The ninth lecture of the "Savantas Liberal Arts Academy Public Policy Study Programme Summer 2021" was held on 24 July. Professor Yang Yongheng, School of Public Policy & Management, Tsinghua University and Executive Associate Dean of China Institute for Development Planning, Tsinghua University was the guest speaker. The lecture was titled "Understand The 14th Five-Year Plan of China”. Participants can learn about the main content of China's "14th Five-Year Plan" and the country's development prospects.

Professor Yang introduced the basic context of the national development plan. He pointed out that the development plan is an important institutional carrier of China's development achievements as well as the phased deployment and arrangement of the country's overall developmental strategies. Professor Yang then began to talk about the main content of the national "14th Five-Year" plan, including the development achievements of the "13th Five-Year" and preparation of the "14th Five-Year" plan which covers environment development, planning guidelines, strategic orientation, main objectives and economics tasks for social development.

Looking back at China’s development, Deng Xiaoping had, since reform and opening up, proposed the "three-step" strategic goal. By the middle of this century, per capita GDP has reached the level of a moderately developed country, indicating China’s that people’s lives have become prosperous, and modernization has basically been achieved. After the "13th Five-Year Plan", the national economy has steadily risen, achieved remarkable results in poverty alleviation and emission reduction, improved people's quality of life, and achieved success in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming to the "14th Five-Year Plan", the focus is on promoting high-quality development, reform and innovation, preparedness for danger in times of peace, and the modernization of national governance. The key point of the 2035 long-term goal is that GDP per capita would reach the level of moderately developed countries so that all people could achieve more obvious and substantive progress in common prosperity.

In the Q&A session, participants actively asked questions and exchanged ideas with Processor Yang to have a deeper understanding of the main points of the "14th Five-Year" national plan.