What is China’s plan to meet Xi Jinping’s economic vision for ‘socialist modernisation’ by 2035?
- The fifth plenary session of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee will take place from October 26-29
- China is keen to avoid the so-called middle-income trap despite the impact of the coronavirus and the various tensions with the United States
A healthy economic growth trajectory is expected to be key to plans for how Xi Jinping’s vision for China to “basically achieve socialist modernisation” by 2035 will be laid out at a key meeting in late October.
Xi’s overriding goal was first uttered in 2017 without specifics, but the fifth plenary session of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee is expected to provide more details about the Chinese leader’s vision and the general approach the government will take to achieve it.
A key assumption ahead of the meeting, which will take place between October 26-29, is that China will maintain a healthy economic growth trajectory so that the country can escape the middle-income trap.
The so-called middle income trap is a development stage where a country attains a certain level of income but then stagnates and remains at the same level because it cannot progress from low-cost manufacturing into hi-technology industries.
While so far no ‘common front’ towards China has been formed, this may still happen in coming years
The coronavirus has already proven to be a blip rather than a reversal in China’s growth story, with achieving the goals for 2035 set to serve as a stepping stone for China to become a “modernised socialist country” by 2049, when the People‘s Republic of China will celebrate its 100th anniversary.