*The 15th Five-Year Plan has given top priority to building a modernized industrial system and reinforcing the foundations of the real economy, Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the press conference.

*China aims to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and steer the development of new quality productive forces during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, according to Minister of Science and Technology Yin Hejun.

*According to Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, China will take the initiative to open more broadly in the next five years.

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- A document of recommendations from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has sketched out China's development priorities for the 2026-2030 period, senior officials revealed at a press conference on Friday.

The recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan outline the major objectives for economic and social development in the next five years, "a key period for basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035," said Han Wenxiu, executive deputy director of the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs.

He made the remarks at a press conference on the guiding principles from the just-concluded fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, at which participants deliberated over and adopted the recommendations.

The document is the most important outcome of the plenum and is expected to mobilize further efforts to advance Chinese modernization, said Jiang Jinquan, head of the CPC Central Committee Policy Research Office.

BUILDING MODERNIZED INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM

The 15th Five-Year Plan has given top priority to building a modernized industrial system and reinforcing the foundations of the real economy, Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the press conference.

To achieve the target, efforts will be made to upgrade traditional industries, cultivate and expand emerging and future industries, promote the high-quality development of the service sector, and build a modernized infrastructure system, he said.

The recommendations have outlined that China will promote the upgrades of key industries, consolidate the international competitiveness of sectors such as chemicals, machinery and shipbuilding, and develop advanced manufacturing clusters, Zheng said.

Efforts will also be made to accelerate the development of strategic and emerging industry clusters, including new energy, new materials, aerospace and low-altitude economy, and to foster future industries, such as quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy and fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communications.

These industries are poised for significant growth, with the scale set to be added over the next decade being equivalent to creating a whole new high-tech sector in China, thus injecting continuous momentum into the high-quality development of the country's economy, Zheng said.

GREATER SCI-TECH SELF-RELIANCE

China aims to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and steer the development of new quality productive forces during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, according to Minister of Science and Technology Yin Hejun.

In line with these goals, the CPC's recommendations proposed arrangements for sci-tech innovation over the period in four areas: strengthening original innovation and core technology breakthroughs, promoting the deep integration of scientific and industrial innovation, advancing the coordinated development of education, sci-tech and talent, and further boosting the construction of the Digital China initiative.

Noting that technological innovation is the "core element" in the development of new quality productive forces, Yin said China will implement an innovation-driven development strategy to boost total factor productivity and power high-quality development.

This will be achieved by increasing the supply of high-quality tech, supporting the development of a modern industrial system, deepening sci-tech structural reform, and developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions, he said.

"The next five-year plan will be centered around the development of new quality productive forces," said Liu Qiao, an economist and dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University.

These forces will be driven by revolutionary breakthroughs in science and technology, innovative allocations of factors, and upgrades and deep transformations of industries, Liu told Xinhua.

BROADER OPENING UP

According to Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, China will take the initiative to open more broadly in the next five years.

Focusing on the services sector, efforts will be made to expand market access and areas of openness from 2026 to 2030, he said. The country will expand pilot programs to open up its value-added telecommunication, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, while increasing the openness of the education and culture sectors in an orderly manner.

China will accelerate the advancement of regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements, and expand its network of high-standard free trade zones, Wang added, citing the CPC's recommendations.

In the area of trade, China plans to enhance its trade in intermediate goods and its green trade, improve the system managing its negative list for cross-border services, and steadily increase the openness of its digital trade, he said.

To create new advantages in attracting foreign investment, China will foster a transparent, stable and predictable institutional environment, he said.

"Investing in China is not an option, but a must," the minister said, citing remarks from multinational companies.

"Next, when advancing the opening up or attracting investment, we will avoid the zero-sum approach that harms others for personal gain," Wang said. "Instead, we will focus on mutually beneficial and shared development."  

(Video editors: Yang Zeyi and Zhu Cong)■