Il 14th five-year plan Chinese focuses on the spread of well-being and the capacity for "resilience" in industrial production.
China changes on the run: it is impossible to think that Covid would not have changed the strategies of the People's Republic. The forecasts show a foreseeable setback in the short term that has led the country's leaders to outline a different future in the new Chinese five-year plan.
A different future for China as the future of the planet will be different. A future that could involve more closures than openings, less cooperation and an extreme need to focus on renewable energy.
For this reason, China's five-year plan always focuses on the objective of becoming a technological power, but also focusing on general quality and growth in per capita income.
What do the Chinese need to live like in the West?
Spain has a per capita income level of around 25.000 euros. Italy is a little higher: it has a per capita income level of 28.000 euros. They are countries with GDP growth rates of around 1-2% per year. To reach the same average and widespread level, China would need a per capita income of around 32.000 euros.
China's current nominal GDP per capita is approximately 10.000.
With GDP growth of about 5% per year, China's per capita income will be doubled by 2035. With a parallel rise of the Chinese currency against the US dollar, per capita income would reach the level of 32.000-36.000 euros per year. understood in 2035.
The Chinese five-year plan wants to get there by emphasizing innovation even more (in sectors that already see an advantage in perspective, such as of the AI and homeland security) and promoting research and development as a share of GDP. An innovation that however has the matrix of self-sufficiency.
Technology is the key now in China's next development area. It is a key area to which China wants to give more attention, more resources and more development. I think it is basically for China's development in the future.
Wang Huiyao, Chinese cabinet adviser and founder of the Center for China and Globalization.
Whoever does it by himself, does his own thing
The "new cold war” with the United States born from the battle over tariffs and continued with the ostracism towards Huawei and the ordeals suffered by ByteDance for TikTok will not improve much soon.
Despite the differences touted by Biden, the next likely US president, the tariffs introduced by Trump may not be eased anytime soon. The United States does not lay down its weapons easily, not even the economic ones, and today more than ever it needs to use all its levers to try to recover from the terrible blow of the pandemic.
This entails the need for Chinese tech giants to prepare to produce what they need themselves, from chips to operating systems.
The Chinese plan envisages a sort of "dual channel". Something that we Italians would translate into the Latin motto "Si vis pacem, para bellum". Armed with knowledge and production factors: ready for dialogue, but also to do it yourself.
Especially by increasing investments and internal consumption.
Other points of the new Chinese plan
Other objectives of the new Chinese plan, which should be implemented in the coming months before approval by the Chinese parliament next year?
Three central themes: environment, military force, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Environment
The Chinese government, boosted by the country's rapid growth in the renewables sector, has set long-term goals for reducing emissions. This will accelerate the shift to electric vehicles and increase nuclear, solar, hydroelectric and wind energy (the latter in China is booming).
Military force
The party established a new Chinese for greater synchronization between economic development and defense. Xi's goal is to build a world-class military by 2049. The statement called for accelerating defense modernization and "realizing the unity of a prosperous country and a strong military."
Hong Kong and Taiwan
Reaffirming its commitment to the "peaceful development" of ties across the Taiwan Strait, China's new plan promised to maintain "long-term prosperity and stability" in Hong Kong and Macau as well.
The statement includes a line calling for the "reunification of the motherland," while a similar document five years ago emphasized economic cooperation and benefits for Taiwanese residents and businesses.
In short (Italian only)
China has been awaited for crucial years. Years that can mark the passing of the baton as a leading nation in the world.
