China leaders meet for five-year plan amid calls for reform

Beijing, China | AFP – China’s Communist leaders gathered Monday to plan the country’s course for the next five years, official media reported, as the world’s second largest economy confronts slowing growth and structural inefficiencies. Beijing has pledged to tackle economic malaise and rampant pollution as it faces increasing calls to address problems that have soured the public mood and worried investors. The meeting, called the Fifth Plenum, began with a raft of disappointing economic figures prompting “increasing attention from observers both home and abroad”, the official Xinhua news agency said. Five-Year Plans — it will be the 13th since the People’s Republic was founded in 1949 — are a holdover from the days before China embraced market reforms that have lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. But they still provide wide-ranging guidelines for managing the nation’s affairs, from the boardroom to the bedroom. China is a key driver of the world economy [...]