Storyline: The guidelines for China's next five-year plan show clear intentions to continue the country's principled shift towards growth driven by domestic demand and consumption, said Nobel laureate Michael Spence. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China last month has established the guiding principles for economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), which include pursuing measures to "achieve a notable increase in household consumption as a share of GDP" and support "the development of higher-quality, more diverse, and more accessible consumer services." Speaking at an exclusive interview with China Media Group (CMG), Spence, a professor at New York University and co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, highlighted that the shift in focus from investment and exports to increased domestic demand and consumption has signified a significant strategic change for the nation over the past decades. "The authorities have understood this even going back to the 12th Five-Year Plan. It's a constant theme, and it's right that they want to shift the aggregate demand with less dependence on exports, more dependence on domestic demand. The transition is a multi-year, even multi-decade transition. But I think Minister Wang also referred to paying more attention to GNI, as well as GDP, which I interpreted as, we are going to pay attention to income that goes to various domestic stake holders, and we are going to pay attention to level and composition. And that makes perfectly good sense in the context of the Chinese situation," he said. China's early economic growth relied heavily on external demand, which was natural given that domestic demand was low while foreign demand was high in the initial stages of development. Once areas of comparative advantage were identified, high growth rates could be achieved due to unrestricted demand. Yet, Spence highlighted that the growth was driven not only by comparative advantage but also by investment, and thus China's economic growth two or three decades ago was marked by a dependence on investment that had positive effects because it supported essential infrastructure development and cultivated human resources, providing momentum for growth while exports expanded external markets. "But as the country gets bigger, you can't keep filling in aggregate demand gaps with investment. And China has over 30 percent market share in manufacturing. So while exports are going to continue to be an important part of the story in China, it's not a plausible growth engine, hence the GNI reference, and they're concerned about the composition of domestic demand. If business has a lot of income, and the government has a lot of income, you tend to get a lot of investment. If the household sector has a fair amount of income, then you tend to get consumption, and that's well understood. So this is a long term project, but I think it is an important element of the upcoming Five-Year-Plan or proposal for it," said the economist. Shotlist: FILE: Shanghai, China - Date Unknown: 1. Aerial shots of cityscape FILE: Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, east China - June 2025: 2. Aerial shots of cityscape Milan, Italy - Nov 13, 2025: 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Spence, Nobel Laureate in Economics (partially overlaid with shot 4): "The authorities have understood this even going back to the 12th Five-Year Plan. It's a constant theme, and it's right that they want to shift the aggregate demand with less dependence on exports, more dependence on domestic demand. The transition is a multi-year, even multi-decade transition. But I think Minister Wang also referred to paying more attention to GNI, as well as GDP, which I interpreted as, we are going to pay attention to income that goes to various domestic stake holders, and we are going to pay attention to level and composition. And that makes perfectly good sense in the context of the Chinese situation." FILE: Rui'an City, Zhejiang Province, east China - Date Unknown: [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 4. Various of customers at shopping mall [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Date Unknown: 5. Aerial shots of cityscape FILE: Shanghai, China - Date Unknown: 6. Various of fast motions of cityscape; skyscrapers Milan, Italy - Nov 13, 2025: 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Spence, Nobel Laureate in Economics (partially overlaid with shots 8-12): "But as the country gets bigger, you can't keep filling in aggregate demand gaps with investment. And China has over 30 percent market share in manufacturing. So while exports are going to continue to be an important part of the story in China, it's not a plausible growth engine, hence the GNI reference, and they're concerned about the composition of domestic demand. If business has a lot of income, and the government has a lot of income, you tend to get a lot of investment. If the household sector has a fair amount of income, then you tend to get consumption, and that's well understood. So this is a long term project, but I think it is an important element of the upcoming Five-Year-Plan or proposal for it." FILE: China - Exact Location and Date Unknown: [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 8. Various of automatic machinery working in factories Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, east China - Recent: 9. Various of customers having meal FILE: Altay City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China - Date Unknown: 10. Various of tourists taking photos 11. Tourists by lake; swans 12. Aerial shots of tourists climbing mountain; field of lavender [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] FILE: Beijing, China - Date Unknown: 13. Various of Tian'anmen Rostrum, Chinese national flag, traffic [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]