On March 5, 2026, Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivered the Government Work Report at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress, announcing that China's GDP would grow by 5% annually in 2025, reaching a total of 140.19 trillion yuan; and setting the main expected economic growth target for 2026 in the range of 4.5% to 5%, while maintaining a deficit ratio of about 4%, and planning to issue 1.3 trillion yuan of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds.
On the one hand, Beijing acknowledges the slowdown in growth momentum and increased external uncertainty; on the other hand, it has chosen to use more proactive fiscal and industrial policies to shift the economic structure towards technology-driven growth and digital infrastructure, and has brought forward the key indicators and narratives of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030). Foreign media analysis suggests that the overall wording of the CCP's recent statement on Taiwan has been upgraded. The addition of "implementing policies to ensure equal treatment for Taiwanese compatriots" explicitly targets the Taiwanese people as a political project.
The 2026 economic growth target will no longer focus on achieving specific figures, but will instead be set as a range.
Compared to the single growth target that has been used for many years, the 4.5% to 5% range set for 2026 is seen by foreign media as a policy statement that "is more willing to accept a moderate slowdown": against the backdrop of real estate adjustment, weak domestic demand and ongoing geopolitical frictions, the policy focus is more on stabilizing employment, stabilizing inflation expectations and stabilizing the balance of payments, while leaving room for structural transformation.
The government work report also set other major targets for 2026: an urban surveyed unemployment rate of about 5.5%, more than 12 million new urban jobs, a CPI of about 2%, and a reduction of about 3.8% in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP.
Under the "more proactive fiscal policy" approach, Beijing continues its high deficit arrangement and maintains the scale of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds at 1.3 trillion yuan; of which 250 billion yuan is used to support tools to expand domestic demand, such as the trade-in program for consumer goods.
The 15th Five-Year Plan: 20 indicators linking science and technology, industry, and security into a unified system.
The report discloses that the "15th Five-Year Plan Outline (Draft)" proposes 20 major indicators covering five major areas: economic development, innovation-driven development, people's well-being, green and low-carbon development, and security. Among them, the innovation aspect explicitly proposes an average annual growth rate of over 7% in total social R&D expenditure (report scope). It institutionalizes the funding sources and assessment indicators for productivity, providing a medium-term framework for tracks such as AI, chips, digital infrastructure, and robotics.
Foreign media: The CCP's rhetoric on Taiwan has hardened, a political project targeting the Taiwanese people.
The government work report also mentioned that it is necessary to thoroughly implement the Party's overall strategy for resolving the Taiwan issue in the new era, adhere to the one-China principle and the "1992 Consensus," resolutely crack down on "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, oppose external interference, promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, and advance the great cause of national reunification; deepen cross-strait exchanges, cooperation and integrated development, jointly inherit and promote Chinese culture, implement the policy of equal treatment for Taiwan compatriots, improve the well-being of compatriots on both sides of the strait, and jointly create a great cause of national rejuvenation.
The BBC believes that the wording has been upgraded from "adhering to the overall strategy" last year to "deeply implementing the overall strategy," and from "resolutely opposing 'Taiwan independence' separatism" last year to "resolutely cracking down on 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces." The overall tone has shifted from defensive to proactive. Furthermore, the addition of the word "forces" after "separatism" clarifies the target of criticism, specifying concrete individuals and organizations rather than abstract actions.
This year, the policy of "implementing equal treatment for Taiwan compatriots" was added, explicitly targeting the people of Taiwan and strengthening the targeted nature of preferential policies for Taiwan. In my opinion, this precisely reflects the long-standing practice of "small favors and small benefits" in grassroots united front work being incorporated into the highest-level policy language. Taiwanese scholar Wang Zhisheng has pointed out that this is a typical example of "small favors and small benefits" united front work, targeting young people influenced by Xiaohongshu and Douyin, those curious about China, religious temples and village chiefs, local factions, and KOLs, packaging "going to the other side" as a low-cost and fun option.
Blockchain becomes a key infrastructure: taxation, cross-border trade, and global payments become the main battlegrounds.
In the narrative of the "digital economy," blockchain is positioned as one of the core foundations. Dong Jin, a deputy to the National People's Congress and president of the Beijing Microchip Blockchain and Edge Computing Research Institute, stated that China's independently developed blockchain underlying technology has been applied to 16 central ministries and commissions and 27 central enterprises, and has made progress in scenarios such as taxation, cross-border trade, and global payments. He also mentioned that tens of billions of invoices circulate on the independent blockchain every year, more than 300,000 enterprises engage in cross-border trade on the blockchain, and the trade volume reaches trillions of yuan.
Dong Jin also mentioned that the "blockchain-specific acceleration chip" developed by his team can improve performance by 50 times, which can break through the computing power bottleneck of ultra-large-scale blockchain networks. He described the goal of the national-level blockchain network as: to wrap high-value core data such as cross-border trade and global payments in an independent and controllable trusted digital system.
Open source models, manufacturing penetration, and humanoid robots: the initial battles before the "15th Five-Year Plan"
Minister Li Lecheng of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology mentioned that China ranked first globally in open-source model downloads in the past year, and by the end of 2025, the application rate of AI technology in large-scale manufacturing enterprises will exceed 30%, with domestic companies having released more than 300 humanoid robot products. He also emphasized that the AI industry should coordinate development with security, and promote future industries such as future energy, quantum technology, embodied intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, and 6G.
Incorporating these signals into the "15th Five-Year Plan" framework is tantamount to declaring that AI is not just a tool, but the core engine for manufacturing upgrading and new industrial clusters; and that humanoid robots are regarded as the terminal carrier for the next stage, intertwined with industrial networks, smart factories, and advanced manufacturing policies.
This article, titled "China's National People's Congress: Blockchain has been applied in 16 Party branches and 27 central enterprises, and the '15th Five-Year Plan' technology strategy was launched," first appeared on ABMedia, a ABMedia .
