Denis Depoux, global managing director of consulting firm Roland Berger

Editor's Note:

The scientific formulation and consistent implementation of five-year plans stand as an important piece of experience in the Communist Party of China's (CPC) approach to governing the country. It's also significantly representing the political advantage of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

On May 19, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, in an instruction on the work concerning the compilation of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), stressed sound, democratic, and law-based decision-making to ensure China's next five-year plan for national economic and social development is formulated in high quality. He emphasized the importance of integrating top-level design with seeking advice from the public, enhancing research and discussions, and building broad consensus. 

In the first volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, Xi, in a speech at the Second Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, emphasized: "The same is true in treating work at local and departmental levels. We have already got in our hands a good blueprint. What we should do is to follow it through to the end and make it a success." 

While working at the local level, Xi proposed the 15-year development plan for Xiamen, the "3820" strategic project in Fuzhou, and the "Double-Eight" strategy in Zhejiang Province - all of which demonstrate his consistent, high-level emphasis on development and strategic planning. 

In the sixth installment of the special series "Decoding the Book of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China," the Global Times, along with People's Daily Overseas Edition, focuses on the theme "Follow a good blueprint through to the end! A harmonious, stable, open, and confident China brings more opportunities for global cooperation." We continue to invite Chinese and foreign scholars, translators of Xi's works, practitioners with firsthand experience, and international readers to share their views and reflections on how China employs development strategies and medium- to long-term planning to steer economic and social progress, as well as their impressions of General Secretary Xi's strategic thinking.

In the sixth article of the "Readers' Reflections" column, Global Times (GT) reporters Ma Jingjing, Qi Xijia and Chen Xia talked to Denis Depoux (Depoux), global managing director of consulting firm Roland Berger, about how China's five-year plans bring historic transformation to the country, and how China translates long-term goals into every five-year plan and resolutely implements them.

GT: In the article "Follow a Good Blueprint" included in the first volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, it was emphasized "We have already got in our hands a good blueprint. What we should do is to follow it through to the end and make it a success." As an international friend who began career in China in 1993, you once mentioned in an interview that "Long-term planning is extremely important. The CPC has very clear long-term plans. Whether for the next 50 years or the next 100 years, they are able to translate these into concrete long-term visions, incorporate future development into successive five-year plans, and implement them steadfastly." Why did you make such reflections at that time? What mostly impressed you in China's five-year plans and its long-term strategic thinking?

Depoux: What China's five-year plans impress me most is the long-term foresight and consistency in execution. It's good to have a long-term plan, and it's even better when it's consistently implemented over decades.

When I first came to China in the early 1990s, I remember traveling in Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region back then and taking a bus from Xizang to Northwest China's Qinghai Province. It was very tough road. When I heard there was a plan to build a train line linking the two regions, I could not believe it. On July 1, 2006, the Qinghai-Xizang Railway was completed and opened for traffic. That's a very strong impression of planning long term and executing that plan.

Over the last three or four decades, China's infrastructure is so incredibly improved. Another example is poverty alleviation. In the early 1990s when I was assigned by my company to work at a nuclear plant in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, there was a village nearby that hardly had electricity. That situation does not exist today. So, that's the extent of the change brought by China's long-term planning and consistency in execution.

GT: On May 19, in an instruction on the work concerning the compilation of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), President Xi stressed sound, democratic, and law-based decision-making to ensure China's next five-year plan for national economic and social development is formulated in high quality. He emphasized the importance of integrating top-level design with seeking advice from the public, enhancing research and discussions, and building broad consensus. When formulating five-year plans, relevant Chinese authorities generally invite foreign experts to put forward advice and conduct research. Would you like to share with us whether you or any of your friends have made suggestions regarding the formulation of the 15th Five-Year Plan? How do you view the democratic nature and inclusiveness reflected in the formulation of China's five-year plans?

Depoux: Like this year, the year for the compilation of the five-year plan is always the opportunity for widespread consultation. For a foreign observer, it's a little bit difficult to figure out what is exactly the pyramid finally leading to the five-year plan. But it's obvious that a lot of government officials and state-owned enterprise representatives are consulting in this period through formats including dialogue and asking for documents in some cases.

Commissioning projects with Roland Berger, I'm thinking of more the state-owned enterprises in industrial sectors that need input on markets, on new ideas and on innovation in order to feed the five-year plan. In this respect, we are consulted. I am sometimes consulted either personally or institutionally to feed into the plan. And, I can also see that a lot of people are actually contributing. China's compilation of the five-year plan is a widespread consultation process.

GT: Some analysts point out that the strategic continuity and systematic integration of China's five-year plans reflect the CPC's strategic focus and the political strength of socialism with Chinese characteristics. During his posting in local governance, Xi put forward development strategies such as the 15-year development plan for Xiamen, the "3820" strategic project in Fuzhou, and the "Double-Eight" strategy in Zhejiang Province. What is your impression of Xi's strategic thinking?

Depoux: Setting a clear, long-term objective has been key to the development of China. In a very volatile international environment today, it's even more important to have a beacon and to have a long-term objective, which is not so much altered by heavy turbulence that we have year on year. When I compare China with other nations or other blocks of nations, I think China has one benefit: the long-term objective of building the nation.

China's five-year plans encompass a lot of different dimensions. Some foreign observers may think of what is visible, for example, infrastructure, industrial development and technology priorities. However, social development and welfare development are also articulated in the plan. Articulating economic, social and cultural dimensions in one plan is something quite unique.

A lot of countries have plans to develop a certain sector or to develop a certain industry. They don't necessarily articulate this with the educational background and culture background underlying. I think that's one benefit of China's five-year plan. President Xi also set longer term plans, not only for five years, but actually 15 years, when he was in East China's Fujian Province. This is very much in the spirit of what China as a nation is aiming to do.

GT: The current international situation is complex, with growing contradictions in development paths between global multipolarity and economic globalization versus unilateralism and protectionism. In your view, what impact does the certainty and strategic focus derived from China's long-term planning bring for the world? China maintains steady economic growth, with new and upward development in the long run. What opportunities do you think this momentum will create for foreign companies, and what impetus does it offer for the stable development of global economy?

Depoux: It's quite interesting to observe the global economy from a bird's eye view. If you look from very far away, Asia and China are growing at a GDP growth rate, which is double the US, and the US is double Europe. That's a little bit how a board member at large multinational companies would look at the world.

Sometimes there are slowdown or difficulties for an economy, but it doesn't change the overall picture. China remains a fertile ground for foreign investment and development. While the rest of the world is turbulent, China - because of these long-term objectives - remains a bit of a beacon of stability for the world. That's more valuable today because the rest of the world is more shaky.

Today, we see a lot of multinationals which are very committed to the Chinese market, suffering sometimes from higher competition and weaker demand, but they are very committed simply because the objective of the long term is here and there is stability.