CPC’s 4th Plenary Session: Economic transformation through consistency and purpose

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OPINION

By George Musiime

The plenary sessions of the central committee of the Communist Party of China are the principal framework through which the party deliberates and determines not only the destiny of the party, but also the direction in which to steer the country’s destiny entrusted to it.

Similarly, the fourth plenary session of the 20^th central committee of the CPC, besides setting the broad strategic agenda for opening up new horizons for Chinese modernisation, deliberated on and adopted recommendations for the 15^th five-year plan for economic and social development.

China, the global giant of today, is not merely a symbol of rapid transformation. It is also a demonstration of discipline; the consistent pursuit of national modernisation strategic goals throughout generations.

For millennia, China was a thriving civilisation until the invasion in the nineteenth century by the British and the later Japanese occupation in the 20^th century. This disruptive century saw a lot of undoing regarding previous achievements. Moreover, following victory in the Chinese people’s war of resistance, there was equally a lot of undoing and redoing required in order to reorient the country towards the true-north of its modernisation.

This is how it took four years after the birth of the People’s Republic of China before the first five-year plan was adopted by the leadership of the CPC in 1953. This is to say, the miracle of Chinese modernisation is in effect a culmination of 14 successive five-year plans fitted in two even broader centenary goals going into a great and modern socialist economy by 2050.

Stability has been key in the results obtained by China in this endeavour. Indeed, Chinese modernisation is nothing short of miraculous relative to normative standards, raising the question of what the role of leadership has been in this achievement. Once the leaders set a vision and determined the country’s true-north, the CPC dedicatedly worked towards this vision, staying on this course through six decades and different leaders.

This is unlike in western democracies and those modelled against them in the global south, where new leaders often repeal and rollback policies leading to stagnation and in some cases regression. China’s leadership has remained consistent. Rooted in Marxist-Leninist thought, China’s leadership has only recalibrated the understanding and relevance of these fundamentals, their realities, through Chairman Mao’s thought, Deng Xiaoping’s theories and into socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era under President Xi Jinping. This evolution of thought and successive 5-year plans proves that the only way to the top is by the successive rungs of the same ladder.

Of course, the key takeaway here is that stability is paramount, be it on the national or international level. There is an enormous challenge in reaching our goals if our primary agenda is to take away the ladder only to build our own new ladder. While this can be seen as a common phenomenon in the developing world, it is not entirely strange in the developed world, especially after witnessing high-profile withdrawals from major multilateral agreements in the past few years, policy reversals and new policy directions that have caused significant disruptions in the global system.

National stability is critical for economic growth, but even more important is stability in the international system if nations of the world are to realise their aspirations as a foundation for shared prosperity.

As China embarks on creating new horizons for mutually beneficial cooperation, refining its regional economic layout and promoting regional development, it is honouring its commitment to shared prosperity. Undeniably, the world is now situated at the crossroads with a multitude of threats to this vision of shared prosperity – raising protectionist sentiments, raging conflicts, climate change and challenges associated with it et cetera.

By maintaining an overall tariff level of under 8% and several free trade agreements, supplying hundreds of manufactured goods and supporting over eighteen-hundred projects in cooperation with hundreds of countries and multilateral agencies, China has not just been a stabilising factor in global supply chains. It has driven up to thirty per cent of global growth.

In the face of the growing threat of climate change, the country has established itself as a leader in green innovations, from clean energy sources to mobility solutions. In effect, investments in green energy sources have been on a steady rise, reaching the upper half of the trillion-dollar mark by the end of 2024.

This consistency is especially important at a time when the world’s other biggest economy not only reneges but also dismisses the validity of the climate threat. China, the world’s second-largest economy, not only stays committed, it has chosen to shoulder the responsibility, especially enabling adaptation readiness in the global south, where most at-risk countries are.

Humanity often finds itself faced with challenging circumstances, evolutionary or otherwise; the outcome of which is a reflexive impulse to abandon values and norms we perceive to be limiting instantaneously. Yet, sometimes preserving such values and norms serves the greater benefit of humanity. 

The global system is no different today, and in some instances, nations, in an effort to ensure their survival, have acted in ways that disregard rules and normative principles. The communique of the fourth plenary session of the central committee of the communist party of China demonstrates otherwise – it teaches that consistency creates stability and stability is the foundation of economic growth, both on the national and global level.

The writer is a research fellow at the Development Watch Centre