Many in the West will ignore the Fifth Plenum announcements, only to be surprised as China again leapfrogs development in critical areas. Investors cannot afford to ignore the changes in emphasis and the new development areas foreshadowed in the first outlines delivered after the plenum.
The Chinese policy forum, the Fifth Plenum, wrapped up last week. Details are sketchy but they laid out the framework for the 14th five-year plan. This is not a Soviet-style fiveyear plan. This is a reliable guide to Chinese development priorities over the next five years. It also points the way to investment opportunities and new business developments.
As a reminder, here are some results from the 13th five-year plan — 55 million people were lifted out of poverty while annual crop production reached around 500 kg per person. Meanwhile, the urbanisation rate reached over 60% and around 1.3 billion people were covered by basic health insurance and this provided support during the Covid-19 crises. Finally, over one billion people are covered by basic pension schemes.
