The Communist Party of China (CPC) held a pivotal meeting from October 20th to 23rd, outlining a roadmap that will steer national development through 2030.

At the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, the recommendations for China's 15th Five-Year Plan were approved, a critical blueprint that will guide the country's priorities for the next five years.

The recommendations reaffirm "high-quality development" as the central theme of China's economic and social agenda for the next five years, underscoring a continued focus on pursuing economic development.

So what are the implications of the CPC plenum and the five-year plan recommendations?

Zhou Mi, senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, and Charles Onunaiju, Director of the Center for China Studies in Nigeria share their insights with China Africa Talk.

China Africa Talk: Could you summarize the highlights of the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and its impact at both domestic and international levels?

Zhou Mi: This meeting is very important. It shows what China is going to do in the next five years. As we know, five-year plans are ways in which the Chinese government tries to send messages and manage society and economic development. For this one, China is trying to provide systematic ways of describing what the country is going to do in the next five years. It will also outline targets and the measures we can take to find solutions and set directions. This is a very important meeting. It contains a lot of messages about domestic management and international relations, from agriculture to manufacturing to services. It also plays a key role in regional integration in China and our attitude toward a higher level of openness.

China Africa Talk: From your perspective, what are the most significant takeaways from this plenum? How might its decisions influence China's engagement and partnership with African nations?

Charles Onunaiju: The tradition of the five-year development plan has been part of China's governance process and has remained consistent. In China, contemporary governance undoubtedly has implications for long-term planning, strategic planning, policy continuity, and building the enabling consensus to drive stable and steady policy.

Usually, every plenum has its unique character.  A very crucial moment in China's development is 2035. China has set the target of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035. Therefore, the development plan between 2025 and 2030 will be pivotal in achieving the goal of considerable modernization by 2035. The plenum comes at a pivotal stage in China's political life.

This is where Africa comes in. Some of the key decisions are important for building a unified national market and improving efficiency. With China opening up more, Africa can have access to a stable and huge market. This would lead to significant returns for their own economies. Most of the tradition of planning was popular in Africa, but it was swept away by the so-called new liberal reforms in the 1990s. It provides predictability, stability, and a sense of continuity in policy options. I think the political integrity of the CPC and its leadership has been a very important factor in ensuring that the five-year development plan becomes a platform for driving China's sustainable development.

China Africa Talk: One of the outcomes of the plenum is a document of recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan, which outlines China's development priorities for the next five years. Can you help us analyze China's development objectives in the document? 

Zhou Mi: First of all, I think the most important goal is to promote high-quality development.  High-quality development is a bit different from the previous five-year plans. High quality means using resources more efficiently and providing better opportunities and jobs for people. I think that's one of the possibilities for the Chinese government. In the past, when we talked about the Chinese economy, everyone knew that the Chinese economy was a big one with a quick GDP growth rate. But maybe for the next five years, we will try to transition from high-speed growth to high-quality growth. This means we are doing things differently and doing business differently. I think this is a real new thing or new target for the next five years.

We are trying to maintain high quality. We are sticking to our principles of openness and welcoming investors and different stakeholders from other countries. We are still trying to stick to that principle. I want to mention that because, nowadays, the world is under pressure due to uncertainty caused by protectionism. If China is willing to open its market, I think it will be very important for many countries to do business. It is also an important way for us to attract more enterprises from other countries that want to do business here and innovate based on our industrial abilities.

China Africa Talk:  Looking at the emerging priorities of China's next five-year blueprint, what specific opportunities do you identify for African economies? How can African businesses and governments strategically position themselves to engage with these new priorities?

Charles Onunaiju:  One of the plenum's key decisions was the idea of a unified national market. In the unified national market, the plenum outlined the interaction between supply and demand. It discusses greater demand and greater supply. Investment also drives consumption, creating a cycle that ensures the stability of the unified national market. The unified national market will be stable. The unified national market is not closed off; it has to do with greater openness.

If you recall, at the 4th China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, China announced plans to eliminate tariffs on all imports from African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, so they could have access to the Chinese market. With a stable and huge market, the prospects of Africa entering this market and achieving significant returns to boost their national aggregate are even more guaranteed.

For me, the stability of China's unified national market, its size, and the economies of scale that come with an integrated national market have very bright prospects for African growth in trade, especially given the volatility of tariffs.

In my opinion, it holds great promise for African countries. Furthermore, it offers the lesson that building an integrated market is the only way to guarantee protection against shocks arising from disruption in the international market. We can also create an integrated market by defining the various sectors. As you can see, it's not just supply-side economics; it's also demand-side economics.

China Africa Talk: What role is technological innovation playing in driving China's modernization, and which specific industries hold the most potential for breakthrough growth in this new era? 

Zhou Mi: If you look at China's new development concepts, the first word is innovation. As a large country, we want to find our own solutions to the many challenges we face and create better opportunities for science and technology. I think there are several ways China can do that.

First, we have public research to help develop science in areas such as national or state laboratories for scientific research. We also support research institutions in developing plans for science and research projects every year.

The second force comes from small and medium-sized enterprises or the private sector. Private sectors in China compete very hard with each other and with the rest of the world. They are trying to find new ways to create new products, services, and solutions. They are market-based. They are trying to find better ways to attract consumers and meet demand around the world.

Third, it's clear that China will not do these things alone. We are opening our market and welcoming people from other countries to be involved in research and development. I think this is a very important force for us to do better research based on technology and abilities around the world. This is also helpful for us to meet the demands of other countries and markets.

China Africa Talk: Besides a focus on domestic resilience, China has recommitted to opening its doors wider. How do you interpret this dual approach? What practical steps can African countries take to leverage China's open policies for mutual and shared development? 

Charles Onunaiju: I have always maintained that China and Africa present opportunities to each other. We proceed from a similar starting point: we are both victims of violent colonial domination. Then, we found our voices as sovereign countries, taking the idea of self-reliance as the most important starting point.

China remains a robust opportunity for Africa. However, it is important for African countries to understand this so that we can design and tailor policies that maximize the opportunities China presents, especially as it becomes more generous with concessional access for African goods. This is now almost complete with the removal of tariffs for African countries. This is very significant.

China's economy has benefited from a concrete roadmap, especially exemplified in the five-year development plan. Since its inception, the five-year development plan has been an important mechanism for driving sustainable growth in the Chinese national economy. I think it has universal implications, especially for African countries.