China Is Aiming at an Economic Makeover Beyond Growth

For the next 15 years, China has the goal of modernizing the economy, which boils down to a concerted push to upgrade industry and move up the technology frontier, harnessing forces from domestic consumption, reform and opening to drive structural changes and increase self-reliance. The economy will need to sustain relatively high growth to achieve the 2035 objectives, involving modernization and GDP per capita reaching the level of a “medium-developed country,” according to Bloomberg Economics. The latter would require 4.7-5% growth on average over the period, which won’t be easy, requiring productivity advances to counter stiffer demographic headwinds.