High-quality development a priority for China: plenum
High-quality development is China's priority in building a modern socialist country, and the nation must consciously place reform in a more prominent position, according to a communique issued on Thursday after a top-level meeting in Beijing. China’s Communist Party wrapped up the third plenary session of its 20th Central Committee, adopting a resolution on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernisation.  The communique stated the need to deepen supply-side structural reform, improve incentive and constraint mechanisms for promoting high-quality development, and create new growth drivers. "We will improve the institutions and mechanisms for fostering new quality productive forces in line with local conditions, for promoting full integration between the real economy and the digital economy, for developing the service sector, for modernising infrastructure, and for enhancing the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains," the communique stated.  "We have to evaluate the implementation of the '14th Five-Year Plan' and work on the preliminary planning work of the '15th Five-Year Plan'."  There will be measures to prevent and defuse risks in key areas such as real estate, local government debt, and small and medium-sized financial institutions, according to the communique. China will unswervingly consolidate and develop the public economy, while encouraging, supporting and guiding the development of the non-public economy, it added.  The plenum document also listed the overall objectives of further deepening reform.  "By 2035, we will have finished building a high-standard socialist market economy in all respects, further improved the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, generally modernised our system and capacity for governance, and basically realised socialist modernisation," the communique said. This will pave the way for building China into a great modern socialist country by the middle of the century. The communique added the reform tasks laid out in the resolution should be completed in 2029 when the People's Republic of China celebrates its 80th anniversary.  The party will resolutely safeguard national security and social stability, vigorously promote national defence and its military, continue to promote works focusing on Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and push for diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, the communique said.  On the country's opening up, the document said the party will steadily expand institutional opening up, deepen the structural reform on foreign trade, further reform the management systems of investment, improve regional opening up, and refine the mechanisms for high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. Additionally, the communique said the session decided to accept former foreign minister Qin Gang's resignation from the Central Committee, and confirmed the Politburo’s earlier decision to expel former defence minister Li Shangfu as well as Li Yuchao and Sun Jinming of the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, from the party.