Coronavirus: China five-year plan to focus on independence as US decoupling threat grows

How can China survive and thrive in the face of US hostility? What does it need to take development to the next stage? And where should Beijing focus its resources to turn the Chinese dream into a reality? These are the big questions Chinese officials and researchers are deliberating as the nation begins drafting its new five-year plan, which will set out key economic and political goals for the period 2021 to 2025.

With China and the United States increasingly at odds, the new policy blueprint is likely to reflect a shift in the way Beijing conducts itself in what is perceived to be an increasingly adversarial international system, according to Chinese researchers who are involved in preparations for the new plan. At the same time, China will keep its “opening up and reform” policy framework to maintain its
central place in global supply chains, particularly among Asian and European countries, and offset rising “decoupling” risks with the US.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a “profound impact on the international economy, politics and security”, according to Xie Fuzhan, the head of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a government think-tank in Beijing that is involved in devising the new plan.

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