He Qin: The "15th Five-Year Plan" Contributes Chinese Wisdom to Global Development
Development is the eternal theme of human society and the enduring kinetic energy for humanity to overcome difficulties and move toward the future together. As the changes unseen in a century accelerate their evolution, global development faces unprecedented challenges. Against this backdrop, the Proposals for the "15th Five-Year Plan" [1] of China, deliberated and adopted by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, systematically mapped out a strategic blueprint for China’s economic and social development over the next five years, centered on the goal of comprehensively building a great modern socialist country and achieving the Second Centenary Goal. This significant document concerns not only the Chinese people's aspirations for a better life but also, through its broad vision, resolute determination, systematic programs, and forward-looking layout, contributes Chinese wisdom to the international community’s efforts to jointly address global development challenges and promote common global development.
Seizing the Initiative in Development through High-Quality Development
"Those who perceive the trend are clear-headed; those who grasp the trend are wise" [2]. Correctly recognizing and grasping the situation facing our country’s development is the prerequisite for formulating scientific development plans. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee pointed out that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the environment for China’s development will face profound and complex changes. Our development has entered a period where strategic opportunities coexist with risks and challenges, and where uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing. This scientific judgment demonstrates our Party’s precise grasp of the internal logic and external environment of China’s development.
Concentrating effort on managing our own affairs. From the "1st Five-Year Plan" to the "14th Five-Year Plan," the Communist Party of China (CPC) has led the Chinese people through successive struggles via Five-Year Plans, creating two miracles rare in world history: rapid economic development and long-term social stability. The Proposals for the "15th Five-Year Plan" state that during this period, China will coordinate the two overall situations—the domestic and the international—and adhere to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability. This guiding ideology fully demonstrates the confidence and determination of the CPC and the Chinese people to remain firm in the Chinese path, Chinese governance, and Chinese theory. This confidence stems from the fundamentals of our economy—its solid foundation, numerous advantages, strong resilience, and vast potential—and from favorable conditions such as the institutional strengths of socialism with Chinese characteristics, a super-large scale market, a complete industrial system, and abundant human resources. This determination is reflected in the strategic resolve of our Party to unite and lead the people of all ethnic groups, utilizing the spirit of historical initiative to overcome difficulties, combat risks, meet challenges, and concentrate efforts on managing our own affairs.
Accelerating the construction of the new development pattern. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China will lead development with the new development philosophy, develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, strengthen the domestic macro-circulation, and smooth the domestic and international dual circulation to promote sustained and healthy economic development and comprehensive social progress. China will strengthen high-level terminal technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, break through bottlenecks in key core technologies, improve the resilience and safety levels of industrial and supply chains, and fortify the foundation of a modernized industrial system. China will also tap into the potential of domestic demand by comprehensively promoting rural revitalization and coordinated regional development, continuously consolidating the material foundation for comprehensively building a modern socialist country.
Empowering Common Development through High-Level Opening Up
"China's development cannot be isolated from the world, and the world's prosperity also needs China." The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized the need to expand high-level opening up and create a new situation of win-win cooperation. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China will further expand autonomous opening up, actively participate in the reform of the global economic governance system, firmly safeguard the multilateral trading system, and promote the construction of an international economic order that is beneficial to all, inclusive, and cooperative, sharing opportunities and developing together with all countries.
Adhering to high-level opening up. Opening up brings progress, while closure inevitably leads to backwardness. "China's door of opening up will not be closed; it will only open wider." Facing the rise of protectionism and unilateralism, China chooses to meet challenges with greater openness. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China will steadily expand institutional opening up regarding rules, regulations, management, and standards, and continue to create a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized first-class business environment, continuously expanding the space for two-way investment and cooperation. China will promote the optimization and upgrading of trade in goods, innovate mechanisms for trade in services, and expand new business formats such as digital trade, allowing more high-quality Chinese products and services to benefit global consumers while making it more convenient for the specialty goods of various countries to enter the Chinese market.
High-quality Belt and Road cooperation. The Belt and Road Initiative is the top-level design for China's opening up and economic diplomacy in the New Era, and an important international cooperation platform for promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for humanity. Standing at a new historical starting point, China will continue to adhere to the principle of "extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits," strengthen strategic alignment with partner countries, and enhance the integrated management of cooperation planning. On the basis of deepening "hard connectivity" in infrastructure, "soft connectivity" in rules and standards, and "heart connectivity" among the people of partner countries, China will coordinately promote major landmark projects and "small yet beautiful" livelihood projects, assisting the common development of relevant countries and injecting lasting impetus into global interconnectivity and the common prosperity of all nations.
Safeguarding Development Security through the Construction of a Peaceful China
Coordinating development and security, enhancing awareness of potential dangers, and being prepared for adversity in times of peace are major principles of our Party's governance. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee elevated "coordinating development and security" to a new historical height, emphasizing the consolidation of security through development and the pursuit of development through security, enhancing economic and social resilience, and safeguarding the new development pattern with a new security pattern. This important discourse profoundly reveals the dialectical unity between development and security, demonstrating China's strong will and strategic wisdom in safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests during the process of advancing modernization.
Building a higher-level Peaceful China. Building a Peaceful China is an important component of Chinese-path modernization. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, facing a complex situation with increasing external risks and challenges, China will coordinate high-quality development and high-level security, striving to advance the modernization of the national security system and capacity, and improving the national security system. China will focus on strengthening national security capacity building in emerging fields such as cyber, data, artificial intelligence, biology, ecology, nuclear, space, deep sea, polar regions, and low-altitude economy, effectively preventing and defusing various risks and challenges to ensure that the giant ship of China's development does not veer off course due to "black swan" or "gray rhino" events [3]. China's emphasis on and protection of its own security is, in itself, an important contribution to world peace and stability.
Persisting on the path of peaceful development. The Chinese nation has always been a peace-loving nation; following the path of peaceful development is a strategic choice made by China based on its own national conditions, cultural traditions, and fundamental interests. China has proposed and actively practiced the Global Security Initiative, advocating a common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security concept, opposing all forms of hegemonism and power politics, opposing "long-arm jurisdiction" and unilateral sanctions, and advocating the peaceful resolution of international disputes through dialogue and consultation. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China will be committed to maintaining the overall stability of major-country relations, strengthening solidarity and cooperation with the Global South, deepening international law enforcement and security cooperation, and promoting the improvement of global security governance. As a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order, China will continue to firmly defend international fairness and justice, safeguard the common interests of people of all countries, and lead the international order toward a more just and reasonable direction. China will provide security guarantees for global development and inject more stability and positive energy into a world of turbulence and change through its own achievements in peaceful development.
Leading Innovative Development through Chinese-path Modernization
Throughout the history of world modernization, innovation has always been the core engine driving development. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China's economic and social development must take reform and innovation as the fundamental driving force. In the Proposals for the "15th Five-Year Plan," "innovation" is mentioned 61 times. By 2025, China's ranking in the Global Innovation Index had risen from 34th in 2012 to 10th. The successful experience of Chinese-path modernization in leading innovative development provides important inspiration and a completely new choice for humanity to move toward modernization together.
The leadership of the Party is the greatest advantage. The leadership of the CPC is the most defining feature and the most prominent advantage of Chinese-path modernization, and the primary principle that must be adhered to in advancing Chinese-path modernization. As the leadership core that exercises overall leadership and coordinates all efforts, the CPC has transformed the political advantage of top-level design into a powerful impetus for promoting innovative development through the "Five-Year Plan" mechanism. The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a crucial period for laying a solid foundation and taking full action to basically realize socialist modernization, occupying a vital position that links the past and the future. Under the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, the state and local governments will formulate more detailed and complete planning outlines and special plans based on the Proposals for the "15th Five-Year Plan," thereby ensuring that the national planning system has accurate positioning, clear boundaries, complementary functions, and unified alignment.
Stimulating the innovation and creativity of the whole society. The Proposals for the "15th Five-Year Plan" state that it is necessary to fully mobilize the initiative, enthusiasm, and creativity of the whole society to engage in the construction of Chinese-path modernization, and to stimulate the vitality of the whole society for entrepreneurship and innovation. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China will coordinately promote the construction of a leading country in education, science and technology, and talent, comprehensively improving the overall efficiency of the national innovation system to seize the commanding heights of future development through technological self-reliance and self-strengthening. China will explore the "Two Combinations" [4] and empower with information technology to stimulate the cultural innovation and creativity of the entire nation, vigorously promoting the prosperity of socialist culture and enhancing the reach and influence of Chinese civilization. China will further implement the Global Civilization Initiative and deepen international people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation, making greater contributions to the inheritance and innovation of human civilization.