Chinese officials on Sunday released a document detailing more than 300 economic and social reform measures that are the outcome of China’s most recent economic planning conference, the so-called Third Plenum.
At the meeting, government officials vowed to “deepen reform” by focusing on “high-quality development”, boosting domestic demand and giving the central government more spending powers. But concrete policy proposals were also lacking, which could dampen hopes for an economic recovery, analysts told Reuters.
The plan is a continuation of the decade-old Made in China 2025 project, which aims to reject imports and become self-sufficient, especially in high-tech products. It comes at a time when intensifying sanctions and tariffs against China have made it difficult to import essential technologies such as semiconductors. Ahead of the meeting, President Xi Jinping stressed the need for “new productive forces” in the Chinese economy, and the document proposes new industrial upgrading and technological breakthroughs as ways to achieve that objective, without elaborating on how that would be achieved.
Ultimately, the conference and the document predict a future of “state-led economic growth, innovation and security,” a senior economist told Reuters. “Betting everything on manufacturing and new capacity is fraught with uncertainty and may not be enough,” he added.
