China is getting ready for a key meeting to discuss its next 5-year plan

China’s ruling Communist Party is preparing for a key annual conclave to be held later this year, with President Xi Jinping indicating that its focus will be the next five-year plan for the country’s economic and political goals.

In instructions on its formulation, Xi said the party’s central leadership was “organising the drafting of a proposal for the 15th five-year plan”, according to a Xinhua report on Monday.

A one-month online public consultation on the formulation of the plan was also launched on Tuesday.

The proposal Xi referred to needs to be endorsed by a plenary session of the party, according to its rules, and would then be detailed during next year’s annual legislative session in March.

It is the first official signal about that plenary session – a meeting of more than 370 full and alternate members of the party’s Central Committee known as the fourth plenum.

The 14th five-year plan ends this year, and the next one – from 2026 to 2030 – will need to be evaluated during the plenary session before it is made public in March next year.

According to Xinhua, the party’s leadership is working on a draft document and seeking suggestions from cadres, the public and academics.

Beijing has yet to set a date for this year’s plenum. Previous announcements about the five-year plan drafting process have been made about two months before the plenum was held.

The strategic plans are usually discussed at the fifth plenum, not the fourth. But Beijing has cut one plenary session from the line-up, though it still holds one a year as required by the party’s constitution.

Experts say Xi and other leaders have been travelling around the country preparing for the conclave.

In South China Morning Post

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