Two months ago, the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) convened its fourth plenary session in Beijing and adopted the Recommendations of the Central Committee of the CPC for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development. This move has drawn a blueprint for China’s economic and social development in the next five years and demonstrated China’s vision of conducting mutually beneficial cooperation with the rest of the world.
The scientific formulation and successive implementation of Five-Year Plans constitute a crucial experience of the CPC in governing the country and a key political advantage of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Over the past seven decades, which covers the period from the 1st to the 14th Five-Year Plan, the CPC and the Chinese government have been adhering to the blueprint through to the end, with each generation taking over the mission and carrying on the work. By this means, China has turned itself from a poor country into the world’s second-largest economy, with its economic and social development boosted, comprehensive national strength enhanced and people’s livelihoods upgraded, witnessing two exceptional miracles: rapid economic growth and long-term social stability. The prominent advantages of the Five-Year Plans —such as “pooling all resources to complete major missions”, “promoting interplay between an efficient market and a well-functioning government” and “long-term persistence”—hold the key to China’s success and have become a frequent topic for research and discussions in the international community.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, in the face of a complicated international landscape and the challenging domestic tasks of advancing reform, promoting development, and ensuring stability, China has withstood the severe shocks from the once-in-a-century Covid-19 pandemic, and responded effectively to a raft of major risks and challenges. China’s GDP has successively surpassed several major thresholds, namely 110 trillion, 120 trillion, and 130 trillion RMB yuan. By 2025, this figure is projected to reach around 140 trillion RMB yuan (approximately US$ 19.7 trillion).
Over the past five years, the world has seen a more open China: Trade between China and countries engaged in the Belt and Road Initiative jumped from $2.7 trillion in 2021 to $3.1 trillion in 2024, with an average annual growth rate of 4.7%. A more innovative China: In 2024, China had over 500,000 high-tech enterprises, and it was home to 26 of the world’s top 100 innovation clusters, the first on the list of countries. A more beautiful China: China’s forest coverage increased to over 25%, contributing one-quarter of the world’s newly added green area. The proportion of days with good air quality stayed at around 87%. A safer China: China has become one of the countries with the lowest crime rates and highest sense of security. A happier China: China has, once and for all, resolved the problem of absolute poverty, and has built the largest education, social security, and healthcare systems in the world. The coverage of nine-year compulsory education in China has surpassed the average of high-income countries. For these five years, China has made solid new strides in advancing Chinese modernization.
The 15th Five-Year Plan period has a critical stage in building on past successes to break new ground for basically realizing socialist modernization. The recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan points out that China’s economic and social development will continue to pursue economic development as its central task, with high-quality development as its main focus, so as to accomplish seven major objectives as follows: significant achievements in high-quality development, substantial improvements in scientific and technological self-reliance and strength, fresh breakthroughs in further deepening reform comprehensively, notable cultural and ethical progress across society, further improvements in quality of life, major new strides in advancing the Beautiful China Initiative and further advances in strengthening the national security shield.
These have demonstrated the consistency of China’s policy and its steady economic growth and development prospect, which has provided valuable certainty to this volatile world. From the 14th to the 15th Five-Year Plan, China has shown its firm resolve and perseverance and spelled out the key to China’s good governance. Looking forward, China, a confident and open country, will share opportunities and pursue common development with Somalia and the rest of the world, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.
The year 2025 marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Somalia. Having journeyed together through more than six decades, our two nations have always adhered to the principles of mutual respect, equality, win-win cooperation, and common development. Today, China-aided infrastructure projects built in last century such as National Theater in Mogadishu, water supply project in Hargeisa (Biyo Shiinaha) are still serving Somalia and its people. Thousands of Somali brothers and sisters who have studied or trained in China are contributing to Somalia’s peaceful reconstruction. China has repeatedly provided timely humanitarian assistance to Somalia. It is actively advancing the cooperation with Somalia in fields such as fishery, green energy, and digital connectivity. On Somalia’s path of national development, China has always been there and will never be absent.
The year 2026 will witness China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges, and the second China-Arab States Summit will be held in China. We look forward to jointly promoting cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and Africa, and harvesting more fruits in China-Somalia cooperation as to be midwifed by China-Arab States cooperation. Standing at a new starting line, China is ready to work with Somalia to forge closer synergy between China’s 15th Five-Year Plan and Somalia’s National Transformation Plan (NTP), continuously enrich China-Somalia strategic partnership and jointly further the building of an All-Weather China-Africa Community with a Shared Future for the New Era, so as to march side by side on the road toward modernization.
The author is H.E. Wang Yu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Federal Republic of Somalia.
