The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee is held in Beijing, capital of China, from Oct. 26 to 29, 2015. (Photo: Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has decided on the country's course for the next five years, targeting medium-high economic growth, highlighting innovation and abandoning the decades-long one-child policy, after a key meeting on Thursday.
The four-day Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee adopted proposals for economic and social development in the 13th Five-year Plan (2016 to 2020).
The new program is vital for the final countdown to reaching China's first Centenary Goal, which, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the CPC's founding in 1921, is to double 2010 GDP and the 2010 per capita income of both urban and rural residents by 2020, completing the building of a moderately prosperous society.
The 13th Five-year Plan, the first under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, came as the world's second largest economy is adjusting to plateauing growth.
The economy expanded 6.9 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2015, the lowest reading since the second quarter of 2009, but the economic structure is improving and fresh economic drivers, including the service sector, are rising.
China's development is still "in a period of strategic opportunities," but it is also facing serious challenges from various conflicts and risks, according to a communique released after the meeting.
The country will underpin development as a top priority, promote quality and efficient development and accelerate the formation of a development pattern that can lead the economy in the "new normal" period, the document said.
China should "highlight innovation, coordination, the environment, opening up and sharing" to fulfill its economic goals.
"The five key points highlight the experience of China's development and all of them aim to achieve the comprehensive development of the human being," said Hu Angang, an economics professor at Tsinghua University.
MEDIUM-HIGH GROWTH
China will target "medium-high economic growth" in the five years and aim to achieve its economic goal by ensuring more balanced, inclusive and sustainable development.
The country will promote greater sophistication in its industrial sector and significantly raise the contribution of consumption to economic growth, according to the communique.
Experts estimated China must retain an annual growth rate of at least 6.5 percent in the next five years to reach its goal of doubling 2010 GDP by 2020.
The urbanization ratio calculated based on the number of registered residents will also rise at a faster pace, it said.
The CPC Central Committee also discussed modernizing agriculture and raising the people's quality of life. It is now targeting bringing all rural people out of the poverty by 2020.
China will face pressure of keeping stable growth during the 13th five year. The only solution lies in promoting reforms, said Chi Fulin, director of the China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development.
