China announces date for key party meeting to discuss next 5-year plan
Party Central Committee’s annual conclave next month is expected to focus on the country’s development plans up to 2030
The Communist Party of China will hold its annual conclave between October 20 and 23 in Beijing to discuss the next five-year plan, a blueprint that will set out the country’s economic, political and social goals as it grapples with the United States.
The date was announced following a meeting of the Politburo on Monday that set the tone for the fourth plenary session, which will be attended by President Xi Jinping and more than 370 members of the party’s Central Committee.
The Politburo meeting was chaired by Xi and reviewed a draft proposal of the 15th five-year plan. That proposal will be endorsed at the plenum next month after revisions arising from the meeting, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The 14th five-year plan is now in its final year. Under the rules, the 15th plan covering 2026-2030 must be endorsed by a plenary session of the party, after which it will be submitted to the annual legislative session in March for final endorsement.
The meeting on Monday underlined a number of principles aired in previous economic policy documents, including “upholding the concentrated and unified leadership of the party”, and developing “new quality productive forces”, a phrase that stresses the need for hi-tech innovation and sustainable development.
It added that the leadership should strengthen itself in case of a “worst-case scenario”, and effectively resolve “risks of all kinds”.
Xi has repeatedly stressed that China must make itself stronger internally to better cope with external pressure, saying the “key to coping with all kinds of risks and challenges [is] staying focused, boosting confidence and concentrating on China’s own affairs”.
Although Chinese and US negotiators have reached a series of agreements on the future of TikTok and to halt an all-out trade war, most observers believe competition between the world’s two largest economies will continue across a broad range of areas.
In May, Xi underlined the need to take a “forward-looking approach” and consider the impact of the changing international landscape on the country. A one-month online public consultation on the plan was also launched in the same month.
The plenum will be held around one week before Xi heads to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, where he is expected to meet his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on the sidelines.
It will also come just roughly a month and a half after Xi, flanked by the Russian and North Korean leaders Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, presided over a Victory Day parade that showcased China’s growing military might and diplomatic stature.
The plenum is also expected to see a shake-up of the Central Committee. As of the end of September, eight of its members had been implicated in corruption investigations, including six who had been detained.
Those who are expected to be expelled from the Central Committee include Yi Huiman, the former chairman of the stock market regulator; Wang Lixia, ex-chairwoman of Inner Mongolia; Jin Xiangjun, former governor of Shanxi; Lan Tianli, former chairman of Guangxi; Miao Hua, the People’s Liberation Army’s former ideology chief; and ex-agriculture minister Tang Renjian.
Earlier this month, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress also announced that two generals who sit on the Central Committee – Wang Chunning, the head of the armed police, and logistics chief Zhang Lin – had been expelled from the legislature.
Another vacancy has been left by Yu Jianhua, the former head of the General Administration of Customs, who died in December.
Jin Zhuanglong, former minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, also lost his job in February after disappearing from the public eye for two months. Jin is also expected to lose his seat on the Central Committee.