The third session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), commonly referred to as the Third Plenum, officially began on Monday and will continue until Thursday. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent statements on reform and opening up at various major meetings provide an important framework for the tone of the session, the priority of the reform agenda and the goal of advancing China’s modernisation.
While decisions will not be announced until the conclusion of the retreat, experts interviewed by the Global Times said the session will focus on improving China’s governance system and capacity, promoting high-quality development and drawing up fundamental institutional plans to advance China’s modernisation.
Xi has emphasised the comprehensive deepening of reform, describing it as the ‘driving force of development’, and according to Chinese experts, China should continue to unswervingly deepen reform and expand opening-up, which will help ensure high-quality development while tackling the risks and challenges posed by the rapidly changing global geo-economic situation.
Since the Political Bureau meeting of the CPC Central Committee on 30 April, which decided to hold the Third Plenum in July, Xi has set the tone for the current session by making important reform-related statements on several occasions.
The Political Bureau meeting chaired by Xi further elevated the status of reform for the CPC and set the focus of reform. The meeting stated that the entire Party should attach importance to reform, deepen reform in all aspects and focus on promoting China’s modernisation. According to the official Xinhua news agency, the meeting said that the broader reform should be led by the reform of the economic system, with the promotion of social equality and justice and the improvement of people’s well-being as both the starting point and the ultimate goal.
Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin School of Administration, said: “The goal is to push forward China’s modernisation to achieve high-quality development and realise national rejuvenation.”
Xi also said China should take decisive steps to remove ideological and institutional obstacles to its modernisation and redouble efforts to solve deep-rooted institutional challenges and structural problems, while presiding over a symposium in Jinan, East China’s Shandong Province, on 23 May.
According to Xinhua, the reform of the economic system should start from meeting realistic needs and solving the most pressing problems, and promote theoretical and institutional innovation in the process of solving practical problems.
Xu Baoli, a researcher with the Research Centre of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, said China’s reform focuses on solving its own problems to promote economic development while expanding opening-up.
“The key to reform is to solve problems, and China has always focused on solving its own problems,” Xu said, pointing to China’s efforts to build an advanced industrial system and boost innovation to achieve self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, he stressed that to succeed, China needs to mobilise all sectors, including private enterprises and foreign companies.
Analysts said China is stepping up efforts to strengthen its scientific and technological innovation capabilities and support private and foreign enterprises, which are the main issues expected to be highlighted at the ongoing Third Plenum.
