Spring forums signal certainty, stability

A series of high-profile forums hosted by China in close succession over the past couple of weeks have reaffirmed the country's commitment to serving as a cornerstone of certainty and an anchor of stability, offering fresh momentum and confidence to a world fraught with uncertainty.

From Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse and its innovation hub of Zhongguancun to the southern coastal town of Boao, Hainan province, observers said the international participants are looking not only at the country's near-term economic prospects, but also at the longer-term signals, as this year marks the start of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum 2026 in Beijing on March 22, Premier Li Qiang stressed that China's high-quality development and stable economic growth will continue to provide development opportunities for the world.

He pledged that the country will continue to foster a sound business environment, fully implement national treatment for foreign-invested enterprises, and enable companies from all countries to develop with confidence and realize their full potential in China.

For many foreign observers, that message matters because China is increasingly seen as one of the few major economies capable of providing a degree of steadiness in a turbulent global environment.

Francois Bourguignon, former senior vice-president and chief economist of the World Bank, said that China remains "a stability creator in the global economy" at a time when there is "a lot of noise" and "a lot of accidents" elsewhere in the world.

Compared with many other economies, he said, China is "extremely stable both from the economic and the social point of view" and helps smooth out shocks taking place across the world.

Adam Tooze, director of Columbia University's European Institute, offered a similar view in starker language, saying that China is often seen as "the last remaining adult in the room", with growing expectations projected onto it as the world searches for a stabilizing force amid the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

As Premier Li assured the participants at the forum that China's 15th Five-Year Plan not only serves as a "new blueprint" for its own growth, but also presents "new opportunities" for global development, analysts said the significance of the plan lies not only in the reassurance it offers, but also in what it suggests about China's next stage of development.

Junpei Guo, a government engagement lead at the World Economic Forum, said that China's 15th Five-Year Plan period is emerging not as a continuation of business as usual, but as a recalibrated strategy for a world far more unpredictable than it was five years ago.

She said the plan points to a country preparing for a prolonged period of complexity by strengthening the quality of its economic base and tightening the link between innovation and real-world transformation.

In her view, the plan aims to position China for resilience and leadership in a global landscape that is likely to become more contested and more technology-driven.

For businesses and investors, the 15th Five-Year Plan's importance also lies in the practical signals it sends about China's future trajectory.

David Meale, head of China practice at the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, said that when China lays out its aspirations for the next five years, "people pay attention".

"They know this is one of the most important countries in the world and that it is changing rapidly," Meale said. The plan helps companies better understand what China intends to do and where it is headed, he added.

China's message of opportunity also extended to Boao, where policymakers, business leaders and scholars gathered for the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference. There, discussions went far beyond China's own development priorities, also looking at how it could create broader opportunities for Asia and the wider world in the next five years.

Addressing a plenary meeting of the forum's annual conference on March 26, Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, said that it is China's unwavering goal to grow its economy, improve people's livelihoods and, in that process, promote the common development of all countries.

"Companies all over the world are welcome to commit to the Chinese market and gain a competitive edge in global competition," he told the plenary meeting.

Mohd Faiz Abdullah, executive chairman of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia, said that when the global economic status quo is "increasingly fragmented", the key challenge is not to help one individual economy grow, but to achieve shared and sustained prosperity at the regional and global levels.

Such a joint task requires shared responsibility in a variety of crucial areas covered in China's 15th Five-Year Plan, including advanced manufacturing, the green transition and technological upgrading, he told CGTN.

In his view, the development vision demonstrated in China's 15th Five-Year Plan is not solely inward-looking, but is also a domestic model capable of generating broader benefits for the wider world.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference on March 25, Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang said that as China will accelerate efforts to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the country stands ready to work with all parties to build a global science and technology community.

Magdalena Skipper, editor-in-chief of the journal Nature, who attended the forum for the first time, said it was encouraging to see the Chinese leadership so strongly reinforce the importance of science and technology, while also stressing that the application of discoveries and innovation is fundamental to national prosperity and people's well-being.

Salvatore Majorana, president of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation, said China has a fantastic market that is highly evolved, meaning it can absorb new technologies at the right speed and with consistent capability.

"It is a great opportunity for the world to come to China and share the technology," he said.