New development philosophy steers China's high-quality economic growth

Editor's note: Zhu Fangfei is a deputy director of the Institute for Public Policy of Zhejiang Province and director of the Research Department of the Institute for Public Policy of Zhejiang University. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. It has been translated from Chinese and edited for brevity and clarity.

The Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development was adopted at the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. The document explicitly designates the requirement to "fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts" as a guiding principle for economic and social growth during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), thereby clarifying the fundamental principles governing China's modernization over the next five years. 

The central role of the new development philosophy in the 15th Five-Year Plan signals a profound transformation in China's development paradigm, one that moves beyond the pursuit of progress in isolated sectors or single indicators toward comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable development.

The five development conceptsb — innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and shared benefits — are interconnected and mutually reinforcing, forming an organically integrated whole. Rather than being fragmented or isolated ideas, they together constitute a systematic, unified framework. 

Among them, innovation serves as the core driver, activating endogenous momentum for development; coordination functions as an intrinsic requirement, ensuring overall coherence and balanced growth; green development provides the fundamental principle for managing the relationship between development and protection; openness acts as a key pathway for strengthening both domestic-international coordination and global competitiveness; and shared benefits represent the essential requirement for ensuring that development fruits benefit all people more broadly and equitably. 

While each of the five concepts has its own focus, they are closely linked and function in synergy. Unified under the people-centered development philosophy, they collectively serve the overarching goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects and offer the fundamental guiding framework for economic and social growth in the new era.

Guided by the new development philosophy, China achieved historic accomplishments in economic development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). 

Firstly, scientific and technological innovation capacity rose dramatically. During this period, China's overall innovation capability ranked among the world's top 10. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, from January to November 2025, the scale of China's core artificial intelligence industry exceeded one trillion yuan, while exports of new energy vehicles surpassed two million units. 

Secondly, the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing yielded notable results. Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, more than 7,000 advanced-level and over 500 excellence-level smart factories have been built nationwide; 6,430 national green factories and 491 green industrial parks have been established, and the comprehensive utilization rate of bulk industrial solid waste reached 57 percent. 

Thirdly, the green and low-carbon energy transition was accelerated. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China became one of the countries with the fastest declines in energy intensity globally. In 2024, China's energy consumption per unit of GDP fell by 11.6 percent compared with the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period. In other words, for every 100 yuan of GDP produced, energy consumption was 11.6 percent lower. As the world's largest exporter and investor in clean technologies, China has helped drive down global costs of wind and photovoltaic power generation by more than 60 percent and 80 percent, respectively, over the past decade. 

Fourthly, high-standard institutional opening up advanced steadily. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China proactively aligned its 22 pilot free trade zones with high-standard international economic and trade rules. The system of pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list for foreign investment was fully implemented, while pilot opening in service sectors such as telecommunications, healthcare, and finance progressed in an orderly manner. China implemented the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with high quality and actively joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. On December 18, 2025, the Hainan Free Trade Port officially launched island-wide special customs operations, positioning itself as a key gateway for China's opening up in the new era. 

Fifthly, coordinated regional development continued to deepen. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, regional development became more coordinated and mutually reinforcing, with accumulated momentum translating into substantial progress and concrete results. Development across the western, northeastern, central, and eastern regions became increasingly balanced. Ecological protection and restoration along the Yangtze River and Yellow River green development belts advanced solidly, cross-regional coordination and cooperation intensified, and the level of marine economic development rose significantly.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, fully and faithfully applying the new development philosophy on all fronts requires a deep understanding of the dialectical relationships among the five development concepts, thereby forging a synergistic framework. It is essentially about translating concepts into concrete action. This includes strengthening innovation-driven development by further optimizing the innovation ecosystem, deepening integration across industry, academia, research and application, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries as well as the development and expansion of strategic emerging industries. 

At the same time, greater coordination and linkage are required to optimize the overall development pattern: Efforts should focus on advancing new-type urbanization and rural revitalization, facilitating two-way flows of factors between urban and rural areas, and leveraging the combined effects of coordinated regional development strategies, major regional strategies, the functional zoning strategy, and the new-type urbanization strategy. 

The green development concept must be fully implemented to build sustainable momentum, actively and steadily advance carbon peaking and carbon neutrality efforts, improve mechanisms for green and low-carbon development, and refine systems for realizing the value of ecological products. It is also necessary to accelerate the green transformation of industries, expand clean energy development, and advance ecological conservation and restoration projects. 

Opening up should be further deepened to boost international competitiveness, benchmark against high-standard international rules, optimize the global layout of industrial chains, and actively participate in global governance. 

Shared development should be advanced to promote common prosperity. This involves improving income distribution, strengthening the social security system, and promoting the integrated provision of basic public services. 

In addition, fully implementing the new development philosophy entails removing institutional and structural barriers, fostering a better alignment between an efficient market and an active government, and guiding all stakeholders to move beyond entrenched path dependence. By maintaining a dynamic balance between development and security, as well as between efficiency and equity, China can continue to cultivate new, future-oriented advantages in the country's modernization.

(Cover via VCG)