China’s top party journal urges action to boost confidence ahead of fourth plenum

Party journal calls for steps to improve policy predictability and support growth amid slowing demand and trade tensions

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Chen Xi, president of the Party School of the Communist Party Central Committee, delivers a speech in Beijing on September 28. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:00pm, 15 Oct 2025

China’s ruling Communist Party’s leading theoretical journal has urged authorities to better manage market expectations, improve policy predictability and pay closer attention to public sentiment – ahead of a closed-door meeting of senior officials to discuss the next five-year plan and as trade tensions with the United States mount.

In a Wednesday article, Qiushi – a leading platform for disseminating official policies and ideas – called on policymakers to better time policy implementation, coordinate economic and non-economic measures and take steps to strengthen confidence and support growth.

“(Policymakers) should be cautious about introducing measures that could have a tightening or dampening effect,” the article said, while calling for efforts to support households and businesses.

“Businesses and investors base their decisions largely on expectations for future policies,” it noted. “Implementing timely, targeted measures and improving policy predictability are essential for boosting market confidence.”

The article came as the leadership of the world’s second-largest economy is set to hold the fourth plenum next week, when President Xi Jinping and more than 300 members of the Central Committee are expected to discuss the outline for the 15th five-year plan – a blueprint that will define broad socio-economic goals for the next half-decade.

Targeting about 5 per cent economic growth in 2025, China continues to face domestic headwinds from weak demand, while the market has long called for better coordination of policy announcements from different government agencies.

Tensions with the US also ratcheted up last week amid a barrage of economic sanctions, export controls and threats of triple-digit tariffs – despite months of negotiations and extensions of a temporary truce since the conflict peaked in April.

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