The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee convened in Beijing from Oct 26 to 29.

 

The meeting carried out an in-depth and overall study of a series of major issues concerning the future development of China in the 13th five-year period and ended with the adoption of the document, the CPC Central Committee's Proposal on Formulating the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) on National Economic and Social Development (hereafter referred to as Proposal), which made a full arrangement for China’s economic and social development in the next five years. 

 

Chinese president Xi Jinping made a keynote speech at the meeting. He gave a systematic review of the work that the Politburo has done during the past year, made a profound elaboration on the great significance of formulating the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” under the new situation, and put forward clear requirements for the full implementation of the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session.

 

The Proposal is a guideline document for building up an all-round, moderately prosperous society by 2020, one of the party's two centenary goals, and an action guide for economic and social development in the next five years. In the course of drafting the document, opinions of all parties have been widely consulted to reach a consensus.  

 

The Proposal highlights innovation, coordination, green development, opening up and sharing - five new ideas of development for the next five years.

 

The document can be divided into three sections and eight chapters. The first section, containing the introduction and Chapters 1 and 2, is the pandect of the Proposal. It analyzes the situation of the decisive phrase of building up an all-round moderately prosperous society and elaborates on the guiding thoughts, key objectives and fundamental conceptions on the social and economic development in the 13th five-year period. The second section, containing Chapters 3 to 7, is the main body of the Proposal, which elaborates on the five new ideas of innovation, coordination, green development, opening up and sharing. The last section, containing Chapter 8, focuses on how to enhance and improve the leadership of the Party so as to ensure the realization of the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan”. 

 

I. Great achievements made in “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”  

It was not an ordinary five years for China’s development during the 12th five-year period. The Chinese people were faced with an intricate international environment and burdened with heavy tasks of domestic reform and development. However, under the leadership of the Party, Chinese people of different ethnic groups were united together to work arduously and march ahead in a pioneering spirit, opening a new chapter for the Party and our country, with our economic strength, scientific and technological capacity, national defense and international influence upgraded to a new level.     

 

More importantly, since the 18th National Congress of the CPC held in November 2012, the central leadership with Xi Jinping as general secretary unswervingly insists on and develops socialism with Chinese characteristics. Bold in practice and good at innovation, the central leadership enhances the understanding of the governance by the CPC, rules of socialist construction, and the law of human society’s development, leading to the formation of a series of new ideas, new thoughts, and new strategies on governing a country, which provide scientific theoretical direction and an action guide to deepen the reform and opening-up and to accelerate the socialist modernization.

 

II. Guiding thought for China’s development in the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan”

We shall uphold the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics and fully implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of CPC. 

 

We shall take Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents and the concept of scientific development as the guideline.

 

We shall thoroughly implement the spirit of a series of important addresses by President Xi Jinping and the "four comprehensives", namely, building a moderately prosperous society, deepening reform, advancing the rule of law and strictly governing the party.

 

We shall adhere to the thought that development is the primary task. We shall improve development quality and take economic results as center and speed up the formation of a mechanism and development pattern that guides economic development under the "new normal" of slower economic growth.

 

We shall maintain strategic focus, seek improvement within stability and promote coordinated development of economy, politics, culture, society, ecology and the Party. 

 

We shall ensure the building up an all-round moderately prosperous society as scheduled so as to lay a solid foundation for the realization of the Party's second centenary goal and the “Chinese Dream” of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. 

 

The following principles shall abide by to implement the guiding thoughts: people’s dominant position in society, scientific development, deepening reforms, advancing the rule of law, taking into full account both the domestic and international situations and the leadership of the Party.

 

III. Building up an all-round moderately prosperous society in the “Thirteenth Five-Year” Period

To build up an all-round moderately prosperous society by 2020 is the solemn commitment that our Party has made to the Chinese people and history, which carry the Chinese people’s longing for a beautiful life. It is also the fruit of the painstaking efforts that generations of Chinese Communists and people have been striving for. However, although the goal seems reachable, we must see clearly that there are still various obstacles, risks, and challenges ahead of us. We shall take great advantage of the strategic opportunities, get a clear understanding of our current situation and build confidence to continue our fights and to open up new frontiers of development. 

 

Besides, in the next five years, on the basis of building up an all-around moderately prosperous society, we shall also try to realize some new objectives. First, economic growth shall be maintained at a medium and high speed. Based on the improvement of a balanced, inclusive, and sustainable development, we shall double the 2010 national GDP and the 2010 per capita income of both urban and rural residents by 2020. Second, people’s living standard and quality shall be universally improved. The public service system, like employment, education, culture, social welfare, healthcare and housing shall be enhanced and people’s access to these public services shall be more equalized. Third, the populace's cultivation and social civilization shall be greatly improved. Fourth, the ecological environment shall be ameliorated. Fifth, the modernization of China’s governance system shall make tremendous progress, with the system in different branches of government becoming more mature and stabilized.  

 

The new requirements brought up in the Proposal further elaborate the basic connotation for building up an all-around moderately prosperous society. We shall make great efforts to handle the difficulties and problems in our way of achieving our goal. To do so, we shall further change the development mode, sparing no effort to resolve the problem of development quality and benefits. We shall insist on taking development as the top priority. We shall continue the scientific development, strengthen structural reforms, and achieve development of better quality, higher efficiency, more equality and sustainability. We shall further make remedy for our shortcomings, striving to solve the problem of unbalanced development, promote coordinated development in all links and facets of modernization and construct a better, well-off society that can extend the benefits of economic development to all the people. We shall further strengthen our awareness and capability to control risks, effectively preventing and solving different hazards.  

 

IV. Basic ideas of development in the “Thirteenth Five-Year” Period

 

To achieve the objectives in the “Thirteenth Five-Year” Period, to resolve problems and strengthen competitive advantages in development, we shall firmly establish and thoroughly implement the development ideas of innovation, coordination, green development, opening up and sharing.

 

1. Innovation. Innovation is the first impulse to guide the development. It stresses the settlement of problems relating to the motive force of development. We shall place innovation in the central place of our national development and constantly promote theoretical innovation, institutional innovation, scientific innovation, cultural innovation and more. We shall make innovation run through all the works of our Party and country, and make it become a common practice in our society.   

 

2. Coordination. Coordination is the intrinsic requirement for sustainable and healthy development. It emphasizes solving the problems of unbalanced development in our country. We shall firmly grasp the overall arrangements for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We shall correctly handle major relations in the course of development, especially promoting the coordinated development between rural and urban areas, coordinated development of the economy and society and synchronous development of new industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization. While we improve the hard power of our country, we shall also pay attention to upgrade our soft power and to enhance the integrality of our development.  

 

3. Green development. Green development is the prerequisite for sustainable development and a reflection of people’s pursuit of a beautiful life. Green development is the solution to the harmonious development between human being and nature. We shall insist on our basic national policy of resources conservation, environmental protection and sustainable development. We shall strive to find a civilized road to development featuring higher productivity, a well-to-do life and sound ecosystem. We shall accelerate the development of a resource-conserving and environmentally friendly society, leading to a new pattern of modernization that is characterized by the harmonious development of human being and nature. We shall promote the construction of a beautiful China and make contributions to global ecological security.

 

4. Opening-up. Opening-up is the only route that we must take for the country’s development and prosperity. Open development lays emphasis on the interactions between home and abroad. We shall comply with the tendency that China’s economy is integrating with the world economy. We shall pursue an opening strategy based on mutual benefits and develop a higher level of open economy. We shall engage the world economy more actively and have a greater say in the governance of international economy and construct an extensive community of interests.  

 

5. Sharing. Sharing is an essential requirement of constructing socialism with Chinese characteristics. Sharing development attaches great importance to resolve the problems concerning social justice. We shall insist on the conception that development must be for the people and by the people and its benefit shall be shared among the people. We shall make more effective institutional arrangement to enable the whole people to obtain more benefits from economic development. We shall strengthen the motive force of development and consolidate the unity of people so as to advance steadily toward the goal of common prosperity

 

V. Highlights of the Fifth Plenary Session

The following 10 points are the highlights of the proposal of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan. 

 

1. Innovation

The idea of innovation will be carried out in four aspects. Technological innovation will be encouraged. Transformation of government functions will be carried out. Administrative restructuring will be deepened to accelerate the formation of a favorable market environment for innovative development. Macroeconomic regulation and control will be improved. 

 

2. "Green" development

It is unprecedented that the “Thirteen Five-Year Plan” pays more attention to ecological environmental protection. Ecological civilization is listed in the top 10 objectives for the first time. A “Beautiful China” is written into the plan for the first time. “Green” development is taken as one of the five ideas of development in the proposal. 

 

In the next five years, China will implement a more exacting environmental protection system to reduce the pollution of air, water and soil. 

 

A vertical management system of law-enforcement on environment protection and monitoring will be introduced. 

 

3. Population policy. 

The proposal allows all couples to have two children, and government will take the initiative in dealing with the aging population problem. 

 

4. Poverty relief

The proposal clearly delivers its poverty alleviation target set for 2020. The CPC reiterates its determination to fight against poverty, pledging to step up financial support to impoverished areas in the next five years. The document also points out that ridding the rural population of poverty is the most arduous task for China's ambition to build a moderately prosperous society.

 

5. Opening service industry. 

The government aims to loosen regulation and lower the requirements for market access to the service industry in China, gradually expanding the opening of the service industry to the international economy in an organized manner. 

 

6. Lift price controls

The proposal also aims to relax the government’s control on prices and unleash the price of goods and services in the competitive business fields. 

 

7. Opening to the outside world

To deepen reform, the spectrum of opening-up to the outside world will be expanded. However, the idea of opening-up of China shall change from a passive receiver of international rules in the past to a game changer who becomes more actively engaged in the world economy in the future.

  

8. “Healthy China”

A “healthy China” was written in the government report for the first time this year, and then it appears in the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” again. It indicates that Chinese health system reform has gained long-term support from the government. 

 

The proposal aims to advance medical and health system reform, to rationalize medicine prices and to put the system linking medical treatment, healthcare and medicine into practice. The government will also construct a basic medical care system and modern hospital management system that covers both urban and rural areas. Besides, the food security strategy will be implemented. 

 

9. National big data strategy.

The proposal also mentions the strategy of strengthening the nation on improving networks. An action plan of “Internet plus” and a national big data strategy will be implemented. 

 

10. Military reform

China will speed up reform of the military, aiming to reach its reform target of a deeply integrated military and civilian development pattern.

 

VI. Improving the Party’s leadership in the governance of economic and social development

The key to achieve the objectives of the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” will hinge largely on how the Party improves itself. 

 

We shall adapt to the new requirements of economic development under the "New Normal" situation. We shall bring new ideas and methods to lead economic development and enhance our competence to guide the people to strive for the building of an all-around moderately prosperous society. 

 

To this end, we shall give the party a full play of its key leading role in directing the overall situation and coordinating between different sides. We shall constantly improve the Party’s capability of guiding economic and social development. We shall reinforce the Party building and work style construction of Party members and cadres at all different levels. We shall pledge efforts to cement the achievements made in the anti-corruption campaign and tightened supervision and checks over power, in addition to working out an effective mechanism that would stem corruption and create a favorable political environment for economic and social development. Finally, we shall ensure the exact implementation of the tasks and objectives of the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan”. 

 

  -   Politics