Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese Politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute based in Washington, D.C., says China is betting on an era of slow growth that will instead focus on sustainability and addressing inequality.
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00:00Was there anything different about this year's third plenum as compared to past gatherings?
00:05One of the key differences in this year's third plenum is the delay in its convening.
00:12It was meant to happen late last year, which is the normal slot for plenums annually, but
00:18instead it's obviously been delayed until this summer, which is a good eight or nine
00:24months.
00:25And the speculation that's because of uncertainty at the top of Chinese politics about how to
00:31respond to a much more difficult than expected recovery period from the zero COVID lockdowns
00:40that plagued the Chinese economy in 2022.
00:45Before the meeting, you wrote that political concerns will be a big factor for the Chinese
00:48President Xi Jinping.
00:50What ended up being the focus of this plenum and did it match your expectations?
00:55So plenums and really any major meeting of the Communist Party are gatherings that primarily
01:02occur through a political lens and reforms, economic policies, social and governance measures
01:11flow downstream from the elite politics that are happening in Zhongnanhai, the leadership
01:17compound in Beijing.
01:20So looking through that perspective, this third plenum is a critical juncture for Xi
01:27Jinping to reassert his authority over the Communist Party after a couple of years of
01:37really difficult economic news, of increasing geopolitical competition with the United States,
01:44of accelerating demographic decline and a whole series of challenges that are confronting
01:50China's growth trajectory.
01:51Xi Jinping often speaks of prioritizing high-quality development, including in his recent speech.
01:58What does this phrase really mean?
02:00High-quality development means the Communist Party changing its focus from the quantity
02:09of growth, so pursuing high growth at all costs and maximizing that, to pursuing high-quality
02:17growth.
02:18So growth that is not necessarily as fast as it once was, but which takes into account
02:25issues such as equality, the environment, and competition policy.
02:32So the crackdowns against tech firms in recent years are an example of that.
02:38And this is a sea change compared to the pre-Xi era, when we could reliably count on China
02:45doing whatever it took.
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