A Study of China's 11th Five-Year Plan -In Contrast With the 10th Five-Year Plan-(in Japanese)

1.Problem setting The 11th Five-Year Plan is the first five-year plan to be drafted by the Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao administration, and by analyzing and examining this in contrast with the 10th Five-Year Plan, it will be possible to shed more light on the difference in economic policy and guiding principles of the Hu-Wen administration and the Jiang Zemin-Zhu Rongji administration. Furthermore, this will also lead to solving the "fundamental controversy" of the Chinese economy. 2.Methodology Taking the proposal for formulating the 11th Five-Year Plan presented at the 5th plenary session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the 11th Five-Year Guidelines, this paper fleshed out the details of each policy to the extent possible, based on economic-policy conferences at the national level -For example, the Central Economic Working Conference, the Conference on National Development and Reform, and the National Conference on Fiscal Work- and press conferences or analytical essays by key economic ministers, to clarify the difference with the 10th Five-Year Plan. Moreover, by introducing the article with a brief explanation of the flow of five-year plans from its 1st to 10th, this paper attempted to position the 11th Five-Year Plan in the overall history of China's five-year plans. In addition, structural problems of the Chinese economy that are in the background of the drafting and process of drafting of the 11th Five-Year Plan were also examined. 3.Results Policies dominated by economic growth, which were urban-centered and rural-neglecting under the Jiang Zemin-Zhu Rongji administration during the 10th Five-Year Plan caused an expansion of the income gap and brought about wasteful use of energy and other resources and destruction of the environment, aggravating the structural problem of the Chinese economic society. This became evident with the spread of SARS, a new type of pneumonia, and overheated investment. The expansion of the fundamental contradiction of its economy came to generate criticism against market reform itself implemented thus far. For this reason, the Hu-Wen administration launched a new strategic concept based on a "scientific developmentalist viewpoint," which aims at harmonious sustainable development for development of urban and rural sectors, for all regions, between economy and society, between people and nature, and for opening up domestically and externally; and a "harmonious socialist society," which places greater emphasis on social justice and fairness as well as redistribution of income, not only efficiency. This new concept added change to the way economic policy was thus far. This constitutes the guiding concept for the 11th Five-Year Plan. Based on this strategic concept, the 11th Five-Year Plan sets targets for saving energy and preserving the environment for the first time. It is also centered on building a new rural sector and adjusting income distribution. It also changed its meaning from "plan" to "vision and guideline", thereby strictly dividing the role of government and market in an attempt to put a final end to a planned economy. 4.Conclusion The 11th Five-Year Plan sets out reform of the government's administrative management system at the head of the list of reforms. This includes the rational determination of government's responsibilities, reduction and simplification of administrative approvals, reform of government organizations, reform of the system for investment, and so forth. Without this reform, it would be impossible to suppress the expansion of investment and loans led by provincial governments, making it difficult to achieve the target for saving energy, saving resources and preserving the environment. In addition, the significance of having replaced the meaning of "plan" with "vision and guideline" will be null. In this sense, it can be said that the 11th Five-Year Plan is an extremely important plan that will decide whether the Chinese economy can overcome the system inherited from the planned economy and shift to a market economy, whether it can convert its pattern of growth from a reckless one (wasteful use of resources/energy and environment-destroying type) to an efficient and sustainable one, and whether it can change its base from "putting people first" (allow some of the people and some of the regions to get rich first), advocated by Deng Xiaoping, to "common prosperity" (the people and regions that get rich first lead and help other people and regions so that everyone gets rich together).