On November 17, 2020, the Jerusalem Post published an Op-Ed of Chargé d'Affaires ad interim Dai Yuming titled "New Blueprint for China's Development, New Opportunity for Opening-up and Win-win Results". The full text is as follows:
What will China look like in the next 5 to 15 years? And what opportunities will China bring to the world? Recently, China held an important conference that has answered the questions and I would like to share my understanding with Israeli friends.
The fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was successfully held in Beijing from October 26th to 29th. The session adopted the CPC Central Committee's proposals for the formulation of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, which draws a grand blueprint for China's economic and social development in the next 5 and 15 years.
It is an important method of the CPC to govern the country by formulating and implementing five-year plans as well as mid and long-term plans for national economic and social development. That is also an important "code" for China's good governance. China has formulated and implemented 13 Five-Year Plans during the past 71 years. The consistent theme for the plans is to achieve socialist modernization and contribute to world peace and development.
By the end of 2020, the 13th Five-Year Plan will be accomplished. The 13th Five-Year Period (2016-2020) witnessed China's progress in various fields, with "moderately prosperous society" and "poverty alleviation" being the most prominent. Over the past five years, China's economy leaped to a new level. In 2020, the GDP of China is set to approach the territory of RMB100 trillion yuan(about US$14 trillion), with per capita GDP at over US$10,000. About 55.75 million rural residents have been lifted out of poverty since 2016. Confronted by the sudden attack of the COVID-19, the Chinese people, with arduous efforts and sacrifices, have made major strategic achievements in containing the disease. China's economy shows a stable turn for the better, yielding positive growth in the first three quarters. The growth rate for the third quarter is 4.9%, laying a good foundation for the accomplishment of the 13th Five-Year Plan.
In the next five years, China will implement the 14th Five-Year Plan. We will follow on the vision of pursuing innovative, coordinated, green and open development that is for everyone, aiming for new achievements in economic development, reform and opening up, social etiquette and civility, ecological civilization, people's well-being, and state governance. Answering to the changing circumstances and new requirements, we have set out to foster a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. What we envision is not a development loop behind closed doors, but more open domestic and international circulations. We will do so not only to meet China's own development needs but also for the greater benefit of people in all countries.
What would China look like in 2035? Our goals are as follows: By 2035, China's economic, technological, and comprehensive national strength will increase significantly. Major breakthroughs will be made in core technologies in key areas, making China one of the global leaders of innovation. New industrialization, IT application, urbanization and agricultural modernization will be basically achieved. A modernized economy will be fully developed. The modernization of China's system and capacity for governance will be basically realized and socialist culture will take shape. Education will have been highly developed. China will be a talent-strong, sports-strong country, where people live a healthy life. Environmentally-friendly production patterns and lifestyle will be broadly adopted. CO2 emissions will peak and China will be on a steady trajectory to carbon neutrality. A new pattern of opening-up will be in place. China's per capita GDP will reach the level of a moderately advanced country. The all-round development of all people and social etiquette and civility will be significantly enhanced, and more tangible progress will have been made in achieving common prosperity for all.
What will China's new development blueprint bring to the world? China's lead in economic recovery and sustainable development will inject more confidence and greater impetus into the global economic recovery. Meanwhile, China's development will bring new opportunities for win-win cooperation to the world.
China will not waver in its commitment to opening-up. Although globalization has been put on hold by the pandemic, and unilateralism and protectionism are still rampant across the world, the overwhelming trend for countries to move toward openness and cooperation remains unchanged. A wise man changes as time changes. China will steadfastly follow the trend of economic globalization, and stay firmly committed to the win-win strategy of opening-up. China's growth and the growth of the world are mutually re-enforceable. Despite setbacks due to the coronavirus pandemic, China has taken steady steps to expand import, with imports of goods and services outpacing the global average over the past year. China adopted the Foreign Investment Law and related regulations. The negative list for foreign investment has been shortened from 40 to 33 items. The number of pilot free trade zones has increased from 18 to 21. The Master Plan for the Development of Hainan Free Trade Port and the Implementation Plan for Further Reform and Opening-up in Shenzhen have been released and taken effect. At the opening ceremony of the third China International Import Expo, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a series of important measures to expand opening-up, such as introducing a negative list for cross-border services trade, and shortening the catalog of technologies prohibited or restricted from import, indicating that China's door to the outside world will become more and more open for win-win outcomes.
China will be an even broader export market for countries across the world. At the opening ceremony of the third China International Import Expo, President Xi Jinping made it clear that China will steadfastly expand all-round opening-up, explore more efficient ways to connect domestic and foreign markets and share factors of production and resources, and turn the China market into a market for the world, a market shared by all, and a market accessible to all.
China has a population of 1.4 billion and a middle-income group that exceeds 400 million. The vastly huge China market is the most promising in the world. Total import into China is estimated to top 22 trillion US dollars in the coming decade.
China is on the endeavor to foster a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. The process will further expand the market volume of China, and thus providing more opportunities for foreign businesses to have a share in China's growth.
The fast-growing China-Israel relationship is a fine example of China's efforts for opening-up and win-win cooperation. As innovative comprehensive partners, China and Israel have been drawing each other's strengths and achieving fruitful outcomes in bilateral cooperation, bringing concrete benefits to our peoples. This year, even the CODIV-19 and other disturbing factors have not prevented us from attaining further growth. In the first 9 months, our bilateral trade topped over US$12.6 billion, registering a year on year growth of 18.2%, among which Israeli export to China increased by 30.3% to US$4.64 billion. The growth of our trade against a gloomy global picture further demonstrates the huge potential in China-Israel cooperation.
China's growth is like an express train heading to the future despite all odds. We welcome all countries, including Israel, to hop onto the train and get a share from China's growth dividends. Looking into the future, Israel has all the conditions to have a front seat in the train and further leverage on China's development. It will definitely serve Israel's economic recovery and growth.