Lebanese academic: China's 15th Five-Year Plan charts unique path toward development, modernization

File photo of professor Ghassan Melhem

China's 15th Five-Year Plan represents an important strategic blueprint for governance and sustainable development, according to professor Ghassan Melhem, head of the Political Science Department at the Lebanese University.

Melhem told People's Daily that the Chinese domestic market remains largely unsaturated, meaning it can still accommodate and absorb further investment expansion. This reflects the domestic market's capacity to provide opportunities for capital growth, a necessary condition for economic development given China's market size across investment, production and consumption, which contributes to overall economic and GDP growth.

He observed that, alongside the domestic market, the external sphere constitutes a vast arena for China's national initiatives in investment, production and innovation. Thus far, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has remained a natural extension of economic growth, complementing rather than contradicting domestic and foreign investment.

Melhem said that China has previously achieved a prominent, even distinguished, position within the global economic system in terms of manufacturing, production capabilities, investment, marketing and competitiveness. Now, following manufacturing, it is moving toward innovation and artificial intelligence in an era that can be termed the digital modernity phase — the latest stage of modernity and globalization.

He said that the Chinese experience remains unique. It is a special experience, distinct from and different from others, far removed from typical imitation. It is progressing steadily through a series of gradual, cumulative five-year plans for political governance and sustainable economic and social development. Thus, China is moving forward with steady steps from the 14th Five-Year Plan to the 15th Five-Year Plan according to its strategic vision for growth, investment, production, modernization and innovation — a race that is neither hasty nor reckless, but rather calculated and measured.

Regarding China's increasing openness to the world and the opportunities it creates for other countries to foster a more just and equitable international economic order, Melhem stated that China's experience, given its scale and influence, offers numerous opportunities for all countries. China is a massive investment powerhouse, as evidenced by the BRI, and a vast consumer market given its demographic weight and geographic size, as well as a colossal pool of expertise and skills.

China's peaceful development will contribute to a more balanced, just and equitable new world order. The Lebanese academic pointed out that the interests of peoples, states and governments in the Arab and Islamic world lie in a multiplicity of future options and paths. Therefore, intellectual and political elites should begin to consider and plan how to seize upon and benefit from existing and future Chinese initiatives. It is essential to initiate the promotion of a strategic partnership between China and the Arab and Islamic worlds.

(Haytham Mouzahem is a People's Daily correspondent based in Lebanon.)