3rd Plenary Session in July to focus on "further comprehensively deepening reform" and modernization
"I told you so."
The third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee will be held in Beijing in July, according to a decision made at a CPC Central Committee Political Bureau meeting on Tuesday, Xinhua just reported.
According to the main agenda of the session, the Political Bureau will report its work to the Central Committee, and the session will primarily study issues concerning further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization, says the state news agency.
Here is my moment of “I told you so.”
In early March, I observed in Pekingnology while others were not paying attention
China is now “making plans for further comprehensive reforms.”
Xi proactively pairs the upcoming reforms to the same scale as the Decision Of The Central Committee Of The Communist Party Of China On Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening The Reform adopted at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee on November 12, 2013
It’s a process that will take time because the making of the reform package will “extensively listen to opinions and suggestions from all quarters.” That likely suggests written reports, seminars, and meetings with many stakeholders in the CPC, government, academia, business, and other sectors.
It’s still too early to tell what form the new wave of “reform” promised by the Chinese President on Feb. 19 will take, what exactly will turn out in the package, and how it will be implemented.
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Also of interest is at what occasion and what time will it be announced. The 3rd Plenary Sessions of the CPC Central Committees are known to be advancing reforms, starting with the 3rd plenary session of the 11th Central Committee in 1978 that ushered in China’s reform and opening up. The Decision Of The Central Committee Of The Communist Party Of China On Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening The Reform adopted at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, on November 12, 2013, was also, at the time, well-received domestically and internationally for its perceived ambition, scale, and depth of reform.
Those precedents thus create expectations for reforms at other 3rd Plenary Sessions. As the agenda and date of the 3rd Plenary Sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee are still unannounced, will Beijing use the occasion to restore confidence with new reforms?
Okay, at least it’s “I sort of told you so.”
On March 27, I, again, highlighted in Pekingnology where Xi told visiting Americans
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. We are planning and implementing a series of significant measures to comprehensively deepen reform, continuously build a first-class business environment characterized by marketization, rule of law, and internationalization, and provide broader development opportunities for enterprises from various countries, including those from the United States.
Coming back to today’s news, Xinhua was relaying a readout of Tuesday’s CPC Central Committee Political Bureau meeting, which says
The meeting pointed out that reform and opening up are important magic weapons for the Party and the people to catch up with the times in great strides. The current and future periods are crucial times for comprehensively promoting the construction of a powerful country and the great rejuvenation of the nation in the Chinese path to modernization. Faced with the complex international and domestic situations, the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and the new expectations of the people, it is necessary to continue pushing forward with reform. This is an inevitable requirement to adhere to and improve the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, to promote the modernization of national governance systems and governance capabilities, to implement the new development concept, to better adapt to the changes in the principal contradictions in our society, to insist on putting the people at the center, to ensure that the achievements of modernization benefit all the people more fairly, to respond to major risks and challenges, to ensure the steady progress of the Party and the country, to promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and to win strategic initiative in the increasingly fierce international competition. It is also an inevitable requirement to solve the unique difficulties faced by a major political party, and to build a stronger and more powerful Marxist party. The whole Party must consciously prioritize reform more prominently, and closely focus on further comprehensively deepening the reform in a Chinese way.
The meeting emphasized that further comprehensively deepening reform must adhere to Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development, fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly study and implement a series of new ideas, viewpoints, and judgments of General Secretary Xi Jinping on comprehensively deepening reform, comprehensively, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development concept, adhere to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, further liberate the mind, liberate and develop the productive forces, and liberate and enhance social vitality. It requires coordinating the domestic and international situations, promoting the overall layout of the "Five-sphere Integrated Plan" in a coordinated manner, advancing the "Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy" in a coordinated manner, using economic system reform as the traction, and starting from the perspective and focus of promoting social fairness and justice, enhancing people's well-being, paying more attention to systematic integration, highlighting key points, and focusing more on the effectiveness of reform, promoting better adaptation between the relations of production and productive forces, the superstructure and economic base, national governance and social development, and providing strong impetus and institutional guarantees for the Chinese path to modernization.
As always, a wordy readout. The key is now what China means by “reform” - what will be “reformed” and how, especially in light of the divergent assessment of “reforms” in 2013 - and later - between Beijing and others.
