China’s third plenum: what role for private sector as Communist Party leads Industry 4.0 push?

Observers widely expect long-awaited conclave to double down on ‘whole-nation system’ of development, but have mixed views on the likely outcomes

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Published: 6:00am, 27 Jun 2024Updated: 2:02pm, 27 Jun 2024

The Communist Party of China is about to hold its much-delayed third plenum, traditionally a time for unveiling major economic strategies for the next five to 10 years. The penultimate edition of a six-part preview series looks at how China can balance its party-led “whole-nation” approach to hi-tech development with the need for an environment open to creative initiatives and error correction.

The technocrats at China’s Ministry of Industry and Information technology are working on a blueprint for future technologies – from humanoid robots to brain-machine interfaces and super-large-scale artificial intelligence computing centres.

These sectors – part of what Beijing calls “future industries” – are at the forefront of a nationwide technological innovation drive in response to President Xi Jinping’s call to develop “new high-quality productive forces”.

That goal is expected to be top of the agenda when Communist Party’s core policymaking Central Committee gathers in Beijing next month for its long-awaited third plenum.

The third plenary session, or “plenum”, is traditionally a forum for the five-yearly committee to unveil broad long-term economic strategies. Analysts expect the coming event to inspire a “slew” of measures to support new productive forces and future industries, as China fights back in a tech war launched by the United States and its allies.

The push for new productive forces, or growth based on innovation in advanced sectors, also comes as post-pandemic China battles domestic challenges including a property market slowdown, jobs crisis and weak consumer and investor confidence.

“A slew of policy arrangements will be made after the [third] plenum to nurture new productive forces, attract talents, support research and development and boost the commercialisation of the fruit of innovation,” said Zhao Xijun, an economist with Renmin University in Beijing.

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What will China’s third plenum bring?

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