Guiding Economic and Social Development: The Theory and Practice of Five-Year Planning

Formulating well-designed five-year plans and implementing them consecutively represent an important piece of governance experience for the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a major political strength of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

I. The core principles of President Xi Jinping’s statements on development strategy and planning

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, President Xi has taken a personal hand in designing and promoting the formulation and implementation of national five-year plans, introducing a series of new ideas, perspectives, and conclusions in the process. With a focus on better balancing domestic and international imperatives, immediate and long-term objectives, comprehensive planning and key priorities, economic and social development, and strategy and tactics, he has articulated the pivotal role that development strategy and planning play in the overall advancement of the Party and the nation’s endeavors. On this basis, he has clearly outlined the major principles, strategic methods, and practical requirements for formulating and executing five-year plans. 

We must keep our domestic and international imperatives in mind and align development planning with global trends and the defining features of our times

First, we should accurately understand the changing global political and economic landscape. China has now become fully integrated into the global economy and shares an unprecedented level of interconnection with the world. To stay ahead of the curve and maintain the initiative in driving development, we must be able to keenly discern the strategic direction of the external environment. During the drafting of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025), the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core concluded that a once-in-a-century transformation was under way around the world. In response, it introduced a major strategic initiative: fostering a new development dynamic that is focused on the domestic economy and features positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows. The Central Committee also prioritized both development and security, enabling China to navigate external uncertainties and challenges.

Second, we should thoroughly analyze the trends in technological revolution and industrial transformation. Both the 13th (2016–2020) and 14th five-year plans prioritized scientific and technological innovation. Focusing on key areas like artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and life sciences, these plans put strong priority on core technology breakthroughs, the development of innovation systems, and the enhancement of enterprise innovation capabilities. This has resulted in a string of major original achievements in science and technology.

Third, we should clearly understand the basic conditions of China’s development and its features at the current stage. Grounded in China’s new stage of development, the 14th Five-Year Plan responded to the evolution in our comparative advantages and the need to transition toward high-quality development by outlining concrete steps for transforming China’s development model and delivering more rapid improvements in our quality, efficiency, and economic drivers. These measures effectively advanced the optimization of our economic structures along with a shift to new growth engines.

An AES100 engine on display at a conference to review the engine’s development, Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province, June 5, 2025. The AES100 engine is China’s first homegrown 1,000-kW-class advanced civil turboshaft engine, achieving full compliance with international airworthiness standards. It was announced at the review conference that a production license had been issued for the engine. The development of aero engines and gas turbines constitutes one of the 102 major engineering projects in the 14th Five-Year Plan. PHOTO BY XINHUA REPORTER CHEN SIHAN

An AG600 large amphibious aircraft on a flight test on water, Jingmen, Hubei Province. China’s homegrown AG600 “Kunlong” aircraft received its type certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China on April 20, 2025. This signals that the AG600, the world’s largest civil amphibious aircraft in terms of takeoff weight, has been approved for market entry after completing rigorous testing and verification. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China has made significant progress in the fields of science and technology, producing a series of major original breakthroughs. XINHUA / PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE AVIATION INDUSTRY CORPORATION OF CHINA

We must make sustained efforts and maintain the vision and strategic resolve needed to turn our blueprints into reality

First, we should align five-year plan objectives with strategic modernization goals. We must conduct thorough evaluations across all sectors with a keen focus on the goals of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035 and building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by the mid-21st century. For objectives to be accomplished within the current five-year plan, we should pursue both comprehensive progress and key breakthroughs. For those spanning multiple five-year plan windows, we need to sequence implementation to ensure each period builds upon the last. This will ensure that the completion of each five-year plan’s objectives systematically contributes to our broader modernization strategy.

Second, we should implement five-year plans with persistence. To uphold the weight and authority of five-year plans, we must enhance coordination, monitoring, evaluation, and policy support to ensure that all targets and tasks are carried out in full. Following the launch of the 14th Five-Year Plan, we have established sound mechanisms for implementation, which have provided strong support for ensuring a good start to building a modern socialist country.

We must follow a problem-oriented approach and drive overall progress through key breakthroughs

First, we should accurately understand the evolution of the principal challenge in Chinese society, for such a shift has profound and wide-ranging implications for the nation’s overall development. In fact, it serves as a key basis for defining the direction and tasks of five-year plans. At its 19th National Congress in 2017, the CPC declared that the principal challenge had evolved into one between the people’s growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development, with development problems predominantly relating to the quality of growth. Responding to this shift, we made high-quality development the central theme of the 14th Five-Year Plan, integrating it into all economic and social development tasks. This included expanding high-quality supply and enhancing coordination between urban and rural areas and among different regions.

Second, we should address critical gaps and bottlenecks in modernization with precision. To tackle key issues that hinder our progress in realizing modernization goals for different stages, unleashing development potential and dynamism, and improving public wellbeing, we must make greater efforts to deliver targeted and systematic solutions. For example, the 13th Five-Year Plan was designed to overcome the key challenges we faced in securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. To this end, the plan introduced three critical battles aimed at mitigating major risks, implementing targeted poverty alleviation, and controlling environmental pollution. These initiatives ensured that our all-around moderate prosperity would stand the test of both time and the people.

Third, we should enhance balanced development across all sectors. Based on our comprehensive plans for economic, political, cultural, social, ecological, and security-related tasks, we need to strengthen coordination for cross-cutting goals, integrate tasks and initiatives, and align project layouts. This will enable us to achieve breakthroughs in key areas while also securing advancements across the board, ensuring that critical breakthroughs lead to the elevation of overall economic and social development.

We must stand on the side of the people and regard the improvement of public wellbeing as our ultimate objective

First, we should keep in mind the essential requirement of common prosperity. Pursuing the fundamental goal of benefiting the people, we should integrate the requirement of promoting common prosperity into tasks in all areas, including regional coordination, urban-rural integration, and public wellbeing development. We must act with purpose and initiative to narrow the disparities among regions, between urban and rural areas, and in income distribution and strive to promote and maintain social fairness and justice.

Second, we should carry out practical initiatives that will win people’s approval and benefit their lives. Planning encompasses both national affairs and matters that directly affect people’s lives. Based on the notion of doing everything within our capacity, we must introduce a range of practical, tangible, and accessible policies and measures that will give our people a growing sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security. Targets concerning the people’s wellbeing account for more than one third of the main objectives in the 14th Five-Year Plan. Of the 102 major projects outlined in the plan, 28 focus on improving people’s wellbeing. These include projects to raise the quality of education and expand its capacity, ensure basic health care, and provide eldercare and childcare. All these have played an important role in addressing inadequacies in public services and solving the most pressing difficulties of the greatest concern to the people.

We must pursue a coordinated approach and better harness the strategic guiding role of national development plans

First, we should leverage the synergy of our unified planning system. To strengthen the overarching role of national development plans, we must ensure that they effectively serve as a guide and check for other plans. We need to reinforce the foundational role of territorial space plans, see that subject-specific and region-specific plans play a stronger supporting role, and refine relevant management systems such as those for plan cataloging, drafting, and filing and for ensuring plan coordination. This will see that plans across all areas and levels fulfill their respective functions while maintaining overall coherence. 

Second, we should align the focus of our various policy tools with the requirements of national development plans. We must determine the proper orientation for fiscal, monetary, industrial, pricing, and employment policies in light of planning objectives and development circumstances, while the targets and tasks for five-year plans should be integrated into our plans for each year.

Third, we should guide all regions to draw up development plans that are tailored to their specific conditions. While their development approaches and strategic measures must embody the overall requirements of national plans, local regions should also highlight their distinctive features and give play to their comparative advantages. They must avoid the practices of mechanically imitating national plans and arbitrarily raising targets.

II. Leveraging the important role and unique strengths of five-year plans in guiding economic and social development

China has formulated and implemented 14 five-year plans since 1953. These plans have helped drive major advances in economic and social development, composite national strength, and living standards, bringing about the two miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability, something the world has rarely seen before. Using five-year plans to guide economic and social development has become a distinctive feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and a key aspect of China’s development experience that countries around the world have drawn lessons from. The formulation and implementation of five-year plans is primarily focused on achieving the following.

Qinglong Mountain Tourist Resort in Hetaoyuan Town, Juye County, Shandong Province, June 4, 2025. This resort was developed after the comprehensive ecological restoration of closed mines and abandoned mining pits in the area. The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 called for well-designed plans for the layout of green belts, green corridors, green wedges, and greenways, as well as projects to restore urban ecosystems and improve urban functions. PHOTO BY XINHUA REPORTER GUO XULEI

Solidly advancing socialist modernization 

Throughout each of China’s 14 five-year plans, the strategic goal and focus have always been to build China into a modern socialist country. The first to the fifth five-year plans helped China establish relatively complete systems for industry and the national economy despite starting from utter destitution. Through the sixth and seventh five-year plans, we essentially resolved food and clothing shortages. During the periods of the eighth and ninth five-year plans, people saw their lives rising to a moderately prosperous level on the whole. The 10th to 13th five-year plans promoted the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Standing at a point where the timeframes of the Two Centenary Goals converge, the 14th Five-Year Plan has followed the two-step strategy for the new era set out at the 19th CPC National Congress, thereby ensuring a good start to our modernization efforts as we embark on a new journey. At its 20th National Congress in 2022, the CPC outlined the long-range objectives for building China into a great modern socialist country and proposed to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization. Continued implementation of five-year plans will be essential for transforming this grand blueprint into a tangible reality step by step.

Better leveraging the roles of an efficient market and a well-functioning government 

Following the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, the establishment and refinement of the socialist market economy saw five-year plans gradually transition from being directive to guidance oriented, with the focus shifting from managing microeconomic activities toward enhancing macro level and strategic guidance. Commencing with the 11th Five-Year Plan, the Chinese title of the plans was changed to better reflect a profound transformation in planning principles and priorities as well as implementation approaches. 

The systems for planning China’s economic and social development have kept improving since the 18th CPC National Congress. President Xi has called for faster progress in establishing a unified planning system to guide public resource allocation and regulate the activities of market entities. This has pointed out the direction of our efforts in coordinating the roles of the government and the market through five-year plans. In terms of content, five-year plans should focus on developing a unified, open, competitive, and orderly market, with the aim of raising resource allocation efficiency by means of an efficient market. At the same time, the plans should also serve the transformation of government functions and enhance its services, so as to ensure that we have a well-functioning government to remedy market failures. In terms of implementation, a differentiated approach is required. For anticipatory targets and tasks concerning industrial development and structural adjustment, the role of the market should be given full rein, while the government should work to create favorable policy, institutional, and legal environments. For obligatory targets and tasks concerning public services, environmental protection, and security safeguards, the government should ensure the proper allocation of public resources and guide and regulate private-sector resources in order to achieve our stated objectives.

Fully harnessing the strength of our socialist system to pool resources behind major undertakings

In the process of formulating and putting into practice five-year plans, our overall national interests must come first, with all parties acting in concert under a unified framework. We must fully mobilize all sectors through well-coordinated and robust organizational mechanisms, define well-conceived major objectives and tasks, and strive for breakthroughs in priority areas and key challenges. We should draw on our experience in implementing the 165 major projects from the 13th Five-Year Plan and the 102 major projects from the 14th Five-Year Plan, leveraging this to secure further progress in a number of strategic, guiding programs that serve long-term imperatives. We should harness synergy between various plans through mechanisms for ensuring alignment across all levels, making sure that national development plans are fleshed out through subject-specific plans, further advanced through regional plans, and supported by territorial space plans. In this way, we can see that the CPC Central Committee’s strategic intentions are fully implemented across all sectors and regions. Resources of all types should be fully mobilized through targeted and effective supporting mechanisms for production factors. We must also put in place stronger implementation safeguards in terms of budgetary funding, government investment, land supply, and financial resources, so that we have the means to effectively accomplish a range of major, urgent, and difficult tasks.

Demonstrating the great vitality of whole-process people’s democracy

In formulating five-year plans, we need to adhere to sound and democratic decision-making procedures and strictly observe the following established formula: the CPC Central Committee unveils plan recommendations at its plenary sessions, and the State Council then formulates a plan outline, which is to be reviewed and approved by the National People’s Congress before being finally released to the public for implementation. In this way, we will be able to fully harness the tremendous strength of all our people working together under the CPC’s centralized, unified leadership. During the formulation process, we must engage in extensive public consultation and pool collective wisdom. We should gather wide-ranging input through forums and discussions, field studies, solicitation of opinions, and other means. Using such activities, we will pinpoint problems, draw on fresh experiences, make our plans more targeted and practical, and build consensus. Furthermore, the implementation process should be promptly refined in line with the comments of all parties involved. When conducting dynamic monitoring and mid-term assessments, we must give full consideration to the feedback of all sides and set out tasks and measures to ensure effective execution of the plans. We also need to further develop new approaches and methods for practicing whole-process people’s democracy in the formulation and implementation of the plans to ensure sound, democratic, and law-based decision-making.

III. Formulating a high-quality 15th Five-Year Plan

The 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) period marks a crucial juncture in our endeavor to basically realize socialist modernization. The formulation and implementation of this plan thus carry immense and far-reaching significance.

Developing a high-quality plan 

We will deepen our research and analysis to better grasp the trends and features of China’s development. We will intensify studies and evaluations on key points and determine sound objectives and targets based on the need for them to be both ambitious and feasible. We will carefully design a number of major strategic tasks, major policies and measures, and major projects that affect the bigger picture in line with our development needs and public expectations. Moreover, we will gather opinions and suggestions through a variety of methods and channels in order to fully take account of social expectations, public wisdom, expert views, and primary-level experience during the formulation process.

Enhancing coordination between plans at all levels and for all sectors

In addition to formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan, we will also develop a set of national-level subject-specific plans with a focus on the key tasks supporting Chinese modernization and draw up implementation programs for national-level plans for regional development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period based on the original goals of relevant major strategies. We will make ongoing adjustments to territorial space plans and improve coordination and guidance for local plans. We must effectively coordinate targets, flesh out tasks, and break down projects so as to make sure that plans at all levels and for all sectors are aligned with the 15th Five-Year Plan in terms of development direction, main objectives, policies, projects, and risk prevention and control.

Improving the mechanisms for implementing and advancing the plan

When formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan, we will also develop effective implementation channels. This will see us creating new execution and coordination methods and stepping up efforts to assign responsibilities and conduct oversight of all objectives and tasks. To improve monitoring and assessment, we will push forward with the dynamic monitoring of plan implementation and carry out mid-term and final assessments. Based on evaluation results, prompt adjustments will be made to work priorities, and oversight will be strengthened where necessary. We will boost support with regard to production factors and enhance policy coordination to ensure solid implementation of the objectives, tasks, and major projects set out in the plan. 

Moving faster to advance legislation for national development planning

Development plans must be formulated and executed in accordance with the law. We will help with preparations for deliberations on a national development planning law, with a view to providing a legal grounding for the regulations, requirements, and effective practices of the CPC Central Committee concerning the formulation and implementation of development plans. This will ensure that we can better translate our country’s institutional strengths into effective governance practices.

（Originally appeared in Qiushi Journal, Chinese edition, No. 12, 2025）