300 reforms for the next five years
The Third Plenum Decisions are out – and it’s a doozy of a document.
In case you forgot: The Central Committee’s Third Plenum was held from Monday to Thursday last week.
- On Thursday, the Party released a rather dull communique outlining the major themes of the Plenum.
On Sunday evening, the Party released the full text of the “Decisions” approved by the Central Committee at the Plenum.
- The Decisions lay out over 300 reform measures to be achieved by 2029, covering everything from economic policy, national security, governance, culture, social issues, and beyond.
The reforms don’t fundamentally change China’s trajectory.
- Broadly speaking, the Party will try to make the economy more efficient (i.e., market-oriented) while seeking to direct resources toward strategic goals.
At the top of the Party’s wish list: Strengthening economic resilience against ever-growing pressure from an increasingly hostile West.
- To that end, developing critical technologies and securing supply chains stand out as overarching themes that inform much of the Decisions.
Get smart: The vast majority of Decisions' reforms are high level. That makes it difficult to assess their likely impact, as much will be determined by how the system interprets and implements them.
Get smarter: Firms should identify the reforms most likely to affect their interests and devise strategies to influence (or at least monitor) their implementation.