China's Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao, stated that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, opportunities and risks will coexist and uncertainty will increase. China will continue to open up to the outside world and boost domestic consumption. A strong domestic market is the strategic foundation for Chinese-style modernization.
The People’s Daily published an exclusive interview with Wang Wentao on the 6th, entitled “Expanding High-Level (Quality) Opening Up and Vigorously Boosting Consumption.”
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China reviewed and adopted the proposal for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026 to 2030). The content emphasizes that a strong domestic market is the strategic foundation for Chinese-style modernization, and adherence to open cooperation and win-win results are inevitable requirements for this modernization.
In the interview, Wang Wentao pointed out that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, development will face both strategic opportunities and risks, with increased uncertainty and unpredictability. At present, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, but economic globalization remains an overriding historical trend. China will continue to expand high-level opening up, which is a firm choice to grasp the trend and advance against difficulties.
Wang Wentao mentioned that high-level opening up during the 15th Five-Year Plan period will be implemented in four aspects, including proactively expanding autonomous opening up, actively aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules, with a focus on the service industry to expand market access and open up new areas; promoting innovative development of trade; expanding space for two-way investment cooperation and enhancing the "Invest in China" brand; and building the "Belt and Road Initiative" with high quality, strengthening strategic alignment with participating countries.
Wang Wentao emphasized that key strategies during the 15th Five-Year Plan period include expanding domestic demand, which will entail boosting consumption through three aspects: expanding service consumption, upgrading and expanding commodity consumption, and innovatively creating consumption scenarios, thus providing strong support for building a strong domestic market and promoting high-quality development.