Editor's note: Shao Xia is a special commentator on international affairs for CGTN. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee adopted the recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development. While charting the course for China's development over the next five years (2026–2030), a critical period as the country works toward basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035, the 15th Five-Year Plan (FYP) is also expected to generate significant opportunities for the rest of the world in the following five aspects.

Regarding economic development

Through continuous efforts to implement the five-year plans, China has remained a major engine of global growth, bringing stability and certainty amid global uncertainty. From 2012 to 2024, China's GDP grew at an average annual rate of around 6 percent. Statistics show that a one percentage point increase in GDP growth in China leads to a 0.3 percentage point increase in growth for other economies. During the 14th FYP period, China contributed an average of around 30 percent of global growth each year.

Confronted with growing protectionism, containment and decoupling practices, China, as the world's second-largest economy, has chosen to pursue openness and cooperation. The fourth plenary session further underscores the need to expand opening-up at the institutional level, safeguard the multilateral trading system, promote broader international economic flows, advance reform and development through greater openness and share opportunities to achieve common development with the rest of the world.

Committed to advancing institutional opening-up at a faster pace, China will be better positioned to shape a fair, open, inclusive and cooperative international economic order and to make globalization more inclusive and beneficial for all, thereby creating a more enabling environment for the common development of all countries.

Trade and investment

With a population of over 1.4 billion, China has demonstrated its advantage of scale as a supersized market. In the first three quarters of 2025, approximately 49,000 new foreign-funded enterprises were established across the country, representing a year-on-year increase of 16.2 percent. As of 2025, 22 pilot free trade zones had been launched.

Over the past five years, China has attracted over $700 billion in total foreign investment and ranked as the world's largest trader in goods and the second-largest in services. The Belt and Road Initiative has become a widely welcomed international public good and a major platform for global cooperation.

The fourth plenary session emphasizes the need for China to pursue higher-standard opening-up, promote the innovative development of trade, create greater space for two-way investment cooperation and pursue high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

China is proactively aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. Key measures include further expanding market access in the services sector, shortening the negative list for foreign investment, ensuring both easy market access and a business environment that accommodates foreign investors and facilitating reinvestments by foreign-funded enterprises in China. Boosted by this vast market and driven by institutional innovation and deeper collaboration, a future of shared prosperity will be within reach.

Technological innovation

China's rapid advancement in science and technology is making substantial contributions to global technological progress and people's welfare. According to the Global Innovation Index published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, China is among the top 10 most innovative economies globally, making it one of the fastest-advancing economies in terms of innovation capabilities. In 2024, China's national research and development expenditure exceeded $500 billion.

The country now leads the world in the number of articles published in highly influential international journals and in the number of valid domestic invention patents. Breakthroughs in areas such as 5G, the BeiDou Satellite Navigation System and brain-computer interface are already delivering tangible social benefits.

The fourth plenary session proposes to capitalize on the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation to enhance the overall performance of China's innovation system and keep fostering new, quality productive forces. During the 15th FYP period, China will continue to strengthen its capacity for basic research, pursue breakthroughs in core technologies, promote collaboration among industries, universities and research institutes, cultivate emerging and future industries and expand the application of new technologies.

China is also committed to creating an open and globally competitive innovation ecosystem by developing world-class education hubs, science centers and talent pools to ensure that innovation benefits all.

Green development

Green development is the defining feature of China's high-quality development in the new era. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has made significant strides in controlling pollution and improving air, water, and soil quality in the course of strengthening the drivers of green development.

China has developed the world's largest renewable energy system and the most comprehensive new-energy industrial and supply chains, with the world's largest installed capacities for hydro, wind and solar power. The Energy Transition Index 2025 ranked China 12th worldwide, a remarkable rise of 66 places since 2020.

The fourth plenary session calls for an all-out effort to advance the green transition, reduce carbon emissions and pollution and promote green economic growth. Guided by its carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, China is accelerating the development of green and low-carbon industries while promoting energy conservation and carbon reduction in key sectors. This dual approach will create vast opportunities for the green and low-carbon industry.

During the 14th FYP period, China's wind and solar exports helped other countries reduce carbon emissions by approximately 4.1 billion tons. As China continues to build a new energy system and increases the share of renewables during the 15th FYP period, it is poised to make even greater contributions to global climate mitigation.

Mutual learning

In recent years, inter-civilizational exchanges and mutual learning between China and other countries have yielded fruitful outcomes. People-to-people and cultural exchanges are growing, Chinese cultural products are gaining greater international recognition and a multi-tiered, wide-ranging framework for cultural cooperation has taken shape. This provides a solid foundation for further collaboration under the 15th FYP.

The importance of inter-civilization exchanges and mutual learning has also been stressed during the fourth plenary session. It calls for broadening people-to-people exchanges, accelerating the development of the cultural industry and offering more visitor-friendly services for inbound tourists.

To that end, China will consider hosting the 2028 United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Global Forum, further leverage the positive role of the International Day for Dialogue Among Civilizations, and carry out additional cultural exchange programs to promote the shared values of humanity.

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