CPC Central Committee starts third plenary session, showing unwavering commitment to reform, opening-up

The 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) started its third plenary session in Beijing on Monday morning, where top Party officials will set the direction for China's further comprehensively deepening reform that will carry significant importance for China's economic and social development for years to come.  

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a work report on behalf of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and expounded on a draft decision of the CPC Central Committee on further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

The session will run from Monday to Thursday.

The meeting, often referred to as the third plenum and is held roughly once every five years, played a critical role in China's reform and opening-up that started in 1978 and underpinned China's economic miracle over the past four decades or so. This year's session is expected to focus on further deepening reform and expanding high-level opening-up, in order to promote high-quality development and advance Chinese modernization, experts said. 

Given China's increasingly important role on the global stage as the biggest contributor to global growth, the third plenum has also drawn widespread attention from around the world, as many are looking to major reform measures in the world's second-largest economy that could create greater opportunities. Coming as the world is faced with rising geo-economic tension, the third plenum will offer a sense of continuity and certainty, as it will highlight China's unwavering commitment to reform and opening-up, even as some advanced economies have turned inward and become protectionist, experts noted. 

Setting the direction

While there was not much information about the closed-door meeting on Monday, recent top meetings have offered a window into the top agenda of the session. 

Among the top items on the agenda, top Party officials will deliberate on a draft of The CPC Central Committee's Decision on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese Modernization, according to a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held on June 27, where the date for the third plenary session was announced, Xinhua reported. 

In the draft, the new situation and new problems faced in advancing Chinese modernization were thoroughly analyzed, the overall arrangements for further comprehensively deepening reform centering around advancing Chinese modernization were scientifically planned, and the draft will serve as a guiding document for further comprehensively deepening reform on the new journey, according to the Political Bureau meeting. 

A communique is expected to be released after the conclusion of the session. For example, the communique of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2013 stated that we must pay more attention to implementing systematic, integrated and coordinated reforms, promoting the development of a socialist market economy, democratic politics, advanced culture, a harmonious society and ecological progress. 

The communique of the Third Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in 2018 said that the plenary session reviewed and adopted a decision by the CPC Central Committee on deepening reform of Party and state institutions as well as a plan for the reform, which is a profound evolution in modernizing China's system and capacity for governance.

Economists and experts interviewed by the Global Times on Monday said that in line with decades of tradition, the ongoing third plenary session will focus on mapping out new reform measures that are aimed at further improving governance efficiency, promoting high-quality development and advancing Chinese modernization, while coping with new domestic and global situations.  

Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher of China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that the third plenum will focus on three key themes: Chinese modernization, new quality productive forces, and high-quality development. 

"High-quality development is an unyielding principle in the new era, as well as a key theme and main task of comprehensively building China into a great modern socialist country," Zhang told the Global Times on Monday, noting that the key themes of China's high-quality development are innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing. 

In line with recent top policy documents, the third plenum is expected to roll out major reform measures, so as to continue improving and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and modernize China's system and capacity for governance, the overarching goal of further comprehensively deepening reform, experts said.  Specifically, measures are expected to further boost China's technological innovation capabilities and further improve the business environment, so as to foster new growth drivers to power sustainable high-quality development, according to experts. 

"As the Chinese economy is undergoing a transition from old growth drivers to new growth drivers, further comprehensively deepening reform is critical in ensuring the transition will be stable and smooth," Su Wei, a professor from the Party School of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, told the Global Times on Monday.  

Su said that reform and opening-up and innovation are two main sources for China's robust, sustainable development, even though the world is witnessing changes unseen in a century, including a new round of technological revolution.

Global significance  

Also, in line with China's long-standing policy of further opening its door to the world, the third plenary session will focus on further expanding high-standard opening-up, which will inject greater impetus to global development, as the world is facing growing risks and challenges amid a rapidly shifting global geo-economic situation marked by rising geopolitical tension and protectionism, experts said. 

In recent years, the US and some other Western countries have turned inward and increased protectionism, which has created huge obstacles for global development. Against this backdrop, the ongoing third plenary session's focus on deepening reform, including opening-up, "will play a critical role in pushing back against the anti-globalization trend, and offer profound significance in promoting global economic development," Su said. 

In stark contrast to chaotic situations in certain countries, the CPC's unwavering commitment to continuously deepening reform and expanding high-standard opening-up will also offer a much-needed sense of stability and certainty for the international community, experts said. 

"As the world is experiencing profound changes, the international community can clearly see which major power can offer consistency and stability, which one is more unpredictable and is full of risks," Li Haidong, a professor from the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Monday, noting that when China is holding the significant plenum about modernization and reform, there is serious internal political struggle, polarization and instability in some countries including the US.

China's reform and opening-up policies in pursuit of Chinese modernization will also offer a great example for many developing countries around the world, especially those from the Global South, which are seeking their own modernization, experts said.