China Vows To Modernise National Defence, Armed Forces

As China forges on the path of giving a new touch to different aspects of the country’s polity, top political leaders concluded a crucial four-day meeting in Beijing on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Restating their avowed goal to deepen comprehensive reforms by - amongst others - modernizing national defence and the armed forces. A total of 199 members and 165 alternate members of the Central Committee attended the session. 

PLA Centenary Goal 
“We must maintain the Party's absolute leadership over the people's armed forces and fully implement the strategy of strengthening the military through reform to provide a strong guarantee for realizing the centenary goal of the People's Liberation Army in 2027 and achieving basic modernization of national defence and the armed forces. We will improve the systems and mechanisms for leading and managing the People's Armed Forces, further reform joint operations systems, and deepen military-civilian reforms.” The communique issued at the end of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, CPC in its third plenary session read. The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee presided over the meeting. With the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, President Xi Jinping delivering important addresses, Xinhua news agency reported. 

What Is The Third Plenum?
The Third Plenum or the Third Plenary Session of the CPC is a major a major meeting held roughly once every five years to map out the general direction of China’s long-term social and economic policies. The CPC Central Committee convened the plenary session - the third since its members were elected during the party's last congress in 2022 - to deliberate on a key policy document on deepening reforms and advancing China's modernisation. The conclusions of the meeting lay out China's policy direction for the next five years and beyond. 

Role Of Third Plenum
The Communist Party of China holds a major congress twice a decade. Members of the Central Committee, the largest of the party's top decision-making bodies, are elected at each congress. The 20th Central Committee was chosen at the last congress in October 2022. In between congresses, the Central Committee holds seven plenums attended by all of its current 205 members and 171 alternate members.

Revamping Chinese Socialism 
"By 2035, we will have finished building a high-standard socialist market economy in all respects, further improved the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, generally modernized our system and capacity for governance, and basically realized socialist modernization," it said. All of this will lay a solid foundation for building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects by the middle of this century, it noted.
The reform tasks laid out in the resolution shall be completed by the time the People's Republic of China celebrates its 80th founding anniversary in 2029, said the communique. 

Market Restrictions To Be Lifted  
In building a high-standard socialist market economy, the role of the market must be better leveraged, with a fairer and more dynamic market environment to be fostered and resource allocation to be made as efficient and productive as possible. Restrictions on the market will be lifted while effective regulation will be ensured to better maintain order in the market and remedy market failures, said the communique.

Fiscal, Tax Reforms Envisaged 
In improving macroeconomic governance, the communique urged pursuing coordinated reforms in the fiscal, tax, financial, and other major sectors and enhancing the consistency of macro policy orientation, with the national strategic planning system and policy coordination mechanisms to be improved.

“Opening Up” To Be Pursued 
Describing opening up as a "defining feature of Chinese modernization," the communique said that the Party will "steadily expand institutional opening up, deepen the foreign trade structural reform, further reform the management systems for inward and outward investment, improve planning for regional opening up, and refine the mechanisms for high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative."

Rule Of Law As Key
Members agreed to “firmly stay on the path of socialist political advancement with Chinese characteristics and uphold ...