First impressions from the third plenum

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Note: hours after publication of this post, the CPC released the decision document. The post below is based on the communiqué . I am still digesting the Decisions, but here is the link: Decision Document (Chinese)First impressions from the third plenumThe much-anticipated third plenum of the 20th central committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) took place in Beijing July 15-18 offering few surprises thus far. The 5000 character communiqué, about the same length as the one for the third plenum in 2013, received more than 100 million views on Weibo in the hours after its release according to the Voice of America, a US broadcaster. The communiqué focused on broad objectives and ideology rather than detailed reforms, as was to be expected. The Decisions document, which usually is published within a week of the plenum, is awaited to flesh out the meeting’s theme of “further comprehensive reforms and promote Chinese Modernization.”Thanks for reading Bert’s Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Historically, third plenums have marked significant shifts in China’s policy landscape. In December 1978, Deng Xiaoping used the third plenum of the 11th central committee to launch his program of “reform and opening up,” the historic break with class struggle and central planning that prevailed under Mao Zedong. Jiang Zemin used the third plenum of the 14th central committee in 1993 to usher in the socialist market economy, with sweeping reforms in fiscal system, banking, and state enterprises. The 3rd plenum of the 18th central committee in 2013, t…