From October 20 to 23, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held in Beijing. This landmark event has drawn global attention, as it adopted the Recommendations of formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for China’s Economic and Social Development, which not only sets the course for China’s modernization over the next five years and beyond, but also bears global significance.
Formulating medium- and long-term plans to guide economic and social development is a key approach through which the CPC governs the country. Since 1953, China has implemented 14 five-year plans, through which China set clear economic objectives and charted concrete pathways toward Chinese modernization through steady and sustained progress.
As an English proverb goes, “the past lights the path to the future”, our past achievements are the foundation for our future aspirations. The session gave a positive assessment of China’s major development achievements during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). In the face of a complicated international landscape and the challenging domestic tasks of advancing reform, promoting development, and ensuring stability, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has united the entire Party and Chinese people of all ethnic groups and led them in meeting difficulties head-on and forging ahead with determination. This has allowed us to withstand the severe shocks from a once-in-a-century Covid-19 pandemic, respond effectively to many major risks and challenges, and secure significant new achievements in the cause of the Party and the country. China has seen its GDP surpassing RMB 130 trillion, projecting to reach 140 trillion this year, and breakthroughs have also been made in emerging industries such as artificial intelligence and new energy. China has become the global innovation powerhouse, breaking into the top 10 of the Global Innovation Index and established the world’s largest and most rapidly expanding renewable energy system.
As China grows, the world grows with it. China’s contribution to global economic growth has stood at around 30 percent for years, serving as a key driver and source of growth for global development. We have been dedicated to high-standard opening up, as evidenced by shortening the negative list for foreign investment, reducing the overall tariff level to 7.3 percent, and fully opening the manufacturing sector to global investors. We have also deepened high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations. It is worth mentioning that the cooperation between China and Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries has been deepened to an unprecedented level. More than 20 LAC countries have joined the Belt and Road cooperation, and ten countries have signed cooperation plans with China, including Grenada. Under the framework, more than 200 infrastructure projects were implemented, creating around a million jobs across the region. Last year, trade between China and LAC countries exceeded US$500 billion for the first time, an increase of over 40 times from the beginning of this century. Cooperation between China and Grenada has been very fruitful in recent years. For example, in this year alone, 535 Grenadians have participated in training programs in China, and six students are currently pursuing their studies there on full scholarships provided by the Chinese government.
As China has set the target of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035 -a milestone to be reached through three consecutive five-year plans, the 14th, 15th, and 16th, spanning 2021 to 2035 - the 15th Five-Year Plan will serve as a crucial link between the past and the future, during which we will consolidate our foundations and make comprehensive advances toward this goal. A well-founded analysis of the domestic and international situation facing China was made at the session. At present, China remains in a phase of development where strategic opportunities exist alongside risks and challenges, while uncertainties and unforeseen factors are rising. Our economy is on solid foundations, demonstrating advantages in many areas, strong resilience, and great potential. The conditions and underlying trends supporting long-term growth remain unchanged. More and more, we are seeing the strengths of socialism with Chinese characteristics, China’s enormous market, its complete industrial system, and its abundant human resources all coming to the fore. The Central Committee also set the following major objectives for the 15th Five-Year Plan period: significant achievements in high-quality development; substantial improvements in scientific and technological self-reliance and strength; fresh breakthroughs in further deepening reform comprehensively; notable cultural and ethical progress across society; further improvements in quality of life; major new strides in advancing the Beautiful China Initiative; and further advances in strengthening the national security shield. Building on this, we will work hard for a further five years to see that by the year 2035 China’s economic strength, scientific and technological capabilities, national defense capabilities, composite national strength, and international influence will all be markedly stronger, that its per capita GDP will be on a par with that of a mid-level developed country, that its people will live better and happier lives, and that socialist modernization will be basically realized.
At the session, it was also stated that we should promote high-standard opening up and create new horizons for mutually beneficial cooperation. We should continue to expand opening up at the institutional level, safeguard the multilateral trading system, and promote broader international economic flows. We should advance reform and development through greater openness and seek to share opportunities and achieve common development with the rest of the world. We should take the initiative to open China wider, promote the innovative development of trade, create greater space for two-way investment cooperation, and pursue high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
In this spirit, China stands ready to be a friend and partner to all countries, sharing opportunities and pursuing common progress. China has long been a firm advocate of South-South cooperation and values its partnership with Latin American and Caribbean countries. In May this year, the 10th anniversary of the China-CELAC Forum was celebrated with the successful convening of its Fourth Ministerial Meeting. At the opening ceremony, President Xi Jinping put forward the “five programs,” and the meeting adopted the China-CELAC Joint Action Plan for Cooperation in Key Areas (2025-2027), charting a dynamic course for future cooperation. Looking ahead, China’s 15th Five-Year Plan will advance hand in hand with our deepening cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean countries. By aligning high-quality development, technological innovation, green transition, and openness with the shared goals of our partners, we aim to foster common progress and shared prosperity. Together, we can turn ambition into achievement, opportunities into tangible results, and build a future that benefits not only our countries but the wider world.