Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee
From 15 to 18 July 2024 the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee met in Beijing, later than the customary autumn of the year after a Party congress. It adopted a Resolution on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization with more than 300 reform measures to be completed by 2029, including a unified national market, a law promoting the private economy, transferring consumption tax to local governments, public services based on place of residence and a gradual rise in the retirement age. The plenum also confirmed the expulsion of Li Shangfu and others from the Party and removed Qin Gang from the Central Committee.
Background
In November 2013 the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee adopted a decision on comprehensively deepening reform that set out more than 300 reform measures. By convention third plenums are held in the autumn of the year after a Party congress and centre on economic and reform agendas; the third plenum following the 20th Party Congress of October 2022 was not held until July 2024.
The Session
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee was held in Beijing from 15 to 18 July 2024, attended by 199 full and 165 alternate members. It heard and discussed a work report delivered by Xi Jinping on behalf of the Politburo; Xi explained the draft resolution, and the session adopted the Resolution on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization. The communiqué said reform must be placed in a more prominent position and further deepened around advancing Chinese modernization.
The plenum also dealt with personnel matters, confirming the Politburo's earlier expulsion from the Party of former defence minister Li Shangfu, former Rocket Force commander Li Yuchao and former Rocket Force chief of staff Sun Jinming, and accepting former foreign minister Qin Gang's resignation from the Central Committee.
The Resolution
The full text of the Resolution, published on 21 July, has 15 parts and 60 articles and sets out more than 300 major reform measures. It says the reform tasks are to be completed by 2029, the 80th anniversary of the People's Republic, and that a high-standard socialist market economy is to be fully established by 2035; reform must uphold the Party's overall leadership and the authority and centralised, unified leadership of the Central Committee.
Specific measures include building a unified national market, improving institutions for developing "new quality productive forces" in light of local conditions and enacting a law on promoting the private economy; shifting consumption tax collection down the chain and gradually transferring it to local governments; providing basic public services according to household registration at the place of permanent residence, so that eligible rural migrants enjoy the same social insurance, housing support and compulsory education for their children as registered residents; and, on voluntary and flexible principles, steadily and prudently advancing the gradual raising of the statutory retirement age.
Narrative Comparison
| Source | Narrative |
|---|---|
| Chinese official position (plenum communiqué and Resolution) | The present and coming period is critical for advancing national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization, which has advanced through reform and opening up and will open broad prospects through them. Facing a complex international and domestic situation, a new round of technological and industrial revolution and the new expectations of the people, reform must be placed in a more prominent position. Further comprehensive reform must uphold the Party's overall leadership, put the people at the centre, uphold fundamental principles while breaking new ground, take institution-building as its main thread, advance law-based governance and apply systems thinking, completing the Resolution's tasks by 2029 and fully establishing a high-standard socialist market economy by 2035. |
| Overseas analysis (Charles Parton, Council on Geostrategy; Yeh Yao-yuan and others interviewed by VOA) | Before the plenum Charles Parton, a former British diplomat at the Council on Geostrategy, noted that implementation of the 2013 plenum's 300-plus reforms had been patchy over the following decade, and that the delay to this plenum, though unexplained, more likely reflected the intrinsic difficulty of the reform agenda than disagreement with Xi. Unless the party tackled five crucial areas — the market and private enterprise, state-owned enterprises, fiscal reform, labour mobility and health — the plenum would, he argued, be "much wind, little rain". Afterwards, some overseas scholars interviewed by VOA called the communiqué vague and lacking specific measures to address China's economic difficulties; Yeh Yao-yuan of the University of St. Thomas said that within the framework of "Xi Thought" its economic content could hardly be new. |
Key Milestones
- Plenum opens
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee opened in Beijing for four days.
- Plenum closes; communiqué issued
The plenum adopted the Resolution, confirmed Li Shangfu's expulsion and removed Qin Gang from the Central Committee.
- Press conference
Officials said the Resolution had 15 parts and 60 articles with more than 300 major reform measures.
- Full text published
Xinhua released the full Resolution, setting 2029 as the deadline for its reform tasks.
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Cite this page
Chronicles of Modern China. (2026, November 2). Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://www.cmcarchive.org/events/third-plenum-20th-cc-2024
“Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee.” Chronicles of Modern China. Last modified November 2, 2026. Accessed November 2, 2026. https://www.cmcarchive.org/events/third-plenum-20th-cc-2024.
Chronicles of Modern China. Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee[EB/OL]. (2026-11-02)[2026-11-02]. https://www.cmcarchive.org/events/third-plenum-20th-cc-2024.