On 20 March, H.E. Yang Xiaoguang, Chinese Ambassador to PNG contributed an article to PNG's two mainstream media The National and Post-Courier entitled “Injecting Stability and Sharing Opportunities to Build a Brighter Future Together —— Why You Should know China's 15th Five-Year Plan”. The full text is as follows:
The “two sessions”, namely the Sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), are China's most significant annual political events. Last week, the Fourth Session of the 14th NPC and the Fourth Session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee successfully concluded in Beijing. In addition to the Report on the Work of the Government, one of the most important outcomes of the sessions was the approval of the Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of China (the Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan), which provides a comprehensive blueprint for China's economic and social development from 2026 to 2030. By understanding the outcomes of this year's “two sessions”, you will know the direction of China's development for the present and the next five years.
I. China's Development Achievements Highlight the Resilience, Innovation, and People-Centered Characteristics of China's Economy.
RESILIENCE. In 2025, the international economic and trade environment underwent drastic changes. As unilateralism and protectionism abruptly escalated, market expectations were hit by frequent volatility. Forging ahead against headwinds, the Chinese economy has proved remarkably resilient and registered steady growth. China's GDP grew by 5 percent, reaching 140.19 trillion RMB yuan (about 86.8 trillion Kina), with 12.67 million urban jobs created. The total retail sales of consumer goods topped 50 trillion RMB yuan for the first time. Facts have proved that the conditions underpinning China's long-term growth and its underlying trend remain unchanged. The prospects for China's development is promising.
INNOVATION. In 2025, China has achieved dynamic, innovation-driven, and high-quality development. New quality productive forces grew steadily, and numerous new advances were made in science and technology. China led the way in the research, development, and application of artificial intelligence (AI), biomedicine, robotics, and quantum technology. New breakthroughs were made in the independent research and development (R&D) of chips. The Tianwen-2 probe embarked on an interplanetary exploration mission; large-scale application of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System was extended across various sectors; construction began on the hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River; and China-made large AI models spearheaded the development of the global open-source AI ecosystem. New-energy vehicle output exceeded 16 million units, and the number of electric vehicle charging facilities topped 20 million. China is steadily advancing from a major manufacturing country to a leading intelligent manufacturing country. Innovation has become the primary driving force for development.
PEOPLE-CENTERED. In 2025, the Chinese government ensured the people's wellbeing and kept improving their living standards. We moved forward with both new urbanization and all-around rural revitalization. The share of permanent urban residents in the total population rose to 67.9 percent. Grain output rose to 715 million metric tons. We consolidated and expanded poverty alleviation gains. The number of employed people among those lifted out of poverty remained at over 30 million. We advanced the three-year action plan for boosting China's strength in education, moved ahead with adjustments to academic disciplines and majors in universities, and enhanced the development of county-level regular high schools. The policy of providing one year of free preschool education was implemented, benefiting 14 million children. We also continuously improved the medical service system and actively developed cultural programs and industries, further enhancing Chinese people's sense of gain.
II. China's Development Plan Emphasizes Pragmatism, Comprehensiveness, and Openness.
PRAGMATISM. The main targets for development in 2026 include: GDP growth of 4.5%-5% while striving for better in practice, over 12 million new urban jobs, personal income growth in step with economic growth, a basic equilibrium in the balance of payments, and etc. The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan sets out a series of development goals for the next five years in areas such as high-quality development, self-reliance and strength in science and technology, further deepening reform comprehensively, social progress, quality of life, advancing the Beautiful China Initiative, and national security. For instance, on the basis of structural optimization and quality improvement, GDP growth will be maintained within a reasonable range; the overall effectiveness of the national innovation system will be significantly enhanced, with annual growth in total R&D expenditure exceeding 7%; the surveyed urban unemployment rate remains below 5.5%; the average years of education for the working-age population rises to 11.7 years; and life expectancy increases to 80 years. These indicators, which comprehensively take into account domestic and international conditions as well as various factors, demonstrate China's clear understanding of its development potential and unwavering confidence.
COMPREHENSIVENESS. The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan provides a comprehensive blueprint for China's economic and social development. It sets forth 20 key indicators in fields including economic development, innovation-driven growth, people's well-being, green and low-carbon development, and security, and outlines 16 major strategic tasks. The Outline emphasizes promoting high-quality development, strengthening the domestic economy, advancing common prosperity for all, and ensuring both development and security. The Outline proposes 109 major projects across 6 areas, covering the development of new quality productive forces, the modernized infrastructure system, the integrated urban-rural development, the public wellbeing, the green and low-carbon transition, and security in key areas. These major projects are of critical importance to China's current and long-term development, and they involve both “hard investment” and “soft infrastructure”, which provide a solid foundation for China's comprehensive development.
OPENNESS. Facing the headwinds of unilateralism, China remains unwavering in its commitment to openness and cooperation. The term “opening up” appears 68 times in The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan, which emphasizes expanding high-standard and voluntary opening up, taking well-ordered steps to expand the scope and regions of opening up, establishing institutional and regulatory frameworks that align with high-standard economic and trade rules, as well as optimizing the regional layout of opening up. It also requires advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, deepening the alignment of development strategies, improving the layout of a multidimensional connectivity network, and comprehensively enhancing the quality and effectiveness of practical cooperation.
III. China's Development Provides Stability and Opportunities to the World.
STABILITY. China is always a staunch force for stability in a turbulent world. Its development has injected immense stability and certainty into the world. The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan sets out that China will implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative, advance major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics and make China's contribution to building a community with a shared future for humanity. China's growth rate is among the fastest in the world's major economies, and its contribution to global economic growth has remained at around 30 percent for several consecutive years. On the international and regional hotspot issues such as conflicts in the Middle East and the Ukraine crisis, China promotes peace talks and political settlement of the issues. Policy stability and continuity is a major strength of China's development. The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan demonstrates China's consistent strategic resolve and provides the world with valuable stability and predictability in the complex global situation.
OPPORTUNITIES. China cannot develop in isolation from the world, and the world also needs China for its prosperity. China's development will bring enormous opportunities to all countries in the world. Spearheading new quality productive forces, advancing digital and AI-driven development, and promoting green and low-carbon transition, the Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan presents a magnificent picture of China's high-quality development, and fully demonstrate the vitality and dynamism of China's economy and society. China's development will provide broader market space, more investment opportunities and a stronger cooperation platform for the world, especially Global South countries including PNG.
IV. China Stands Ready to Share Development Opportunities and Achieve Shared Prosperity with PNG
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and PNG. Over the past 50 years, under the joint guidance and leadership of leaders from both countries, our two nations have become good friends who trust each other, good partners who seek mutual benefit and win-win results, and good brothers who support each other in international affairs. China commends PNG for its adherence to the one-China principle and its firm positions that the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. During the past 50 years, our political mutual trust has kept deepening, our economic and trade cooperation has become increasingly closer, and our peoples' friendship has been continuously strengthened , bringing tangible benefits to both our two countries and peoples.
The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan sets out that China will strengthen solidarity and cooperation with other developing countries and support the Global South to achieve greater strength through unity. We look forward to strengthening high and multi-level exchanges with PNG, further enhancing political mutual trust, and firmly supporting each other on issues concerning our respective core interests and major concerns.
The Outline calls for expanding imports of key high-quality products, as well as developing trade in intermediate goods and green trade. We welcome more high-quality PNG products including coffee, cocoa, and aquatic products into the Chinese market. We also look forward to PNG being able to use the RMB more conveniently and more widely in international payments in the future.
The Outline emphasizes the continued expansion of trade and investment cooperation with Belt and Road partner countries, the coordinated advancement of major landmark projects and “small and beautiful” livelihood programs, and increased foreign assistance. We stand ready to further expand cooperation with PNG in trade, investment, and development, contributing to PNG's economic and social development.
The Outline highlights the expansion of cooperation in green development, AI, digital economy, healthcare, tourism, agriculture, meteorology, and BeiDou Navigation Satellite System applications, as well as people-to-people exchanges in the field including culture, education, archaeology, and sports. These areas closely align with PNG's development needs, and the prospects for our practical cooperation are broad.
The Outline also underscores that China will actively participate in APEC cooperation, advance the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, strengthen international security cooperation in the fields of food, energy, data, biology, land-sea corridors, and counter-terrorism, make efforts to promote global poverty reduction. We believe that China and PNG will further strengthen cooperation on multilateral platforms, jointly promote a more equal and orderly multi-polar world and an inclusive, universally beneficial economic globalization, and work together to build a community with a shared future for humanity.
China's new journey also means the new opportunities for all the world including PNG. China stands ready to work hand in hand with PNG to seize the opportunity of the 50th anniversary of China-PNG diplomatic relations, and achieve more fruitful outcomes in the China-PNG comprehensive strategic partnership over the next 5 years or even 50 years, bringing greater benefits to our two peoples and creating a brighter future for our two countries.