Sultan M Hali
THE fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held in Beijing from 26 to 29 October. It took vital decisions in a period challenged by the pandemic COVID-19. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a work report on behalf of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Following discussions on the report and recommendations, the session adopted the CPC Central Committee’s proposals for the formulation of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035. The session was attended by 198 members of the CPC Central Committee and 166 alternate members of the CPC Central Committee. Members of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and senior officials of relevant sectors as well as a number of delegates to the 19th CPC National Congress who work at the grass-roots level, experts and scholars were also present at the four-day session.
The salient feature of the communique issued at the conclusion of the session indicates that China’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to cross the 100-trillion-yuan mark in 2020. Despite economic challenges and initial setbacks because of lockdown, over the past 12 months, China has seen its economic growth beat expectations, people’s living standards ensured and the overall situation of society maintained stable. It was also highlighted that China has made remarkable achievements in its battle against poverty over the past five years, lifting 55.75 million rural residents out of poverty. It was declared that China will continue to take the real economy as the focus of its economic development, unswervingly build itself into a manufacturer of quality and enhance its strength in cyberspace and digital technology. Among other achievements in the field of agriculture, China’s annual grain output has remained above 650 million tons for five consecutive years. The CPC expressed its resolve that peace and development remain the theme of the times. It is promising that China will strengthen efforts to develop cultural undertakings and industries and enhance the country’s cultural soft power.
The CPC has raised a set of long-range objectives for China to basically achieve socialist modernization by 2035. It is heartening to note that China is still in an important period of strategic opportunity for development at present and for the foreseeable future, but there are new developments in both opportunities and challenges facing the country. Its decision that China will prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas and fully advance rural vitalization was welcomed. In the current milieu of security challenges, China has built the world’s largest social security system in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020). Resultantly, the strength of the leadership of the CPC and the Chinese socialist system has been further demonstrated in the past five years, while China will work to ensure both development and national security and continue the Peaceful China initiative at a higher level.
China will accelerate the modernization of national defence and the military but it will hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit. It was noteworthy that during the past five years, more than 60 million new jobs were created in China’s urban areas. This amounts to China advancing coordinated regional development and a new type of urbanization while simultaneously nurturing a strong domestic market and establishing a new development pattern as well as comprehensively deepening reform in pursuit of a high-level socialist market economy. In the realm of climate change, expressing its resolve to take actions against global warming as a responsible nation, China will advance green development and promote harmony between human and nature. Promising to continue pursuing high-level opening up, China will explore new prospects of win-win cooperation. This will ensure further improving the quality of people’s life and promote social advancement.
Contrary to propaganda by its detractors, China is committed to maintaining lasting prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao as well as advancing the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and national reunification. At the Plenum, the leadership asked all members of the CPC and all the Chinese people to continue to work hard and press ahead to ensure that China wins the battle against poverty, finishes building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieves the first centenary goal as scheduled. It is appreciable that China saw its economic and technological strength as well as composite national strength leap to a new level, with its economy remaining stable overall and economic structure continuing to improve, in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020). It is imperative that the overall leadership of the CPC uphold the will to realize the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and achieve the long-range objectives set for 2035.
A remarkable aspect stands out that considering trade restrictions by its detractors and other impediments, the Chinese leadership hopes to become less dependent on the outside world, both for advanced technology and as a source of final demand. Critics of China attempt to denigrate its research and development (R&D) achievements and innovations by falsely claiming that technology was acquired by foul means. This scribe has visited scientific research organizations in China as well as in the West and has observed that breakthrough by China in artificial intelligence and quantum physics have baffled the Occident and they are asking China to share its findings in areas the West is yet to master. As a well-wisher of China, I wish it good luck for the future.
—The writer is retired PAF Group Captain and a TV talk show host.
