Agencies
China’s political leadership has set ambitious economic and tech development goals for the next decade, signalling a consensus among the Communist Party’s upper echelon on how best to cope with China’s economic challenges.
The goals were unveiled in a statement on Thursday that also announced that the party would hold its long-anticipated third plenum meeting from July 15 to 18.
The announcements came after the meeting of the Politburo – the highest decision-making body in Chinese politics – and set the tone for the coming plenary session to be attended by more than 370 members of the Communist Party elite.
The 10-year goals range from the economy to social development and state building, and will extend beyond President Xi Jinping’s third term, which ends in 2028.The plenary session will “primarily examine issues related to further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernisation”, according to state news agency Xinhua.
It will also lay out a series of interim goals to be reached by 2035, which is pivotal for China to narrow the gap with the United States and other advanced economies, and seek a stronger footing in the high-end value chain, which ultimately serve China’s second ambitious centenary goal in 2049 – to become an economic and technology superpower.
“By 2035, a high-standard socialist market economic system will be fully established, the socialist system with Chinese characteristics will be further improved, the modernisation of the national governance system and governance capacity will be largely achieved,” Xinhua said.
Xie Maosong, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Strategic Studies at Tsinghua University, said it indicated that “China shall have an economy that is driven by technology, remains competitive in the world, is resilient to external shocks, and can generate adequate employment to give Chinese people growing income and better living standard”.“It also means the government must be able to sense potential economic problems lying ahead and address them in advance to avoid major economic turmoil,” he said.
The plan also aimed to improve governance while maintaining firm control by the party, adding that the reforms should be handled in a “systematic, holistic and coordinated” manner, according to Xinhua.
“[We should] properly balance the relations between the economy and society, government and the market, efficiency and equity, vitality and order, development and security,” it said.
The forthcoming session will be decisive in defining China’s economic policies for a decade to come, but the question remains whether it will deliver the “depth and breath” of reforms of the previous rounds, according to Bert Hofman, honorary senior fellow on Chinese economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
“There is a wide recognition among China’s leadership that further reforms in the economic system are essential for achieving high-quality growth,” he said.
“The third plenum is a key tool for comprehensive reforms, as it can forge the political agreements and compromises needed to get buy-in and rapid implementation of those reforms.” Gabriel Wildau, managing director of New York-based advisory firm Teneo, said there had been recent political signals endorsing a rebalance in China towards development and economic growth from an overemphasis on security.
“An authoritative third plenum statement calling for improving the balance between these two objectives would reassure cadres that national security need not always dominate. Entrepreneurs and investors would also take a degree of comfort,” he said.
Separately, the Ministry of Science and Technology on Wednesday said it would work out action plans and allocate resources to turn the country into a science super power by 2035.
It came after Xi gave a speech Monday calling for researchers to spearhead innovation in key tech areas and reach breakthroughs in bottleneck technologies, which he called a “main battlefield” in the superpower rivalry.
“Now we only have 11 years to achieve the goal … We must make every day count, work hard, and turn this strategic goal into reality step by step with … firm determination and tenacious will,” Xi was quoted by Xinhua as saying on Monday, invoking the Chinese saying that it takes “10 years to sharpen a sword”.Xi announced “the two centenaries” goals at the 18th party congress in 2012. In July 2021, the centenary of the founding of the ruling Communist Party, he declared that first centenary goal – eradicating poverty and doubling the per capita income of 2010 – had been achieved.
The second centenary goal is to build China into a “strong, democratic, civilised, harmonious, beautiful and modern socialist country” by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The third plenum is often seen as the most important of the seven party gatherings held over the Central Committee’s five-year cycle.
The meeting next month will be attended by full and alternate members of the new Central Committee.
Over the past four decades, the third plenums have typically been held in October or November. It is the first time since 1984 that the party has not convened one in the year following the twice-a-decade party congress. The last congress was held in the autumn of 2022, the year Xi began his third term as party general secretary.
In the past, third plenums were the key opportunity to send early policy signals to the party and the public of what the party’s priorities would be for the next five to 10 years.
Beijing has offered no explanation for the delay but China has been grappling with a series of formidable challenges, including a sluggish economic recovery, intense geopolitical headwinds and ongoing personnel changes in leadership.
The gathering next month will be just months before China celebrates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.
