China 21

Deborah and Jack unpacks the details and highlights of China’s latest five-year-plan, the most basic and authoritative document that charts out the country’s strategic vision, covering policies, measures and targets on domestic social issues, to the environment, to education and economic development. The document is meant to mobilize the nation’s officials and state-owned enterprises to work jointly across the sectors and ministries on implementing the goals from the central to the provincial level. It is also a window into China’s policy formulation process and how their leaders are responding to complex domestic and international challenges. Today, we have two doctoral candidates in political science who have followed closely the 13th Five Year Plan that was recently ratified in Beijing. They will share with us their analysis on the significant policies in the plan and what story it tells us about China’s recent challenges and its hope for its future. Deborah Seligsohn is a PhD candidate in political scien