Long -term planning is the key to Chinese development and stability of development.
The 2024 edition of the Jimei-Arles International Photography Festival, with 23 exhibitions, presents 2,000 works by artists from France, Spain, Germany, India, Japan, Canada, the United States and China, in Xiamen, November 30, 2024.
The year 2025 marks the end of the 14th five -year plan and the preparations for the next plan. The rigorous development and continuous implementation of the five -year plans represent one of the major experiences of governance of the Chinese Communist Party, and also constitute an essential political asset of Chinese socialism. Since 1953, fourteen five -year plans have marked the course of China, drawing a series of deep imprints which connect its transformation from a poor and weak country into a prosperous and powerful nation. This development model guided by strategic planning constitutes the central “code” of the stable and continuous development of China.
Behind major national strategies, local initiatives and experiments are just as much. The 1985-2000 Economic and Social Development Strategy (below “Xiamen 85”), designed in the mid-1980s, is exemplary. She illustrates how a local government has managed to anticipate the future of her city by adopting a avant-garde vision. This strategy has profoundly transformed the future of Xiamen and embodies a precious strategic wisdom which can today still serve as a useful historical reference for the development of the 15th five-year plan and beyond.
An urban development master plan over a century
In the early 1980s, China began its reform and openness policy. As one of the first special economic zones (ZES), Xiamen received the historic mission of serving as a field of experimentation for national reform. In June 1985, Xi Jinping was appointed member of the Permanent Committee of the Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and deputy mayor of Xiamen. With lucidity, he understood that the success of a ZES could not be based solely on the search for short -term profits, to the detriment of a long -term vision. A clear strategic orientation was essential.
In August 1986, under his direct impetus and with his personal support, Xiamen officially launched the research and writing works of “Xiamen 85”. At the time, this initiative was truly a pioneer because it was not only the first systemic development planning among the country’s ZES, but also of the very first attempt by a local Chinese government to develop a strategy of economic and social development over 15 years.
This vast project, carried out over two years, has fully demonstrated the scientificity and the democratic dimension of decision -making. Xiamen mobilized a hundred national and international experts and researchers, as well as local professionals from all sections of the company, to conduct in -depth research around 21 themes. In an innovative way, scientific methods advanced at the time, such as systems engineering and econometric models, were used, leading to a systemic relationship of more than 200,000 characters. The famous economist MA Hong considered that this strategy was not limited to directly orient the development of Xiamen, but that it also offered valuable experience for other regions in the development of their own regional strategies.
Practice is the only criterion for testing the truth, and the vitality of a strategy is measured by its results. “XIAMEN 85” has thus become for almost 20 years the master program which guided the development of the city. The municipal committees of the PCC and successive governments continued the work without interruption, holding a coherent roadmap in the long term, while adapting it to the evolving context. On this basis, several additional plans have been developed, in particular the plan to accelerate the construction of the Port City of the Xiamen Bay type, guaranteeing a clear development trajectory and a sustained dynamic.
Under this strategic impetus, Xiamen experienced a spectacular transformation. In 2023, the City’s GDP and tax revenue had been multiplied respectively by 149.6 and 460.9 compared to 1985. This ancient coastal city became a major urban pole in southeast China, a modern international port and a city with remarkable landscapes. This Xiamen metamorphosis is the perfect illustration of the effectiveness of scientific planning in the medium and long term.
Hei Wukong interacts with visitors during the 8ᵉ Magic Night of the Lantern Festival for Xiamen workers on Xiamen’s Wuyi Square, which combines traditional Chinese culture and consumption, on February 11, 2025.
A sustainable heritage and strategic lessons
The success of “Xiamen 85” offers four deep lessons for the current development of the 15th five -year plan, as well as for the reflection on the medium and long -term development strategy of China.
Primo, the primacy of the people centered on the people. “XIAMEN 85” placed the interests of the people at the heart of their concerns, by not limiting themselves to economic growth, but also focusing on resolving challenges in terms of employment, education, health and other essential aspects of social well-being, in order to improve the quality of public services.
Second, the adoption of a avant-garde strategic vision. Designed on a 15 -year cycle, the strategy far exceeded the usual scope of the five -year plans of the time. Her attention paid to ecology, technologies, intellectual property rights and other key areas, made her a pioneer initiative nationally.
Tertio, the use of rigorous and scientific decision -making methods. The “Xiamen 85” development process has been a vast approach to scientific and interdisciplinary evaluation. Building fully on the expertise of modern specialists and scientific methods, it ensured the objectivity and feasibility of the strategy.
Quarter, the importance of an ecological awareness of sustainable development. The strategy has integrated an ecological vision of protection, fully in line with today’s “double carbon” objectives in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building a “beautiful China”. It shows that economic development and environmental protection can support each other and prosper together.
Official kick -off from the first stage of the 2025 diamond league of World Athletics at the Bailu stadium in Xiamen, the
April 26, 2025
Long -term wisdom in the service of the world
The fourteen national five-year plans, as is Xiamen’s experience, illustrate a striking characteristic of the Chinese development model, namely strategic continuity and political stability, a form of “long-term” of invaluable value. This model allows China to concentrate its forces to carry out major projects, while avoiding development breaks often caused in other countries by political alternations and policy changes.
Hu Angang, director of the Tsinghua University Institute of National Studies, underlines that the Chinese five-year plans follow an iterative process of “practical-speaking-new-new understanding-understanding”, thus creating a virtuous circle of continuous learning and self-improvement, which constitutes a unique advantage in the mechanisms of decision and implementation in China.
In a world that has been going through a period of unpublished upheavals for a century, marked by a significant increase in factors of uncertainty and instability, Chinese “long-term” is precious. Due to the internal strategic certainty that it gives off, it effectively compensates for external uncertainties. As Yang Yongheng, deputy director of the Institute of Research on Development Planning in China, points out at Tsinghua University, only an overall vision and global reflection allow, thanks to strategic stability and the certainty of national development, to meet external challenges.
This political advantage has also aroused broad attention to the international scene. Sebastian Heilmann, director of the China’s political economy research center at the University of Trier in Germany, believes that China’s strength lies in its ability to formulate and apply long -term political objectives that other countries are struggling to achieve. The five -year plans are the most emblematic example. This approach is one of the major reasons why China manages to effectively resist global crises.
Anthony Moretti, lecturer in the Communication Department and Organizational Leadership of Robert Morris University in the United States, underlines that the long-term planning of China establishes a clear direction for national development and provides an orientation as well as a dynamic for the implementation of concrete measures. “China maintains its commitment to a long -term vision, ensuring that high quality development is at the heart of all decisions. China is about to launch its 15th five-year plan, and it can do it with confidence, “he explains.
