China’s 2026-30 plan is in the works – and it addresses weak links exposed by US trade war

Beijing appears to be planning for a protracted battle with Washington for economic supremacy, with China’s latest five-year development blueprint being drafted to sharpen its competitive edge and address weak links laid bare by the trade war with the United States.

President Xi Jinping this week called for public feedback for the nation’s 2026-30 national economic development plan, with an emphasis on science and modernisation, reflecting the strategic thinking of Chinese leaders. A comprehensive catalogue of quantifiable socio-economic goals will be made public in March.

Analysts expect China to continue putting greater emphasis on hi-tech advancements, manufacturing resilience and domestic consumption, given the president’s repeated call for “new quality productive forces”, as well as the development of future and frontier industries, while upgrading traditional manufacturing sectors.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities could still set a high target for gross domestic product growth – one of the most watched parameters as China tries to shore up its economy.

It is also hoped that the next five years covered by the new plan, the 15th of its kind, will help realise Xi’s goal – first uttered in 2017 – for China to “basically achieve socialist modernisation” by 2035. Subsequent updates of that goal in recent years include targets such as seeing per capita GDP reach the level of moderately developed countries.

Such five-year plans are a legacy of China’s top-down planning, which the president has hailed as a “distinctive institutional advantage” of the nation’s socialist system.

South China Morning Post