent growth in the first three months.

“It’s clear to me from the third plenum document that the Chinese leadership has decided that to sustain this level of growth, China needs systemic upgrading along the global value chain, not just short-term stimuli,” Lee said.

Bert Hofman, an honorary senior fellow on Chinese economy at the ASPI’s Center for China Analysis, said the document is “about high-quality development, the high-standard socialist market economy as being the tool for this Chinese modernization”.

Hofman saw a consistent policy on the supply side. He said the policy is about significantly increasing investment in science and technology and integrating it with industrial policy.

Hofman also said that one of the most important points of the third plenum is the reaffirmation of a key principle acknowledged by the third plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2013: that the market plays a decisive role in allocating resources.

He said he believes that the government-market balance is now even stronger than in 2013.

Meanwhile, several foreign diplomatic envoys in China also hailed China’s commitment to deeper reform and opening-up, as they attended a briefing in Beijing on July 26 on the plenary session.

During the event organized by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, they said the landmark Party meeting has worked out a blueprint for China’s steady development in the coming years, which, in turn, will create opportunities for the rest of the world.

Belarusian Ambassador to China Aleksandr Chervyakov said the resolution of the third plenary session has provided a signal of continued stability and economic development in China — a crucial signal not only for China itself but also for the world.

“China ranks as one of the world’s great powers in terms of purchasing power. Therefore, how China develops and in which directions it progresses are vital signals for the global community,” Chervyakov said.

Egyptian Ambassador to China Assem Hanafi said that he was greatly impressed by China’s emphasis on institutional reform in promoting its overall development.

“I believe these measures represent a continuation of the reform and opening-up policies first introduced in the 1970s in China, demonstrating both continuity and innovation,” he said.

“New quality productive forces, Chinese modernization and openness — these words are very important,” John Busuttil, Malta’s ambassador to China, said on July 26. “When the Chinese economy does well, the global economy will do well, too.”

He commended China’s commitment to expanding opening-up.

Since taking office as Maltese ambassador to China in January 2023, Busuttil has been closely followed China’s development. Traveling around the country, Busuttil said he was very impressed by what is going on in the Chinese economy despite the sluggish global economic recovery.

The key messages he read from the resolution adopted by the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee have assured him of the opportunities that China’s growth will bring to Malta.

“Malta is part of the European Union. Engagement with China remains very important for Europe. We need to make efforts to engage with globalization. That’s very important for Europe, and for the whole world,” he said.

Contact the writers at minluzhang@chinadailyusa.com