Xi leads efforts to build strong China as people's republic turns 76

HISTORICAL WEIGHT

The latest five-year plan carries unusual weight, as only 10 years remain before 2035 -- the milestone year by which China aims to "basically achieve socialist modernization."

This marks the first goal in Xi's two-step blueprint for building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects by mid-century, or the centenary of New China.

A month earlier, China held a massive military parade in Tian'anmen Square marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

Xi inspected the troops from an open-top Hongqi vehicle, a homegrown brand launched in 1958. Its creation was a hallmark achievement of China's first Five-Year Plan (1953-57), which laid the industrial foundations for the newly established republic.

This sight of the vehicle on such a grand occasion underscored the link between China's early industrial beginnings and its ongoing modernization ambitions. "From the first plan to the 14th, one constant theme has been building China into a modern socialist country," said Xi.

Seven decades on, the contrast could not be starker. China now manufactures more than 200 types of major industrial products in the world's largest volumes. By the end of the current 14th Five-Year Plan in 2025, China's GDP is expected to reach 140 trillion yuan (about $19.7 trillion).

Between 2021 and 2025, consumption has contributed around 60 percent of China's annual economic growth. Throughout the period, China has remained the world's second-largest consumer market, with retail sales rising to about 80 percent of U.S. levels. Its online retail market has been the world's largest for 12 straight years, while auto sales have topped the global charts for 16 years in a row.

Observers said the 15th Five-Year Plan is seen as another mobilization and overall deployment to build on momentum and advance Chinese modernization.

In his Tuesday address, Xi called for the sound design and implementation of the upcoming plan's targets and measures to ensure decisive progress toward China's goal of basically achieving socialist modernization.

Brazilian scholar Maria Luiza Falcao Silva sees a lesson for the wider world. "While much of the West grappled with cycles of crisis -- political gridlock, trade wars, populism -- China pressed ahead with a long-term national plan," she said. "The Chinese model is shaping the 21st century."