By Ren Zhongping
The 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has started its fourth plenary session in Beijing on Oct. 20. The four-day meeting aims at studying the proposals for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development, making the top-level design and strategic blueprint for China’s development in the coming five years.
Formulating and implementing five-year plans in a science-based way is an important approach for the CPC in governance, and serves as a vital key to understanding Chinese modernization. Academic observers globally recognize these plans as exemplary models of long-term strategic governance.
Throughout the ongoing 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China has advanced economic and social development through technological innovation while accelerating its transition toward sustainable development. This integrated approach has yielded enhanced economic quality alongside measurable environmental gains.
China’s annual production of new energy vehicles surpassed 13 million unites, while its shipbuilding industry achieved milestone capabilities in constructing large LNG carriers, aircraft carriers and luxury cruise ships – collectively regarded as the “three crown jewels” of advanced vessel manufacturing. Concurrently, China established 6,340 nationally certified green factories and now operates the world’s largest renewable energy infrastructure and clean technology supply chain, positioning it among global leaders in reducing energy intensity.
According to the recently released Global Innovation Index 2025, China entered the world’s top ten innovators for the first time. With the world’s largest pool of R&D personnel and scientific talent, the nation has strategically prioritized innovation in its modernization agenda, evolving from the “world’s factory” to a global innovation hub.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, per capita disposable income in formerly impoverished rural counties grew at an average annual rate of 7.8% (real terms) – surpassing the national rural average. This progress narrowed the urban-rural income gap from 2.56:1 (2020) to 2.34:1 (2024), while final consumption expenditure contributed approximately 60% annually to economic growth.
China’s domestic market, powered by over 1.4 billion people including more than 400 million middle-income consumers, demonstrates significant scale advantages and growth potential through its diverse, multi-tiered demand structure.
The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, released in March this year, showed that Chinese citizens’ trust in their government remains the highest in the world, while their overall optimism about the future also ranks first globally.
In July, the fifth volume of “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China” was published. International observers believe that China’s governance model is more capable of delivering stability, prosperity, and freedom for its people. Since the new era began, China’s institutional framework has become more complete, science-based and effective, and institutional strengths have been better transformed into governance efficiency.
In May, the Private Sector Promotion Law came into effect, marking the first time that the principle of “unswervingly consolidating and developing the public sector and unswervingly encouraging, supporting and guiding the development of the non-public sector” has been written into law, and the first time the legal status of the private economy has been explicitly defined. Foreign media described this as a “milestone.”
China continues strengthening its market foundations through rule of law, exemplified by the Foreign Investment Law boosting investor confidence and fair competition regulations enforcing institutional constraints. These measures advance a unified national market, creating a rule-of-law environment that attracts global resources – a crucial element in Chinese modernization.
During the drafting of the 15th Five-Year Plan, online public consultations garnered over 3.11 million submissions, illustrating China’s whole-process people’s democracy in practice. By improving democratic institutions and integrating top-level design with public participation, China aims to build consensus for advancing modernization goals.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China maintained high-level openness despite global headwinds. As of July this year, China’s actual use of foreign investment during the period reached $714.87 billion, with 235,000 new foreign-invested enterprises established, an increase of 32,000 from the 13th Five-Year Plan period.
High-quality Belt and Road cooperation has become the world’s broadest and largest platform for international cooperation. At the Tianjin summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Governance Initiative, calling on all countries to work together to build a more just and equitable global governance system. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the future of humanity largely depends on China.
Having transformed from a peripheral player to a central force in global development, Chinese modernization offers a distinct pathway to socialist advancement and national rejuvenation. This model presents a new paradigm for human progress and civilization.
