A leading Chinese economist shared his observations on Tuesday with foreign ambassadors on the key issues of China's 14th Five-Year Plan as the country undergoes vast socioeconomic changes amid a volatile geopolitical situation.

Zhu Min, chair of the National Institute of Financial Research at Tsinghua University, shared his thought with ambassadors, senior diplomats, and entrepreneurs during a roundtable discussion organized by the Beijing based think tank Center for China and Globalization (CCG).

"While working on its 14th Five-Year Plan, China has remained committed to opening-up, and is working with all countries and partners to promote global governance and shared prosperity," said Zhu.

As the former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund and former deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, Zhu explained that China's economic strategy over the next five years will place greater emphasis on five aspects: high-quality growth, a people-centered approach, the "dual circulation" strategy, green development, as well as technology and digitalization.

Multifaceted approach

According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, China's per capita GDP in 2019 reached US$10,276 at the average exchange rate. As the country moves toward becoming a high-income economy, Zhu believes that more efforts should be made to strike a balance between rising incomes and people's sense of gain and happiness.

As such, Zhu called for improving the availability of China's social health insurance scheme and strengthening environmental protection efforts. He also urged finance agencies to take action to address people's need for wealth management.

With regard to the newly proposed "dual circulation" concept, Zhu explained that the strategy is designed to ensure the effective and stable operation of the domestic supply chain, while continuing to cooperate with the rest of the world on resources, technologies, talents, capital flow, and management capacities.

Zhu stressed that the interaction between domestic and international markets will play a crucial role in facilitating China's technological upgrading, and further help domestic products move into the value chain.

"We expect to see huge improvements of efficiency in both domestic and international markets," he added.

On the green development side, China vowed this year to reach peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Zhu explained that these goals play a major role in the country's new five-year plan as they put strict requirements on China's energy structure and efficiency, while providing tremendous opportunities for global investment.

Zhu added that China is accelerating its efforts to improve technological development through 5G, artificial intelligence, big data and cloud services. Meanwhile, more support from technological institutions is expected to be put in place for Chinese companies.

Committed to opening-up

During a CPC press conference on Oct. 30, it was noted that China should further open-up and expand market entry for foreign-invested enterprises to better utilize resources from both domestic and international markets. This notion has been constantly reinforced in the 14th Five-Year Plan.

With more free trade zones emerging across China, the country's imports and exports are expected to grow further, and international cooperation in this regard will be strengthened, Zhu said.

The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), for example, demonstrates global progress being made on openness and cooperation. Zhu believes that the partnership will promote the flow of capital, and help further facilitate the exchange on trade, technologies and services.

In addition, Zhu affirmed that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will proceed in the infrastructure and industry sector, and help improve communication and exchanges using digitalization means between BRI countries.

"China is working with other countries to carry forward the reform efforts of global economic governance and financial institutions," Zhu explained. "China is also committed to combating the pandemic, especially in the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines."

"The five-year plan addresses the key challenges China is facing and helps China move toward becoming a much more sustainable and high-income country," Zhu concluded.

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