In October 2025, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was held in Beijing. This important meeting was convened at a crucial time when my country was about to successfully complete the main goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan and was entering a critical period of laying a solid foundation and making comprehensive efforts to basically realize socialist modernization. The plenary session reviewed and approved the "Proposals of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development."
Why is the 15th Five-Year Plan so crucial?
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee proposed the long-term goal of basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035. This includes achieving a per capita GDP at the level of moderately developed countries and a significant expansion of the middle-income group. In 2020, China's per capita GDP was US$10,500; by 2035, this figure is expected to reach US$30,000. From 2020 to 2035, a total of 15 years, per capita GDP will increase nearly threefold. These 15 years have been divided into three five-year plans: the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), and the 16th Five-Year Plan (2031-2035).
The 14th Five-Year Plan is the initial phase, setting the direction and laying a solid foundation. The 16th Five-Year Plan is the final sprint, ensuring the 2035 goals are achieved on schedule. The 15th Five-Year Plan, the middle five years, is the crucial stage from "laying the foundation" to "achieving results." If achieving the 2035 goals is a marathon, the 14th Five-Year Plan is the starting phase, adjusting breathing and finding rhythm; the 16th Five-Year Plan is the final sprint, gritting teeth and giving it your all; then the 15th Five-Year Plan is the middle section, the stage that requires the most endurance and the most confidence.
Contents of the 15th Five-Year Plan Recommendations
The Recommendations consist of 15 parts and 61 articles, divided into three main sections.
The first section is a general overview, mainly elaborating on the major achievements of my country's development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the significant meaning of ensuring economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and the overall requirements.
The second section is a detailed discussion, outlining the strategic tasks and major initiatives for the 15th Five-Year Plan period in specific sectors.
The third section mainly outlines tasks such as upholding and strengthening the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee and advancing socialist democracy and the rule of law.
The plenary session proposed the main goals for economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period: significant achievements in high-quality development, a substantial improvement in the level of self-reliance in science and technology, new breakthroughs in further comprehensively deepening reforms, a marked improvement in the level of social civilization, continuous improvement in the quality of people's lives, new and significant progress in building a beautiful China, and a more consolidated national security barrier. Building on these foundations, another five years of hard work are needed to achieve a significant leap in my country's economic strength, scientific and technological strength, national defense strength, comprehensive national strength, and international influence by 2035; per capita GDP should reach the level of moderately developed countries; people's lives should be happier and more fulfilling; and socialist modernization should be basically realized.
The plenary session outlined 12 specific tasks covering various fields including economy, politics, culture, society, ecology, and national defense.
Specifically:
Build a modern industrial system and consolidate the foundation of the real economy.
Accelerate high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and lead the development of new-quality productive forces.
Build a strong domestic market and accelerate the construction of a new development pattern.
Accelerate the construction of a high-level socialist market economy system and enhance the driving force for high-quality development.
Expand high-level opening-up and create a new situation of win-win cooperation.
Accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas and solidly promote the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas.
Optimize the regional economic layout and promote coordinated regional development.
Stimulate the cultural innovation and creativity of the entire nation and promote the prosperity and development of socialist culture.
Increase efforts to guarantee and improve people's livelihoods and solidly promote common prosperity for all people.
Accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development and build a beautiful China.
Promote the modernization of the national security system and capabilities and build a safer China at a higher level.
Achieve the centenary goal of the People's Liberation Army on schedule and promote the modernization of national defense and the armed forces with high quality.
As a core hub connecting China-UK innovation resources and serving industrial upgrading, the China-UK Science and Technology Innovation Platform will align its thinking and actions with the spirit of the plenary session. Taking the study and implementation of the plenary session's spirit as an opportunity, the platform will build upon its solid past accumulation in fields such as biomedicine, digital economy, and trendy cultural products. Guided by the recommendations, it will focus its efforts precisely, uniting China-UK forces to tackle key challenges in biomedicine, digital technology, and other fields, responding to the requirement of scientific and technological self-reliance; upgrading the industry-academia-research integration system, promoting the deep integration of the innovation chain and industrial chain, and contributing to the construction of a modern industrial system; deepening international cooperation, expanding channels for technology transfer and talent exchange, and implementing the deployment of high-level opening-up; continuously disseminating Yellow Emperor culture, creating an international narrative IP, and stimulating the cultural innovation and creativity of the entire nation, contributing to the achievement of the "15th Five-Year Plan" goals and the journey towards the 2035 vision!
.png)
