By now, the debate over rebalancing has dragged on for decades. It was first raised in March 2007 by former Premier Wen Jiabao as the second of his now-famous “four uns” — unstable, unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable — that, he argued, jeopardised the seemingly strong Chinese economy. Of course, “unbalanced” is only an elliptical reference to the Chinese consumer. But in the context of all four uns, it raises what has since become the most important structural issue for the Chinese economy: the need to find new sources of growth.
The Chinese planning season is in full swing. Ahead of the formal release of the 15th Five-Year Plan (running from 2026 to 2030) in March 2026, early signs coming out of the just-completed Fourth Plenum of the Communist Party of China suggest that it will be more of the same: a focus on continuing China’s extraordinary industrial and technological ascendancy, driven by what Chinese President Xi Jinping has called “new productive forces.”
That would be a mistake in the following sense: China’s techno-industrial prowess is so well established that it is unnecessary to dwell on the obvious. The planning exercise should instead aim to tackle the country’s most daunting challenge: a long-awaited consumer-led rebalancing. The 15th Five-Year Plan should set an explicit target of boosting household consumption as a share of GDP from its latest reading of nearly 40% to 50% by 2035.
