How will China's Five-Year Plan fuel global economy?

BEIJING, Dec. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Beijing Review has recently published an article by Yan Yilong, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Public Policy and Management, analyzing what China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) means for China and the world. An edited excerpt of the article follows:

As a crucial pillar of national governance, China's Five-Year Plans have allowed the country to think long term, act strategically, and sustain progress across decades. This mechanism has been a key driver behind what many call the "Chinese miracle." While this idea of strategic planning was not originally conceived in China, the country's persistence in making the plans and remarkable success in implementing them are unparalleled. This enduring success is a defining feature of what's often called the "China model."

Mainstream Western economics has long argued that national-level planning is impractical, advocating instead for planning at the city or enterprise level. However, this perspective appears increasingly narrow when viewed through the lens of China's experience.

Over the decades, China has developed a new form of planning that combines the market-driven principles of a capitalist economy with the guiding hand of government policy. This approach, in which the government's "visible hand" complements the market's "invisible hand," creates a synergy that has driven immense progress.

Many Western observers have wondered how China has achieved remarkable development so quickly. The truth is, these accomplishments did not happen overnight. They are the cumulative result of one Five-Year Plan after another, each building upon the last in a continuous process of accumulation. This continuity is a key advantage of China's long-term planning approach. China's strategic direction has remained remarkably stable. The Five-Year Plans provide a rare form of certainty in China, in a world of increasing uncertainty.

In the Chinese market, businesses are exposed to the world's most dynamic industrial transformations and cutting-edge business innovations. Losing access to the Chinese market means more than losing a massive consumer base, for it also means missing out on the chance to participate in the frontier of global industrial evolution. Many European businesses have come to realize that their models and products refined in China are globally competitive.

Two features make the Chinese market unique: the intensity of competition and the speed of evolution. In almost every field, multiple technologies and companies compete side by side, pushing innovation forward. Only by participating in the market directly can one truly grasp the pulse of industrial change. For example, several European automakers, after limited engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, were astonished to find that China's electric vehicle industry had leapt to an entirely new level upon their return.

China's industrial development also provides critical support for global industrial and supply chains. As the world moves toward a more optimized allocation of resources, a global system of regional specialization is gradually emerging. China remains the country with a complete industrial system, strong manufacturing capacity, and a competitive cost-performance advantage. Through cooperation with China, countries around the world can significantly improve their production efficiency. In the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, China stands as a stabilizing anchor.

One of the major challenges facing the global green transition is a shortage of green capacity, both in terms of insufficient renewable energy and limited green manufacturing capability. China's strong green manufacturing base fills this gap, making a vital contribution to the world's shift toward smarter and more sustainable development.

Chinese innovation is injecting fresh momentum into global growth. Across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, Chinese technologies, products, and development models are accelerating local modernization processes. The Belt and Road Initiative is empowering countries in the Global South, enhancing their endogenous development capacity.

China's expanding foreign investments will continue to unleash untapped potential. As Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao announced recently, during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will broaden two-way investment cooperation, focusing not only on GDP, but also on Gross National Income (GNI), emphasizing both the "Chinese economy" and the "Chinese people's economy" (emphasizing the economy's focus on serving the needs of the population). As Chinese enterprises' international competitiveness grows, they are contributing to the stability and smooth operation of global production and supply chains. The returns from these overseas assets will directly contribute to GNI growth.

Taken together, China is sending a clear message to the world: A stronger China will not export war or conflict—it will export opportunities. As it continues to pursue its own stable development, China remains committed to growing alongside the world and sharing the benefits of progress.

SOURCE Beijing Review