Chinese leaders meet to formulate country’s next five-year plan • FRANCE 24 English

Chinese leaders meet to formulate country’s next five-year plan • FRANCE 24 English

Time for the today’s business news. Brian Quinn is joining me here on set. You’re starting, aren’t you, Brian? In China, the latest data showing mounting headwinds for the world’s number two economy. So, Stuart, the Chinese economy expanded by its slowest pace in a year during the third quarter. Annualized growth hit 4.8%. That’s slightly better than expectations, but still below the government’s 5% target and a drop from the second quarter’s 5.2% rate. Youth unemployment staying stubbornly high at 19% in August. Foreign investment meanwhile was down nearly 30% in 2024. The country’s housing downturn continues. New home prices were down more than 4/10en of a percent in September with property investment falling by nearly 14% compared to a year earlier. Beijing has been pushing for manufacturing exports to pick up the slack with industrial output up 6 and a half% annually in September. The ongoing US China trade war though is complicating that strategy. Tensions have been rising with Washington in recent days amid Chinese export controls on rare earth minerals and tit fortat port fees on cargo ships as well as President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Now Trump and Xiinping are due to meet later this month on the sidelines of a trade summit in South Korea. Here’s Trump. China is paying a tremendous amount of money in tariffs like they’ve never paid before. You know, they paid a lot during my first administration, my first term. Uh, now they’re paying an unbelievable amount of money to the United States. They probably can’t pay that much, and I’m okay with that. We can lower that, but they have to do things for us, too. It’s no longer a one-way street. Yeah. And the data comes as the Chinese government is preparing its next five-year plan. Elites of the ruling Communist Party gathered in Beijing for what’s known as the fourth plan. It’s number four out of the seven major meetings that take place over the 5-year term of the party’s central committee. It is at this one that top leaders map out the country’s next 5-year plan. The last such plan saw the government focus on supporting green technologies like solar panels and electric vehicles via subsidies and industrial policy. Communist Party leaders expected to prioritize increased investment in advanced manufacturing. Charlotte Lamb has more. In Beijing, power gathers behind the red flag. It’s pleenum week when Chinese leaders chart the nation’s next chapter. This one will define the five-year plan taking China to 2030. It’s been nearly half a century since China began its transformation, a process party officials often trace back to December 1978 when economic reforms first opened the door to global trade and private enterprise. From rigid state controlled planning to rapid industrialization, China quickly became the workshop of the world. Western manufacturing jobs flowed east and the momentum surged again when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Today, Beijing dominates renewable energy, electric vehicles, and rare earth metals needed to power them. In this new era, President Xi Jinp’s focus is on innovation with homegrown giants like Tik Tok, Huawei, and the AI powerhouse Deep Seek, showcasing how far the country’s tech ambitions have come. But the rise is also fueling new tensions. Western governments increasingly see Beijing’s advances as a challenge to their national security. And these talks unfold amid an ongoing trade rivalry with the US. The details of the new plan won’t be revealed until next year, but all eyes are on Beijing this week for clues. Officials are expected to drop hints as early as Wednesday. [Music] And more on that in Asia View, in fact, in around an hour’s time. Brian, though, markets, how are they shaping up? Uh, Chinese indexes on the rise Monday despite that weaker than expected GDP data. Hong Kong’s Hong Sang up more than 2.3%. Investors apparently betting that Donald Trump will eventually back down from his threats to decouple the US economy from China’s big gains in the tech sector, especially AI chipmaking and robotics firm seeing a bounce from the opening of that fourth plenum. The NIK in Tokyo, meanwhile, up more than 3% as the country’s Liberal Democratic Party reaches a deal to form a coalition government, thus paving the way for Sai Takahichi to become Japan’s first female prime minister. Here in Europe, indexes opening in the green as well as investors shrug off fears of risk. In the US banking sector, shares in luxury group carrying up some 5% as it prepares to sell its beauty division to rival L’Oreal. L’Oreal shares up by around 8/10en of a percent at the open. Big deals in the European luxury sector a foot on Monday. Stuart, I’m sure Brian you will keep watching it for us. Brian Quinn with the business news

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Communist Party elites are in Beijing for the Fourth Plenary, where the roadmap for the country’s industrial development over the next five years will be set. We take a closer look. But first, the country’s latest economic data paints a troubling picture. 
#china #plenum #fiveyearplan

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