The third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, held in Beijing in July, set some extraordinary economic targets, daunting for many countries.

Despite all the short-term economic difficulties and geopolitical tensions, the third plenary session reaffirmed the country's determination to advance Chinese modernization on the way to realizing its second centennial goal of building China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by the middle of this century, the centenary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It also added to the agenda a whole set of goals to be realized by 2029, the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

At a time when most of its competitors are having difficulty in even electing the right person to the country's highest office and getting disgruntled voters to vote for them, the development goals set by China reflect the strength of the country.

While the drums of trade wars were being beaten by some Western powers and conflicts in Eurasia and the Middle East were intensifying, China, at the third plenary session, was reaffirming its commitment to deepen reform and widen opening-up.

The resolution of the third plenum reaffirmed China's status as a socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics, while the communique asserted that the CPC will extend, in a measured way, the country's opening-up on matters of regulation, and reform in depth its foreign trade system as well as the management of foreign investments in China, and China's investments abroad.

The most significant aspect of the third plenum, however, was its assertion that the country remains committed to promoting higher-quality development, a broad term which means China will improve the market environment and solve the economic problems obstructing smooth growth while raising the living standards of the people.

To achieve higher-quality development, China will use new quality productive forces. Although China has made great strides in many fields, including infrastructure, green energy, green products, space science and technology, the Chinese leadership has said the country's innovation capacity falls short of expectations, and the industrial sector, while large in size and extensive in scope, is not yet strong or adequately advanced, and the over-reliance on key and core technologies controlled by others has not been fundamentally changed. This means China is yet to become self-reliant in advanced technologies.

The Chinese leadership has emphasized that the world is witnessing a new cycle of scientific and technological innovation and industrial change centered on advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology and bio-technology. Advanced technologies have become the main battleground of international competition and certain technologies remain under the control of rich countries. Therefore, China needs to boost its innovation capacity to make significant breakthroughs in advanced research to become self-reliant in advanced technologies.

The third plenum's communique also calls for deepening comprehensive reform in education, science and technology, as well as talent development, so as to boost the overall performance of China's innovation-oriented enterprises. In this regard, the government will encourage students to choose disciplines and majors (especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics) that are in high demand, so they can build a strong base for China to become self-reliant in advanced technologies.

The government will also take measures to promote research, especially advanced-level research, in universities, institutions and leading high-tech enterprises. It is to be hoped that better management of the science and technology sector will ensure advanced research works in those areas are forward-looking and help boost basic research.

Humans' ability to make new discoveries and use them to develop new technologies knows no bounds, while scientific breakthroughs and innovations create the conditions for humans to produce more using less raw materials and at lower costs. And China is determined to excel on all these fronts.

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