January 26

China’s domestically developed heavy transport aircraft Y-20 completed its first trial flight successfully. Y-20 officially entered the service in the PLA Air Force on July 6, 2016.

March 3–12

The 1st Session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee was held and Yu Zhengsheng was elected chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.

March 5–17

The 1st Session of the 12th NPC was held. It adopted the Plan for the Institutional Reform and Functional Transformation of the State Council. The Session elected Xi Jinping president of the PRC and chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission,and Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, and Li Keqiang was appointed as premier of the State Council.

March 11

When addressing the PLA delegation to the 1st Session of the 12th NPC, Xi Jinping pointed out that the Party’s goal of a strong military in the new situation involved building the people’s armed forces into a military that obeyed the Party’s command and were able to fight and win with excellent conduct.

March 23

Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Russia, stressing that human beings were increasingly part of a human community with a shared future. He called on all countries to jointly step up the establishment of a new international relationship with win-win cooperation as the core. On September 28, 2015, Xi Jinping attended the general debate of the 70th UN General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York and delivered a speech, proposing to jointly build a new partnership of win-win cooperation and a human community with a shared future. On January 18, 2017, Xi Jinping attended the High-Level Meeting on Discussing and Building a Human Community with a Shared Future at the Palais des Nations in Geneva and delivered a keynote speech, in which he advocated working together to build a human community with a shared future, and sticking to the principle of “dialogue and consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, win-win cooperation, mutual learning and low-carbon development,” so as to build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoyed lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity.

March 25

Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Center in Tanzania, proposing for the first time the principle of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith towards Africa, and the idea of upholding justice while pursuing shared interests.

April 24

To meet the new requirements of its functional transformation, the State Council held an executive meeting, at which it decided to cancel and delegate 71 items of government approval. At the end of 2018, the State Council implemented a coordinated reform featuring streamlined administration and the delegation of power, the promotion of regulation and the improvement of services, thus cutting by 45% the number of items subject to administrative examination and approval by State Council departments, completely abolishing examination and approval for non-administrative licenses and overhauling and regulating 74% of intermediary services subject to administrative examination and approval. Additionally, pre-approval items for industrial and commercial registration were reduced by 87%. Administrative fees set up by the central government dropped by 73.5%, government funds decreased by 30%, and government-set operating and service fees were drastically cut. Department-set professional qualifications were reduced by 77%. The business environment nationwide was greatly improved and China’s world ranking for the ease of doing business was significantly improved.

April 25

The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a symposium to study the current economic situation and economic work. Xi Jinping presided over the symposium and delivered a speech. Thereafter, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee established a system of quarterly meetings in principle to study the economic situation. The Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee and of the 19th CPC Central Committee met to study the economic situation 19 and 7 times, respectively.

April 26

China launched the satellite Gaofen-1, a high-resolution earth observation system. On August 19, 2014, Gaofen-2 was launched, marking the entry of China’s remote sensing satellites into “an era of sub-meter high resolution.” On December 29, 2015 and August 10, 2016, Gaofen-4 and Gaofen-3 were launched one after another. On December 15, 2016, the China Remote Sensing Satellite North Pole Ground Station was completed and put into trial operation. On May 9, 2018 and June 2, 2018, Gaofen-5 and Gaofen-6 were launched in succession.

May 9

The CPC Central Committee issued the Opinions on Deepening the Party’s Mass Line Education and Practice Campaign. From June 2013 to September 2014, the whole Party carried out two rounds of such campaigns focusing on people-orientation, pragmatism and incorruptibility in order to fight “formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.”

May 17–18

A mobilization and training meeting for the central inspection work was held. A total of 277 Party organizations were inspected during 12 rounds of inspection by the 18th CPC Central Committee, making the Committee the first in CPC history to conduct a full-coverage inspection within one term. By September 2019, the 19th CPC Central Committee had carried out four rounds of inspections.

June 28

At a national organization work conference, Xi Jinping clearly put forward the standards for good officials: to be firm in faith, to be committed to serving the people, to be diligent and pragmatic, to be ready to take on responsibilities, and to be clean and honest.

July 9 and July 16

The State Council held a symposium on the economic situation and clearly put forward the idea of range-based regulation, which meant keeping the main economic indicators within an appropriate range, with the economic growth rate and the employment level not hitting the “lower limit,” and the price increase rate not exceeding the “upper limit.” After that, the implementations of targeted, well-timed and precise regulation were proposed successively in 2014 and 2015.

August 17

The State Council officially approved the establishment of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (SHFTZ). By August 2019, the free trade zones had expanded to other cities and provinces, including Guangdong, Tianjin, Fujian, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Henan, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hainan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Hebei, Yunnan and Heilongjiang.

August 19

In his speech at a national conference on publicity and the ideological work, Xi Jinping pointed out that it was necessary to consolidate the guiding status of Marxism in the ideological field and strengthen the common ideological foundation for the united struggle by the whole Party and the people; that China was conducting a magnificent struggle with many new historical characteristics and the challenges and difficulties we faced were unprecedented; and that thus, we must persist in consolidating and expanding mainstream ideology and public opinions, carry main themes forward, disseminate positive energy, and arouse the whole society’s formidable strength for united progress.

August

Xi Jinping chaired a meeting on Hebei’s development in Beidaihe and proposed promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region. On February 26, 2014, Xi Jinping presided over a symposium to hear special reports on the region’s coordinated development, making it clear that realizing the coordinated development of the region was an integral part of the national strategy. On June 9, 2015, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the General Plan for the Coordinated Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region.

September 7 and October 3

Xi Jinping addressed the Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan and the Indonesian Parliament respectively, proposing the joint construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, namely the Belt and Road Initiative.

September 30

The Special Administrative Measures for the Access of Foreign Investment to the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Negative List) (2013) was issued. Under the “either prohibited or open” principle, all sectors and projects outside the List had access to the Chinese market. This was China’s first negative list for foreign investment in China. Thereafter, the List continued to shrink. The Special Administrative Measures for the Access of Foreign Investment to the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Negative List) (2019) issued on June 30, 2019 reduced the number of items on the List from 190 in 2013 to 37.

October 21

At the 100th anniversary celebration of the Western Returned Scholars Association, Xi Jinping proposed a new policy on overseas students in the new era, which was to support them studying abroad and encourage them to return to the homeland, guarantee them the freedom of coming and going and make them play a greater role.

October 24

At a seminar on the work of neighborhood diplomacy, Xi Jinping pointed out that the basic principles of China’s neighborhood diplomacy were to build friendships and partnerships with its neighboring countries and to create an amicable, secure and prosperous neighborhood under the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness. As for diplomatic work, it was necessary to persist in the right approach of upholding justice while pursuing shared interests and provide more assistance to developing countries to the best of our ability.

October 31

The Motuo Highway in Tibet was open to traffic, realizing China’s goal of every county having highway access.

November 5

The CPC Central Committee issued The Five-Year Planning Outline for Central Intraparty Regulation Formulation Work (2013–2017), the first of its kind in the history of the CPC. On February 9, 2018, the CPC Central Committee issued The Second Five-Year Plan (2018–2022) on the Formulation of Intraparty Regulations.

November 12

The 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee adopted the Decision on Certain Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform. The Decision pointed out that the overall goal of comprehensively deepening reform was to improve and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to promote the modernization of the national governance system and capacity. The underlying issue of the economic system reform was how to strike a balance between the role of the government and that of the market, and let the market play a decisive role in allocating resources and let the government fulfill its functions better.

November 23

The Chinese government announced the establishment of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, and issued a notice about aircraft identification rules and graphics for the Zone. On that day, the Chinese Air Force conducted its first air patrol in the Zone.

December 11

The General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued the Guidelines on Cultivating and Practicing Core Socialist Values. According to the Guidelines, core socialist values included national goals of prosperity, democracy, civility, and harmony; social goals of freedom, equality, justice and the rule of law; and individual values of patriotism, dedication, integrity, and friendship.

December 12

At the first meeting on urbanization held by the CPC Central Committee, Xi Jinping stressed that urbanization, as the only way to achieve modernization, should be advanced actively, steadily and solidly, with clear direction, steady steps and solid measures. On March 12, 2014, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the National New Urbanization Plan (2014–2020). By the end of 2018, China’s urbanization rate for the permanent resident population had reached 59.58%.

This Year

China became the world’s largest trading country for goods, with a total volume of imports and exports of US$4.16 trillion.

From: Chronicle of the People's Republic of China(October 1949—September 2019),edited by The Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, PP.232-243.