The plan prioritizes high-quality development over traditional growth-centric goals, reflecting the evolving priorities of the world’s second-largest economy.
As an important institution embodying the unique benefits of China’s national governance system, the five-year plan has helped push the country’s development in all areas over the past decades.
With two sessions this year officially kick-off on Tuesday, Chinese national lawmakers and political advisers will review the country’s achievements and provide a detailed explanation of future plans. It also presents an appropriate opportunity to revisit the importance of China’s five-year plan. It is what they were and how they contributed to the country’s remarkable progress.
What is the 5-year plan?
The five-year plan serves as a comprehensive blueprint for China’s economic and social progress, and outlines the goals, strategies and priorities of each planning cycle.
Since the inception of the first five-year plan (1953-1957), these plans have evolved not only to guide China’s transformational development, but also to meet the clear challenges of each era.
For example, the first five years of planning emphasized heavy industry and industrialization. The 7th Year Five Year Plan (1986-1990) was intended to solve basic self-sufficiency needs. The 9th Year Plan (1996-2000) created a course for medium prosperity. The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) highlighted the comprehensive achievement of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
The 14th five-year plan, launched after China achieved its goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, focuses on high-quality development. Breaking away from tradition, they did not set explicit GDP growth targets, but instead prioritized green transitions, technological independence, common prosperity, balanced regional development, deeper reform and opening up high standards.
“The early plans for the fifth year were primarily focused on economic development, but over time, social welfare, innovation and environmental protection were incorporated,” said Yan Yilong, Associate Dean of the Institute for Modern China at Tinshua University.
“Today, the five-year plan includes comprehensive areas covering economic, social, technology, ecology and culture, reflecting the holistic approach to development,” he said.
Why does a five-year plan work in China?
Characterized by continuity, future outlook, strategic planning and effective implementation, the five-year plan has played a key role in transforming the country from an agriculture backwater to a global industrial powerhouse.
Despite evolving priorities across all 14 five-year plans, from industrialization and economic reform to sustainability and innovation, the overarching goal is unwavering: national development and prosperity.
Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out that the consistent theme, from the first five-year plan to the 14th five-year plan, is to build China in a modern socialist country.
British scholar Martin Jack calls the five-year plan “strategic and flexible.” “The five-year plan is suitable for China’s mentality and the idea of thinking in the long term,” he said.
Yang Yongheng, Associate Dean of the Institute for Development Planning at Tsinghua University, said, “From a historical perspective, the five-year plan serves as a gradual deployment of China’s national development strategy, each serving as a gradual arrangement to ensure policy continuity and consistency with long-term strategic objects.”
During the evolution of the five-year plan, the revision of two terms in its title is notable. The first is the sixth five-year plan (1981-1985). “Social Development” is added to the title of the document along with “National Economy” to broaden its scope, highlighting the connection between economic growth and social progress, and reflecting a shift towards coordinated economic and social development.
The other is the 11th five-year plan (2006-2010). The official title is called “guiha” in Chinese instead of “jiwa”. Both mean “planning,” but “guihua” is more strategic and policy-oriented with the naked eye than “jihua.”
Formulation and implementation are also key to ensuring the success of these plans. After decades of exploration, a multi-year standardized process was formed to develop a five-year plan. It starts with a mid-term assessment of the previous plan, including preliminary investigations, drafting, consultations, inter-agency coordination, expert reviews, and formal approval. This is to ensure transparency, consultation and evidence-based processes that reflect public priorities while building national consensus.
The main projects are the core pillars of the implementation of the five-year plan. From 156 Soviet support projects in the first plan to 165 projects proposed in the 13th plan and 102 projects in the 14th project, over 1,000 projects have built the backbone of the Chinese economy, and are testament to the strengths of socialism, which is characteristic of China.
“China has the robust ability to achieve national goals,” Yang said, adding that “the five-year plan is a unique advantage in China’s governance.”
What did the plan achieve?
From agricultural society to the world’s second largest economy, China has achieved twin miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability, with all five years of planning playing a key role.
The numbers speak for themselves.
During the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005), China became the fourth largest economy in the world. The subsequent 11th plan led China to overtake Germany and Japan, securing a second spot globally. By the end of the 13th Plan in 2020, China’s GDP had crossed the 100 trillion yuan (US$13.7 trillion at the current rate) threshold. Since 2021, the year the 14th plan was launched, China’s per capita GDP has exceeded $12,000 a year.
It will alleviate poverty. It was already on the agenda as the seventh plan. Over the past decades, China has separated 800 million people from poverty. This accounts for more than 70% of global poverty reduction and achieves the UN 2030 Agenda’s goals for sustainable development rather than schedules.
Furthermore, a UN report shows that China has achieved 126 indicators earlier than planned on the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
China’s pattern of using such a program to promote development has emerged as an alternative model for effective governance in developing countries.
Recognizing that the strengths and success of the planning over the past five years serve as the basis for future planning, weaknesses and shortcomings have been meticulously addressed, Melaku Mulualem, a senior international relations and diplomatic researcher at the Institute for Diplomacy in Ethiopia, noted that a comprehensive assessment will be conducted every five years.
Many developing countries, inspired by China’s success, have followed the development of China’s long-term strategy, with countries like Poland, Ethiopia and Tanzania invited to support planning consultations for Chinese facilities, Peak University researcher Yin Jun wrote a review in his book from the five-year plan, from day one to 14.
“Many countries talk about plans, but the Chinese cracked it in ways that they didn’t think other countries had broken it,” Jack said.
MNA/