Since the third plenum of China’s 19th Central Committee’s in 2018, economists and academics have offered advice on how Beijing should plan its economic strategies.
And with the tone-setting third plenum of the new Central Committee set to take place next week in Beijing to chart China’s long-term growth path, we look at four of the economists and academics who have in recent years offered insight into capital, employment, social security, financial services, the stability of the financial system and integration of digital technology.
1. Liu Yuanchun
Liu Yuanchun, who is president of the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, talked about strategies for China to guide its capital toward healthy and compliant development during a lecture attended by top leaders, including President Xi Jinping, in April 2022.
Liu and other officials also discussed that Beijing should allow the market to play a decisive role in resource allocation, and to provide a favourable market and legal environment for the private sector, according to publications on the official website for members of the Communist Party.
Liu later advocated for Beijing to accelerate the enhancement of its social security system, invest more in equal education and increase income for its middle-class population to avoid the middle-income trap.
In the blog post in May by the Beijing-based Finance 40 Forum think tank, Liu also called on Beijing to achieve breakthroughs in its hukou national household registration system to give equal services to rural workers and allow their children access to education in the city where their parents work, while also promoting the flow of better educational resources to less developed areas.
Liu also suggested that China needed to increase the share of social security spending in its overall fiscal budget, while also increasing unemployment benefits.
2. Mo Rong
Mo Rong, the head of the Chinese Academy of Labour and Social Security governmental think tank to the Politburo, talked about employment issues in a lecture during a study session for the primary decision-making body in May.
He mainly discussed how China should develop so-called new quality productive forces, speed up industrial upgrading and nurture future industries to create jobs.
During this year’s two sessions – China’s annual parliamentary meetings in March – Mo urged Beijing to establish comprehensive standards for the ongoing trend of flexible employment and to improve social security policies.
He also advocated for platform companies and workers to share the responsibility for contributing to social insurance.
Mo urged Beijing to implement lifelong vocational skills training to address the skills gap in the labour market and to carry out targeted information-based skills training and forecasting of future jobs and occupational changes to cultivate an urgently needed workforce.
“We need to enhance our ability to forecast employment trends and develop specialised plans that integrate unemployment insurance with re-employment policies to prevent and mitigate the risk of large-scale unemployment in the country,” he said.
3. Xie Duo
Xie Duo, who is the chairman of Silk Road Fund, a Chinese government guidance fund aimed at fostering increased investment in members of the Belt and Road Initiative, gave a lecture during a Politburo study session in February 2019 where he provided suggestions on how to enhance the capacity of financial services to support the real economy while mitigating financial risks.
The agenda included discussion on the need for financial institutions to deliver more efficient services to the real economy, develop financial products aligned with market demand and increase the number and proportion of small and medium-sized financial institutions within the financial system.
During a speech in October 2020, Xie also urged Beijing to promote offshore investment in the yuan, increase its use in cross-border trade and investment to reduce exchange costs and exchange rate risk, lessen dependence on major international reserve currencies and improve financial system stability.
4. Lu Jian
Computer science academic Lu Jian, who was president of Nanjing University from 2018-2023, joined a Politburo study session in October 2021 and provided suggestions on how China should promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy.
Lu suggested that Beijing should cultivate talent tailored to the digital economy’s demand, emphasising not only the solid foundation of basic disciplines for researchers, but also the development of applied and innovative skills during his lecture at a group study in Jiangsu province in March.
At this year’s two sessions, Lu also urged Beijing to enhance artificial intelligence-related training within the talent schemes, moderately expand the National Centre for Training High-level Talents in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology and increase the cultivation of expertise in astronomy and earth sciences alongside the traditional four majors.
“These two scientific subjects provide fundamental and important support for searching for new productivity forces, building a strong aerospace industry for China, and improving people’s living standards,” he said.
