Press conference on guiding principles of the 4th plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee

Mo Gaoyi:

Thank you, Mr. Jiang. The floor is now open for questions. Please identify the media outlet you represent before raising your questions. We will now begin the Q&A.

CCTV:

There are now 10 years left until the basic realization of socialist modernization in 2035. The public has high expectations, and it continues to draw widespread attention from inside and outside China. May I ask, in this historic process, what significant role and importance does the 15th Five-Year Plan period hold? Thank you.

Mo Gaoyi:

Let's invite Mr. Han to answer this question.

Han Wenxiu:

The realization of socialist modernization is a gradual, progressive historical process that moves forward step by step. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, we have successfully built a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieved the First Centenary Goal. The 20th CPC National Congress set out the strategic two-step blueprint to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects. The basic realization of socialist modernization by 2035 marks the first step and will require persistent and sustained efforts from the 14th to 16th Five-Year Plan period. The 15th Five-Year Plan period will be a critical period for reinforcing the foundations and pushing ahead on all fronts and serve as a key link between the past and the future. There are only 10 years left until 2035. Achieving solid development in the first five years is key to gaining greater initiative. We must adopt a scientific approach to planning the next five years of socioeconomic development with a keen sense of urgency and historical mission, seize the critical window of opportunity, consolidate and expand our advantages, overcome bottlenecks, address weaknesses, and achieve major breakthroughs in strategic tasks that are pivotal to overall Chinese modernization.

In particular, we need to reinforce the foundations and push ahead on all fronts in economic and social development. We must promote higher-quality economic growth while achieving an appropriate increase in economic output, fully unlock our growth potential, and strive to transition from a middle-income country to a mid-level developed country. We should make major breakthroughs in developing new quality productive forces, foster new growth drivers, and cultivate new growth engines. We need to comprehensively optimize and upgrade both supply and demand structures, improve living standards, increase consumer spending, and coordinate investments in physical assets and human capital. We should encourage the formation of more economic development models driven by domestic demand, consumption and internally driven growth. Efforts should be intensified to promote coordinated economic and social development, improve people's quality of life through high-quality development, resolve the pressing difficulties and problems concerning the people most, and expand opportunities to meet people's livelihood needs. We should accelerate the green transition in all areas of economic and social development, accelerate the construction of a new energy system, and build an energy powerhouse as part of building a Beautiful China. We must also strengthen the domestic economy, keep channels of domestic and international economic flows unimpeded, better coordinate development and security, and ensure that the new pattern of development is coupled with the new security architecture.

In short, faced with people's expectations and a complex international landscape, the key lies in managing our own affairs well, remaining firmly committed to high-quality development, unswervingly advancing in-depth reform, and pursuing high-standard opening up. By doing so, we can better address the uncertainties in the external environment with the certainty of our own high-quality development, seize the strategic initiative in fierce international competition, and write yet another chapter on the miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability in the new era and on the new journey.

Thank you.