Elvira Kadyrova
On 26 November 2025, a media briefing was held at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Ji Shumin, China’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, presented the outcomes of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the key provisions of the newly approved 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030). The briefing was moderated by Counsellor-Envoy of the Embassy, Ms. Zhong Hua.
Outcomes of the 14th Five-Year Plan: A Foundation for a New Start
The Ambassador noted that the 14th Five-Year Plan period was an extraordinarily unusual and extremely challenging journey for China’s development. The country overcame numerous challenges amid a complex international environment, the most difficult reform tasks in history, and severe aftermath of the pandemic. Nevertheless, China’s economic, scientific-technological, and overall national strength reached a new level.
In 2024, China’s GDP exceeded 134 trillion yuan, and in 2025 it is projected to reach approximately 140 trillion yuan, with per capita GDP approaching the global average.
In 2024, China accounted for about 17% of global GDP, while maintaining an average annual contribution of roughly 30% to global economic growth. This, the Ambassador emphasized, brings much-needed certainty to an unstable world.
The country has sustained high growth rates in private entrepreneurship, advanced the creation of a unified national market, and strengthened its foreign trade position. Today, China is a key trading partner for more than 150 countries and regions worldwide.
Remarkable results have been achieved under the Belt and Road Initiative: China–Europe freight trains now serve more than 200 cities in 26 European countries.
Technological Leadership and Green Development
China has held the world’s top position in manufacturing scale for 15 straight years. Its added value is almost 30% of the global level. In 2024, R&D spending exceeded 3.6 trillion yuan, placing the country second globally in this indicator. Major projects span space exploration, deep-sea research, artificial intelligence, and high-tech microchip production.
China continues to develop clean energy: installed capacity from non-fossil sources now exceeds that from fossil fuels. The country is a global leader in new afforestation area and carbon-emission quota trading volume.
China has built the world’s largest electric power system and the world’s largest and most extensive network infrastructure.
The 15th Five-Year Plan: Seven Strategic Goals and Emphasis on High-Quality Development
The plan, approved on 24 October 2025, sets seven priority tasks for 2026–2030:
- Achieving substantial progress in high-quality development
- Significantly raising the level of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-sufficiency
- Making new breakthroughs in further comprehensive deepening of reforms
- Noticeably improving the level of societal civilization
- Continuously enhancing the people’s quality of life
- Achieving major new progress in building a “Beautiful China”
- Strengthening the reliability of national security safeguards
To meet these goals, concrete measures include developing a modern industrial system, supporting the real economy, digitalization, building an innovation-driven economy, upholding the multilateral trading system, and turning China into a global powerhouse in manufacturing, space technology, transportation, and network technologies.
China intends to deepen the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with the national strategies of partner countries, expanding cooperation in green technologies, artificial intelligence, the digital economy, transportation, healthcare, and tourism.
The Ambassador quoted an ancient Chinese proverb: “Empty talk harms the state, while hard work makes it prosper.” Chairman Xi Jinping stressed that planning is only 10% of the task, while the remaining 90% is implementation. The Communist Party of China will continue to play its central coordinating role to ensure reliable and effective execution of the Five-Year Plan.
New Opportunities for Turkmen–Chinese Cooperation
A significant portion of Ambassador Ji Shumin’s speech was devoted to Turkmen–Chinese relations, which he described as having a special, fraternal character.
“China and Turkmenistan are comprehensive strategic partners. Our countries enjoy deep and solid political mutual trust, and our strong complementary advantages provide an excellent foundation for cooperation. The implementation of the 15th Five-Year Plan will open broad opportunities and new growth points for China–Turkmenistan cooperation,” the diplomat stated.
He recalled that in 2025, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdimuhamedov held two meetings — in Astana and Beijing — during which important agreements were reached on further deepening cooperation.
The Ambassador cited key figures and facts characterizing bilateral relations:
- For 14 consecutive years, China has remained Turkmenistan’s largest trading partner;
- In 2024, bilateral trade turnover reached US$10.6 billion;
- The alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with Turkmenistan’s “Revival of the Great Silk Road” strategy is being successfully implemented.
The 15th Five-Year Plan opens new prospects for the two countries in energy, transport, communications, the digital economy, e-commerce, green development, and other areas.
In conclusion, Ambassador Ji Shumin reaffirmed China’s readiness, together with Turkmenistan, to make further joint efforts to fully implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, to jointly seize the new opportunities offered by the 15th Five-Year Plan, to strengthen high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and to jointly build an even closer China–Turkmenistan community with a shared future. ///nCa, 26 November 2025