On 17 November, Ambassador Liu Xiaoming attended the webinar on the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee jointly hosted by the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK, 48 Group Club, China-Britain Business Council, and Great Britain-China Centre, where he delivered a keynote speech entitled New Opportunities, New Confidence, New Journey and took questions afterwards.

More than 230 people attended the event, including Fang Wenjian, Chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK, Stephen Perry, Chairman of the 48 Group Club, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, Chairman of the China-Britain Business Council, Merethe Borge MacLeod, Executive Director of the Great Britain-China Centre, and representatives of British companies and institutions and Chinese companies in the UK, including HSBC, Santander, Barclays, Deloitte, PWC, Arup, Dacheng Law Offices, Grant Thornton, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, and Cambridge International Education Centre, etc.

Ambassador Liu began his speech by pointing out the overall and historic significance that the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee held in Beijing last month coincides with a key moment in history where the timeframe of China’s two centenary goals converged. The plenum set forth a guideline for China’s economic and social development in the coming five years and beyond. The most important outcome of the conference is the review and approval of “the CPC Central Committee’s Proposals for the Formulation of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035”. The significance of this document can be summarized with four “new”s: First, it unveils a new development stage that China will embark on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in all aspects. This will be a milestone in the history of China’s development.

Second, the Proposals embody the new development concept. In the 14th Five Year Plan period and beyond, the theme of China’s economic and social development will be none other than high-quality development. “We will let the new development concept lead the way, namely, innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development. We will ensure everyone has a share in the outcomes of development,” said the Ambassador.

Third, the Proposals set up a new growth pattern. China will accelerate the building of the “dual circulation” growth pattern in which the domestic market will play a leading role, with international and domestic markets reinforcing each other. China will enable the domestic and international circulations to complement each other and achieve multiplying effects.

Fourth, the Proposals lay out new requirements for development. In the Proposals, notable and substantial progress in common prosperity is clearly marked as a long-term goal, which shows that putting the people at the centre is the development philosophy of the CPC, and the CPC will spare no effort to meet people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and to work for greater benefit, happiness and security for the people.

The world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and China’s development will strengthen confidence in the peaceful and open development of the world, in global growth driven by innovation, and in building better global governance, the Ambassador emphasized.

He went on to point out the opportunities that would be created in the 14th Five-Year Plan period and beyond by the high-quality growth of China’s economy for cooperation between Chinese and UK businesses, i.e. the opportunities of China’s huge market, the open and win-win cooperation, China-UK complementarity in innovation and the green development and synergy between COP15 and COP26.

“In 2021, China and the UK will host COP15 and COP26 respectively. Businesses from our two countries should seize the opportunities of COP15 and COP26 to expand cooperation in green recovery, green technology and green finance, and take the lead in the global governance on climate change and green development,” added Ambassador Liu.

After his speech, Ambassador Liu took questions regarding China’s coordinated regional development, the new “dual circulation” development paradigm with domestic market as the mainstay and domestic and international markets reinforcing each other, China-UK economic and trade cooperation, rule of law, the Belt and Road Initiative, the prevention of imported COVID-19 cases, and Hong Kong issues.

Participants of the event thanked Ambassador Liu for his comprehensive briefing on the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, hailing China’s clear development goal and further steps to deepen reformation and expand opening-up. They fully acknowledged that China’s “dual circulation” development pattern would inject new impetus into the world economy. They hoped that British and Chinese companies would seize the key opportunities brought by China’s new development stage to deepen exchanges and cooperation and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, so as to make positive contribution to the development of China-UK relationship.