All Eyes on the Upcoming 20th CPC National Congress

Agreed or be at variance, the world is anticipating and seeking out possible impacts from the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which will soon convene in Beijing. All understand the reality of what is to be hashed out and laid down as blueprints for the future of China that will leave lasting imprints on the world’s geopolitical, geo-economic, and geostrategic landscapes.

The 20th CPC National Congress, as one of the high-profile political events in China, has taken a center stage position on the global arena, for the cognizance regarding the strong interdependency between China and the rest of the world. The international community has been keeping a tab on the relevant moves even before the congress was announced.

In the face of deep-rooted challenges relating to economic recession, inflation, climate change, protectionism, geopolitics, regional conflicts, and food security, people of the world need a beacon of light to forge ahead. It is expected that the upcoming political meeting in China will bring hope. With the exception of the few that are hell-bent to stick to the zero-sum narrative, the rest of the world are looking for someone to lead, someone to work together with as a team, someone who believes in partnership with the philosophy of co-existence and harmony, and pursues win-win development for all.

Following the 20th CPC National Congress, the U.S. midterm elections are about to be held next month. It’s believed that the related statements from this congress will set the direction of China’s relations with the United States. The Russia-Ukraine crisis is also going berserk fueled by international players, including the NATO. China observers have paid a close attention to any change in China’s foreign policy and its stance on important international affairs. The congress will definitely provide an excellent platform for media across the world to zoom in on this field.

Having observed China’s epic development programmed and achieved over the last five years since the 19th CPC National Congress, which created global positive ripples throughout the world, the international community together with China places big hopes on the upcoming congress.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, China’s poverty eradication efforts successfully lifted nearly 800 million people out of extreme poverty over the past forty years and inspired big wigs of the world with its workable paradigm, modalities, implementation, and results. In 2020, China announced the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, as one of the country’s two centennial goals.

During the past five years, the world has also witnessed the effectiveness of China’s people-first approach in the fight against COVID-19 that has protected people's lives and health. China achieved the best outcome worldwide in coordinating economic development with epidemic prevention and control. The Chinese government has promoted high-quality development, deepened reforms in a rapid and steady manner, and at the same time, made great efforts to boost ecological civilization, resolutely safeguard national security, modernize national defense and the military, and advance the major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. During its 13th Five-Year Plan period from 2016 to 2020, under the leadership of the CPC with Xi Jinping as the core, China made great strides in improving the economy, people's livelihood and many other fields: China’s contribution to the global economic growth has reached 30 percent, its GDP exceeded RMB 100 trillion and 65.64 million new urban jobs had been created during the five years. New standard bearers in technology have emerged, including high-speed trains, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, and domestic passenger aircraft C919. China’s rapid development in the field of technology can be attributed to its investment in research and development, which totaled RMB 2.2 trillion in 2019, accounting for 2.23 percent of its GDP. The world has also had to admire China for having the largest number of companies included in Fortune Global 500.

Global curiosity has been pivoted on the 20th CPC National Congress as it is going to shed light on the 14th Five-Year Plan covering the period of 2021 to 2025, officially endorsed by the National People’s Congress on March 11, 2021, touching on all aspects of development showcasing China’s 2035 vision.

Experts believe that the 20th CPC National Congress will continue to focus on the "dual-circulation" strategy which is very significant for the world economy. Some have interpreted this to mean that Beijing is turning its back on the outside world, but that is not what its actions imply. The aim of the strategy is to help unleash the full potential of the domestic market, facilitate firms to provide higher-quality goods and services to better stimulate domestic demand, and at the same time, promises greater access to foreign investors and encourages Chinese companies to trade more with the outside world. Beijing wants this round of opening-up "to be on a greater scale, stretch across more sectors, and on a deeper level."

Another key point which is drawing our attention to the 20th CPC National Congress is "innovation," which was mentioned 47 times in the 14th Five-Year Plan. China says it will strive to make major breakthroughs in core technologies in key areas and become a global leader in innovation. Many predict there will be more of a policy push for higher spending during the coming years in emerging sectors, such as biotechnology, semiconductors, and new energy vehicles.

Still yet another area of focus is green growth. There are no rigid GDP targets for the 14th Five-Year Plan but instead "green growth" has been pinpointed 19 times. This is a sign that Beijing is continuing to encourage local officials to look beyond GDP as a key performance indicator and focuses on low-carbon and sustainable growth models.

The CPC set two centenary goals in 2012 at its 18th CPC National congress: the first one was to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the centenary of the CPC in 2021, and the second one was to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious by the centenary of the People's Republic of China in 2049. The 20th CPC National Congress will be a very important event taking place at a crucial moment as China embarks on a new journey to fully build a modern socialist country.