To finish
China began planning development goals for five-year plans in 1953, and today it has already developed and implemented 13 five-year plans. The more successful the development of the economy went, the larger the tasks became.
Take rural poverty eradication, for example. This goal was one of the priorities of the 13th Five-Year Plan. For 8 years – by 2020 – the PRC managed to withdraw almost 100 million rural residents from the poverty line.
The country pays no less attention to the fulfillment of international obligations, including the fight against climate change. In 2009, at the Copenhagen summit, China promised to increase the consumption of non-fossil (or environmentally friendly) fuels and bring their share in its energy balance to 15 percent by 2020. The task was completed ahead of schedule. According to official statistics, already in 2019, the figure increased to 15.3 percent. According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the PRC, since 2005, the level of emissions per unit of GDP has decreased by almost half. This goal was also achieved ahead of schedule.
14th Five-Year Plan: New Tasks
In 2021, China began a modernization program as part of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). During this period, the country plans to keep the urban unemployment rate below 5.5 percent, as well as increase research and development spending by 7 percent annually.
Also, China plans to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 13.5 percent and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 18 percent. This is planned to help build a green economy and achieve emission reduction targets. “The country will peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060,” Xi Jinping said at the April climate summit. The task, experts say, is not an easy one, and the PRC will have to make a lot of efforts to solve it.
“During the 14th five-year plan, we must focus on the interests of society so that everyone feels a change for the better. We must try to ensure an increase in living standards in the process of stimulating high-quality development. We must focus more on people’s problems and ways of solving them, take targeted measures, implement them one after another, year after year, so that people feel safe and satisfied, “Xi Jinping emphasized.
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