Economic development has been a top priority in the 13th Five-Year Plan, experts said before the opening of the Fifth Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee. In a new book called Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower, written by Henry Merritt Paulson, Jr., former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Paulson explains that Chinese leaders understand the risks involved in such development.

It is known by Chinese media that Chinese President Xi Jinping has introduced the 13th Five-Year Plan six times to foreign leaders and foreign friends since March 2015.

Keyword 1: New normal of China's economy

The 13th Five-Year Plan is the first one since China's economy entered the “new normal.” Xi's discourse on the new normal will certainly be considered in proposals for the 13th Five-Year Plan.

"China is entering a new normal of economic development and facing not only great strategic opportunities but complicated and tough challenges," said a statement issued after the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on July 20th, 2015.

Keyword 2: Open economy

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Xi said China is on its way to carrying out economic and social plans during the 13th Five-Year Plan, when he made an address in September 2015 at the China-US Governors' Forum.

He said that China will focus on a new round of opening-up at a higher level, and speed up efforts to build an open economy. Up until now, China has encouraged well-placed provinces and cities to test out certain reform measures. China has also established four pilot free-trade zones in Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin and Fujian, all based on a management model of pre-establishment national treatment and negative list. Beijing has, on a trial basis, opened up six service sectors including finance, tourism and healthcare to foreign investors.

Furthermore, China will take effective measures to ensure coordinated development between different regions and urban and rural areas, and accelerate the growth of underdeveloped regions. China will advance the "Belt and Road" Initiative at a faster pace to build platforms for different parts of China to expand their external cooperation. For instance, Xinjiang is a core area of the Silk Road economic belt and Yunnan is a gateway to the southwest under the initiative. The US and other countries are welcome to actively participate in the "Belt and Road" Initiative.

Keyword 3: Improve quality of economic development

During an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Xi said that the Chinese economy is still operating within the proper range. What China needs is a higher quality and efficiency of economic development, which can be achieved by successfully addressing the problem of unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development. This way, the Chinese economy will have a more solid basis and go forward more steadily.

Xi also mentioned that China is stepping up efforts to shift our growth model, make structural adjustments, and place greater emphasis on developing an innovation- and consumption-driven economy.

It is China's hope that, by solving these problems, China’s economy will transform itself and retain its robust dynamism when it comes to development.

Keyword 4: International economy and trade cooperation

During Xi's meeting with President Martin Schulz of the European Parliament in March 2015, Xi said that China will think very carefully about the formulation of the 13th Five-Year Plan. It is believed that we will find out the converging points and new opportunities for China-EU cooperation in the new plan.

Xi also met with the U.K. Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, in Buckingham Palace on October 20th, 2015. He said the economic and trade cooperation between China and the UK—considered in terms of the "propeller" and "ballast"—has a broad prospect. China is now making the 13th five-year plan, and Corbyn believes its development will provide more opportunities for cooperation between the two countries.

Keyword 5: "Belt and Road" Initiative

The advancement of the Belt and Road cooperation is an important part of China's 13th Five Year Plan, said Xi when he met with foreign representatives at the Asian Political Parties' Special Conference on the Silk Road in October 2015. China hopes to promote regional cooperation with the help of that initiative.

Keyword 6: Market-directed interest rate

China strengthens market’s decisive role in determining exchange rate.