October 28, 2025, Sun Mingxi, Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of China to Ethiopia, published an op-ed titled "Practices and Insights of Chinese Modernizationas Seen Through the 14th Five-Year Plan" in Ethiopian Herald, Ethiopia's leading English-language newspaper. The article introduced the achievements of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and China's development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, summarized the successful experience of Chinese modernization, and expressed willingness to seize the opportunity of the 55th anniversary of China-Ethiopia diplomatic relations to work with Ethiopia toward shared development and write a new chapter in South-South cooperation. The full text is as follows:
October 20–23, 2025, saw the convening of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The session systematically reviewed the developmental achievements of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025) and charted the course for the next five-year plan. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China achieved breakthrough progress amid complex circumstances, demonstrating the vitality of its unique development path.
Chinese Modernization: Solving Two Global Development Challenges
Chinese-style modernization has broken through development bottlenecks through innovative practices, successfully solving two global challenges once deemed "impossible."
First, achieving the dual miracle of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's GDP is projected to grow from 101.6 trillion yuan in 2020 to an estimated 140 trillion yuan by 2025, with its contribution to global economic growth consistently exceeding 30%. Simultaneously, China ranks among the world's safest nations, with 98.4% of its citizens reporting a sense of security. This demonstrates through practice that "growth and stability can coexist" in the development of a major country.
Second, China has achieved a historic breakthrough in eliminating absolute poverty and consolidated these gains. Over an eight-year period, nearly 100 million rural residents were lifted out of poverty. In these areas, the annual per capita disposable income of farmers grew by 10.8%, and over 160,000 industrial assistance projects were established. China has contributed more than 70% of the global reduction in poverty.
Five-Year Plans: China's Unique Governance Experience in Development
The scientific formulation and continuous implementation of Five-Year Plans represent a key successful experience in China's development. Since the First Five-Year Plan in 1953, China has coordinated development with long-term strategic vision, promoting rapid and stable socio-economic progress through rational cross-cycle allocation of resources. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, this advantage became particularly evident: China entered the top ten in the Global Innovation Index, achieved remarkable innovations in cutting-edge fields like AI and quantum communications, built the world's largest education, social security, and healthcare systems, further improved public safety, and saw domestic consumption contribute about 60% annually to economic growth. A new growth pattern driven by domestic demand and innovation is taking shape, laying the foundation for long-term national development.
High-Quality Development: China's Practices in Green Transition
High-quality development is the core direction of China's growth, with green transformation being a key driver. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China established the world's largest clean power system, with total installed capacity of wind and solar power exceeding 1.2 billion kilowatts. The country completed afforestation of 164 million mu (10.93 million hectares), raising its forest coverage rate to 25.09% and contributing one-quarter of the world's newly added green areas. Significant results were achieved in industrial green upgrading, with energy consumption per unit of GDP cumulatively decreasing by 11.6%. Annual production of new energy vehicles surpassed 13 million units, accounting for over 60% of global output, demonstrating the possibility of "ecological and development win-win" outcomes.
People-Centered Approach: A Genuine Report Card on Improving People's Livelihood
"The people come first" is the fundamental principle guiding China's development, with people's well-being continuously enhanced during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Educational coverage has steadily expanded, with the gross enrollment rate in higher education reaching 60.8% and basic education standards ranking among the world's highest. The social security system has been further refined, with basic medical insurance coverage exceeding 95%. Nationwide, over 240,000 aging urban residential areas have been renovated, improving living conditions for 110 million residents. The South-to-North Water Diversion Project has cumulatively transferred over 82 billion cubic meters of water, resolving drinking water issues for 185 million people—ensuring development benefits truly reach the people.
Balancing Development and Security: Fortifying the Foundation of Stability
Ensuring security through development is a key principle of China's governance. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's grain output has remained consistently above 650 million tons, guaranteeing food security for its 1.4 billion people, while the national pipeline network has enhanced its energy transmission capacity. The resilience of industrial chains has continuously strengthened. Large state-owned enterprises have driven the development of 9 million upstream and downstream enterprises, highlighting the advantages of China's industrial development system in terms of comprehensiveness, diversity, and scale. Major relationships—between economy and society, government and market, efficiency and fairness, vitality and order—have been well coordinated, building a solid security barrier for development.
High-Level Opening-Up: Jointly Promoting Global Development
China remains committed to expanding openness and advancing economic globalization. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the cumulative actual utilization of foreign capital exceeded $710 billion, with 235,000 new foreign-funded enterprises established. The New Western Land-Sea Corridor has connected 127 countries worldwide. In 2024, China's merchandise trade volume reached $6.16 trillion, ranking first globally for the eighth consecutive year. In June this year, China announced zero-tariff treatment for all 53 African countries with diplomatic relations, sharing development opportunities with the world through openness.
55th Anniversary of China-Ethiopia Diplomatic Relations: Riding the Winds of Development Together, Charting a Blueprint for Cooperation
This year marks the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Ethiopia. Over half a century of joint efforts has demonstrated the profound foundation of China-Africa friendship and highlighted the tangible opportunities China's development brings to partner countries. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's accumulated experience in infrastructure development, green growth technologies, and poverty alleviation solutions are being transformed into development momentum for Ethiopia through pragmatic cooperation. Since its inauguration, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway has transported over 12 million tons of cargo, reducing Ethiopia's logistics costs by 30%. Projects such as the Adama Wind Power Project and the Awassa Industrial Park, constructed with the participation of Chinese enterprises, have directly created over 50,000 jobs, accelerating Ethiopia's industrialization process. Looking ahead, China will continue to leverage its own development to build broader cooperation platforms for Ethiopia. Under the Belt and Road Initiative framework, China will deepen collaboration in areas such as industrial capacity, green development, digitalization, and agricultural modernization. By sharing the practical experience of Chinese-style modernization, China and Ethiopia will work hand in hand to achieve common development and write a new chapter in South-South cooperation.