PIcture Credit : @XisMoments/ X
China’s ruling Communist Party commences a key meeting to finalise a new five-year plan amid concerns over an economic slowdown driven by United States trade tensions and a sweeping purge at the top of the military.
The Communist Party of China, headed by President Xi Jinping, began the three-day meeting of the plenary session, considered to be the most important in the current context of growing strategic competition with the US.
The 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China convened its fourth plenary session in Beijing from Monday to Thursday.
Participants at the session deliberated over and adopted the Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan… pic.twitter.com/cXUCyIE9Sq
— Xi’s Moments (@XisMoments) October 23, 2025
According to the data released as reported by news agency PTI , China’s economy grew at 4.8 per cent, the slowest pace this year compared to the previous quarters. The slowdown of the world’s second-largest economy was attributed to its growing trade conflict over the tariff war initiated by US President Donald Trump, blunting China’s exports to America, one of its major markets.
The data for this quarter was the weakest pace of growth since the third quarter of 2024.
The economy slowed down from a 5.2 per cent pace of growth in the previous quarter, but close to the official annual target of five per cent GDP for this year, figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday.
The slowdown was a concern for the CPC as it will further deepen the increasing unemployment, especially that of youth, which was stated to be around 20 per cent.
Official media announced that the plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC, comprising 370 members, began its deliberations on Monday.
President Xi Jinping, who is also the General Secretary of the party, delivered a work report and expounded on the Party leadership’s draft proposals for the formulation of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Besides the prevailing economic situation, the new five-year plan, the high-powered body, also called plenum, with party leaders from across the country, is expected to discuss the shifting global strategic environment with Trump’s efforts to expand the US global leadership, challenging China’s influence, especially in the global south.
The closed-door plenary session, being held in Beijing from October 20-23, will discuss major issues related to the formulation of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development, according to an earlier official announcement.
Discussions on the new five-year plan were expected to factor in the continued slowdown of the economy, with stagnated domestic consumption, the excess capacity of new productive forces, especially the E-Vehicles produced in large volumes, and the impact of Trump’s tariffs and export curbs on them.
The thrust of the five-year plan was expected to boost growth to focus on job creation as the unemployment rate is steadily climbing, causing concern to the CPC leadership.
Chinese President Xi Jinping stepped up his sweeping anti-corruption campaign in the military by expelling two top Generals along with seven other top officials ahead of the plenary meeting, sparking speculation of a purge in the party.
The CPC retains overall control of the military whose top brass are part of the influential bodies of the party.
