Dong Yu has been executive vice-president of the China Institute for Development Planning at Tsinghua University since 2019. Before joining academia, he held senior positions in several of China’s major economic decision-making bodies, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission.
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He has been part of the teams that drafted several of the country’s economic blueprint documents, including the 11th, 12th and 13th five-year plans. In this interview, he discusses what might be included in the next five-year plan – China’s 15th – and how the country can continue down a path of sustainable progress.
The five-year plan is receiving growing attention today. Once seen as a symbol of the planned economy, it in fact laid the foundation for economic development even before the reform and opening-up period began in 1978.
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When China was impoverished and weak, major projects were needed to build a base for the national economy, along with plans to help shape the emergence of various sectors from scratch.
Of course, a few early plans fell short of their targets due to the complex domestic conditions of the time. But since the launch of reform and opening-up, China has largely succeeded in meeting the goals set out in each plan.
