State media gives account of how China’s mask-wearing leaders drew up five-year plan

Communist Party mouthpiece Xinhua says the process began in April, as the coronavirus crisis was easing in the country

Over about 200 days, President Xi Jinping chaired dozens of meetings and seminars with the drafting team, retired elders, experts and entrepreneurs

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The president’s name was mentioned 63 times in the Xinhua report, an apparent effort by party propagandists to highlight Xi Jinping’s authority and control. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00am, 5 Nov 2020Updated: 8:00am, 5 Nov 2020

The ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece has given an account of how its leaders, all wearing masks amid the coronavirus pandemic, put together China’s new five-year plan to 2025 in consultation with retired elders, experts and others.

A report published by news agency Xinhua on Wednesday said President Xi Jinping began steering the drafting process in April as the public health crisis was easing in China, and just after the lockdown of Wuhan – the central city where the first cases were detected late last year – was lifted.

“It was on April 13, less than a week after China ended Wuhan’s lockdown, when General Secretary Xi Jinping chaired the first plenary meeting of the drafting team in Beijing and provided guidance,” said the report, which was released as the world waited for the US presidential election results.

China’s five-year plans for social and economic development have come a long way since they first began in 1953.

The 14th plan, from 2021 to 2025, is expected to see Xi, “the core navigator and helmsman”, leading China through perilous waters amid external antagonism, according to a communique released after the blueprint was adopted at a meeting of the party’s Central Committee last week.

Xi Jinping told the drafting team in April that China should “seize the opportunities” and “explore new areas of development”. Photo: Xinhua