Five things you may not know about China's fifth plenum
Members of the Communist Party’s Central Committee are gathering at a heavily-guarded hotel in Beijing this week to discuss social and economic targets as well as policy changes for the next decade. Here are five things you may not know about the fifth plenum of President Xi Jinping’s administration.
Get with the programme
China has scrapped the use of the term Five-Year Plan which it borrowed from the former Soviet Union. It now uses the phrase five-year programme or guidelines. This small change since 2005 represents a shift from when the country’s economy was heavily controlled by the government to a more market-driven economy, according to state-run media.
Safest hotel in China
The plenum is taking place at the Jingxi Hotel, which is on West Chang’an Avenue in Beijing and is owned by the People’s Liberation Army. It opened in 1964 and is a regular venue for the Communist Party, government officials and the military to hold important meetings and make decisions behind closed doors. The hotel does not welcome bookings from individual guests except people attending conferences at the venue. It is known as “China’s safest hotel” because of its high levels of security.
The long and the short of it
There have seven fifth plenums in the history of the Chinese Communist Party.The shortest lasted only a day in September 1985 during Deng Xiaoping’s term in office. The longest, also the first, lasted for seven days in February 1980 after Deng came to power in 1978.
Movers and shakers
The fifth plenum in 1985 made the most government personnel changes. It added six party members to the Politburo, five members to secretariats of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, at least two members to the party’s Central Advisory Commission and at least four to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. It removed three people from secretariats of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee. The fifth plenum in 2005 was the quietest. It made no personnel changes.
Royal engagement
President Xi Jinping has not been entirely tied up with the plenum this week. He met the Dutch King Willem-Alexander during his visit to China on Monday. Xi visited the Netherlands in March 2014.
