Beijing’s fresh imperative to “invest in people” – first raised in a proposal for the 15th five-year plan and reaffirmed at an agenda-setting policy meeting last week – reflects a rethink in economic strategy designed to stimulate domestic demand and improve social welfare, analysts said.
A readout from the meeting said the country must “combine investment in physical assets with investment in people”, while acknowledging the economy faced a catalogue of structural challenges, including weak domestic demand and persistent deflationary pressure.
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Tang Dajie, a senior researcher at the China Enterprise Institute think tank in Beijing, said the “invest in people” slogan reflected Beijing’s focus on boosting consumption, as well as more holistic efforts to improve people’s livelihoods.
“It started with addressing weak consumption but has evolved into full development for all people,” Tang said. “If people are well taken care of, there will be no weak consumption. The only question is how to realise that.”
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The concept was first mentioned in the Communist Party’s October recommendations for the next five-year plan, which set an overarching goal of “fostering the comprehensive development of the people”.
