Xi Jinping and China's New Era: Economic Growth, Technology, and Security

From October 20 to 23, 2025, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was held in Beijing. It was attended by 168 members and 147 alternate members, as well as representatives of the Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, delegates from grassroots Party organizations, experts, and scholars. The Plenary Session was chaired by the Politburo of the Central Committee, with General Secretary Xi Jinping delivering a speech.
The Plenary Session heard and discussed Xi Jinping's report on the work of the Politburo of the Central Committee, as well as the "Proposals of the CPC Central Committee on the Formulation of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development." The Politburo's work was highly praised for consistently implementing the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress, ensuring stability, advancing reform, achieving high-quality development, strengthening socialist democracy, the rule of law, ideology, culture, environmental protection, defense modernization, and foreign diplomacy.

Particular attention was paid to the achievements of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Despite international difficulties and the consequences of a major epidemic, China has strengthened its economic, scientific, technological, and national strength, and taken steps to achieve its centennial goals. The plenum emphasized that socialist modernization is a historical process requiring continuous effort, and the 15th Five-Year Plan period is a key stage for consolidating achievements and overcoming new challenges.
The main tasks of the 15th Five-Year Plan are:
• High-quality economic development, strengthening the real sector, modernizing industry, stimulating innovation, and integrating science, technology, and education.
• Building a strong domestic market, expanding domestic demand and a unified pan-Chinese market, stimulating consumption and investment, and harmonizing supply and demand.
• Improving the socialist market economy, enhancing the effectiveness of macroeconomic management, and intensifying reform and innovation.
• Expanding opening-up to the outside world, developing international cooperation, and promoting the Belt and Road Initiative.
• Modernizing agriculture and rural areas, integrating the urban and rural economies, eliminating poverty, and improving rural incomes and living conditions.
• Optimizing the territorial structure of the economy, promoting coordinated regional development, new-type urbanization, and efficient use of maritime space.
• Developing the culture, ideology, and values of socialism, strengthening national spiritual potential and international influence.
• Improving people's well-being, ensuring equal access to education, social protection, and healthcare, and ensuring universal prosperity.
• Green transformation of the economy, reducing emissions, developing green production and lifestyles, and protecting the environment. • Improving national security, strengthening social stability, and modernizing defense and the armed forces within the framework of the "three-step" strategy.

The plenum reaffirmed the pivotal role of Xi Jinping as the core of the CPC Central Committee and stressed the need to reinforce Party unity, discipline, and its capacity for self-revolution. The Party's role in organizing society, mobilizing resources, and ensuring sustainable development was emphasized.
The plenum called on all Party members, the military, and the people to unite around the CPC Central Committee to realize socialist modernization, reinforce stability and prosperity, advance national rejuvenation, actively promote national reunification, and contribute to building a community with a shared future for humanity.
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee sets China's strategic guidelines for the coming years—and this has a significant impact on global politics.

China has declared its intention to significantly reduce its dependence on imported technology while strengthening its economic autonomy. Beijing is focusing on developing a strong domestic market and growing consumption, seeking to reduce its dependence on external crises and cement China's status as a global consumer giant. Beijing has reaffirmed its commitment to openness and emphasized the strategic importance of the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to strengthen economic connectivity with Asia, Africa, and Europe, as well as expand cooperation with developing countries.

Independent innovation and the development of critical technologies—particularly in digitalization and space exploration—remain top priorities. China aims to secure the “commanding heights” of global scientific and technological advancement. Intensifying competition with the United States, the European Union, and Japan in high-tech sectors, standard-setting, and leadership in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and green energy is driving China to take more assertive steps in strategically vital technological domains.

In the new Five-Year Plan, China has set itself the task of modernizing its military using a "three-pronged strategy," focusing on enhancing combat potential and developing cyber and space capabilities. It is evident that the focus is being directed towards the consolidation of "unified centralized leadership" and the augmentation of control over Taiwan. Furthermore, there is a meticulous management of Syangan and Aoman,("Carefully managing Syangan and Aoman" - Hong Kong and Macao - both territories are special administrative regions of China with extensive autonomy under the "one country, two systems" principle).
These priorities have become particularly pressing amid growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific region, escalating military rivalry with the United States and its allies, and increased attention to Taiwan, the South China Sea, and cybersecurity.
As would be anticipated, the promotion of a green economic transformation and the achievement of carbon neutrality are accorded a prominent place among China's priorities. The country is endeavouring to establish itself as a leader in the emerging global "green" economy, thereby exerting influence on global environmental standards and energy policy. Concurrently, China considers the enhancement of social stability to be a pivotal element in facilitating more proactive engagement in global affairs.
The heightened status of Xi Jinping as the core of the Party apparatus serves to consolidate centralized leadership, thereby enabling China to demonstrate a more consistent and focused foreign policy to the global community. The notion of China assuming a more dominant global role, characterised by its unique cultural and historical background, is accompanied by the proactive promotion of its own development model as an alternative to those employed by the West. Beijing's strategic intent is threefold: firstly, to enhance its influence in international organisations through the utilisation of soft power tools – namely culture, economics and education; secondly, to advance global rule-making initiatives; and thirdly, to compete with the West for global leadership.
The plenum unmistakably signifies China's eagerness for strategic reinforcement across all domains – economic, technological, military, and diplomatic. In the coming years, it is likely that global politics will face increased competition, the expansion of China's influence in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and an accelerating technological race. Concurrently, there will be an escalation in security tensions, particularly in relation to Taiwan and the South China Sea.
GSR

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