The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Committee is to gather in July for a key meeting known as a plenum, the third since the body of elite decisionmakers was elected in 2022, focusing on reforms amid “challenges” at home and complexities broad.
Plenums are important events on China’s political calendar that require the attendance of all of the Central Committee, comprising 205 members and 171 alternate members with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at the helm.
The Central Committee typically holds seven plenums between party congresses, which are held once every five years. The current central committee members were elected at the last party congress in October 2022.
Photo: Reuters
Further deepening reforms and promoting the modernization of China will comprise the main agenda of the third plenum, Xinhua news agency said yesterday, citing the party’s politburo, during a regular meeting.
Third plenums have been typically held in the autumn since the 1990s. The party was widely expected to hold one in either October or November last year, but it did not.
“The meeting had been expected to happen late last year, but was postponed without explanation,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics.
“We should get a better sense of the leadership’s medium-term reform priorities during the third plenum,” he said.
The plenum will open amid a subdued economy, with the massively indebted property sector, once accounting for a quarter of GDP, a major drag on household sentiment.
The economy still faces many challenges, with “effective demand” still lacking, the pressure on enterprises sizable, and risks and hazards in key areas numerous, Xinhua reported, citing the politburo meeting.
“Domestic circulation is also not smooth, and the complexity, severity and uncertainty of the external environment has obviously increased,” Xinhua reported, adding that China’s economic foundation remained stable.
China has not collapsed as predicted by the “China collapse theory,” nor will it peak as forecast by the “China peak theory,” Xi said last month.
“I have repeatedly emphasized that reform and opening up are crucial tools for contemporary China to catch up with the times. China’s reform will not pause, and its opening-up will not cease,” he said.
“We are planning and implementing a series of significant measures to comprehensively deepen reform,” he said.
Third plenums have typically focused on reforms after the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s. Some have left a long-lasting and historical impact on the economy. The third plenum in December 1978 under Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) initiated China’s economic reforms, igniting China’s transformation into a global economic powerhouse.
China’s military yesterday showed off its machine-gun equipped robot battle “dogs” at the start of its biggest ever drills with Cambodian forces. More than 2,000 troops, including 760 Chinese military personnel, are taking part in the drills at a remote training center in central Kampong Chhnang Province and at sea off Preah Sihanouk Province. The 15-day exercise, dubbed Golden Dragon, also involves 14 warships — three from China — two helicopters and 69 armored vehicles and tanks, and includes live-fire, anti-terrorism and humanitarian rescue drills. The hardware on show included the so-called “robodogs” — remote-controlled four-legged robots with automatic rifles mounted on their
A Philippine boat convoy bearing supplies for Filipino fishers yesterday said that it was headed back to port, ditching plans to sail to a reef off the Southeast Asian country after one of their boats was “constantly shadowed” by a Chinese vessel. The Atin Ito (“This Is Ours”) coalition convoy on Wednesday set sail to distribute fuel and food to fishers and assert Philippine rights in the disputed South China Sea. “They will now proceed to the Subic fish port to mark the end of their successful mission,” the group said in a statement. A Philippine Coast Guard vessel escorting the convoy was
SHAKE-UP: Lam, who would be the third president in less than two years, emerged as one of the country’s most important officials after leading an anti-corruption effort Vietnam has nominated the enforcer of the Communist Party’s anti-corruption drive as the next president and proposed a new head of the National Assembly, in appointments that could ease months of political turmoil and allow policymakers to refocus on a struggling economy. Unprecedentedly for a one-party nation once known for its stable politics, two state presidents and a National Assembly speaker have stepped down in less than 18 months, all for unspecified “wrongdoing” amid a major anti-graft campaign which is unnerving foreign investors because of its chilling effect on bureaucracy. After approval from the National Assembly, which could come this week, Vietnamese
MOSTLY SYMBOLIC: The ruling party has a large enough majority to override the veto of the legislation, which the president said contradicts the constitution Georgia’s president on Saturday vetoed a so-called “Russian law” targeting media that has sparked weeks of mass protests. The legislation would require media and non-governmental organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad. Critics of the bill say it closely resembles legislation used by the Kremlin to silence opponents, and that it would obstruct Georgia’s bid to join the EU. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the ruling Georgian Dream party, said that the legislation contradicts the country’s constitution and “all European standards,” adding