The 13th Five-Year Plan emphasizes innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.
 

The next five years is the final stage of China’s plan to build a moderately prosperous society in all aspects by 2020. At this crucial moment, scholars are contemplating the significance of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) and discussing economic and social development in this period.
 

Opportunities and challenges coexist in this period, said Fan Ruguo, a professor from the Economics and Management School at Wuhan University. In addition to seizing opportunities for development, the government should be prudent in dealing with new problems and difficulties, such as structural reform, resource constraints, environmental degradation and the recovery of the international economy, Fan said.
 

Some scholars pointed out that innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development should be pursued in line with the guidelines put forward at the fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.

Such a development concept emphasizes the pursuit of our ideals in line with the national and international situation, laying a foundation for the implementation of the plan, said He Huaiyuan, dean of the School of Marxism at Nanjing Political College.
 

Gong Weibin, a public administration specialist at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said all work in this period should be adapted to the “new normal.” He suggested that efficiency and upgrading should be emphasized in economic development to energize the market and society. Social construction should prioritize raising the quality of life and reducing poverty while grassroots governance and virtual community management should conform to the rule of law. In addition, more attention should be paid to public security in areas such as culture, financing and the Internet, he added.
 

Fan and other scholars said the implementation of the new five-year plan will determine whether China can build a “comprehensively prosperous society,” transform the investment-driven model of development into one driven by innovation and consumption, and greatly enhance social welfare in such areas as education, health care and housing.

Scholars lauded the plan, which stresses integrated development of economy and society in urban and rural areas as well as progress in industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization. Some said it is also encouraging that the plan calls for a precisely targeted approach to ending poverty, and better services for children, women and the elderly left behind in China’s rural areas.

Wang Xiaoxi, dean of the School of Marxism Studies at Nanjing Normal University, said in order to realize the “comprehensively prosperous society,” equal importance should be attached to material and cultural progress. Moreover, institutional reform and improvement is needed to provide guarantees, Wang said.
 

Increasing the incomes of agricultural workers is also a significant task of this period, said Du Zhixiong, vice-director of the Rural Development Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In particular, increasing the incomes of those with the lowest standard of living should be prioritized, Du said.

 

Zhong Zhe is a reporter at the Chinese Social Sciences Today.