China issues a jobs-first five-year plan.
Today's events
Jobs-first five-year plan.
The cabinet issued a five-year employment strategy targeting “high-quality full employment” and widening job channels for college graduates and other young people.1Jun 18 · State CouncilUnified power market.
The energy administration declared a nationwide electricity market “initially built”; wind and solar capacity has overtaken coal, reaching nearly half of all generating capacity.2Jun 18 · NEAShanghai finance push.
The central bank and five agencies launched an offshore-finance plan for Shanghai, courting cross-border capital to fund Chinese firms expanding abroad.3Jun 18 · PBOCData-risk rules.
The internet regulator and two ministries published rules requiring firms that handle “important data” to run yearly security-risk assessments, effective in August.4Jun 18 · CACConsumption stalls.
May retail sales fell 0.6 percent from a year earlier while factory output rose 4.5 percent — a sign of stubbornly weak household demand.5Jun 16 · Stats BureauPrice-war crackdown.
The market regulator ordered freight platform Huolala to fix algorithm-driven price-cutting, widening a campaign against “involution-style” competition across platform industries.6Jun 18 · SAMRCommon prosperity.
Xi ordered deeper east-west regional cooperation in the new five-year plan's first year, vowing to guard against any large-scale slide back into poverty.7Jun 17 · XinhuaAI-and-consumption plan.
The commerce ministry and seven agencies issued guidelines to fuse artificial intelligence into consumer goods and services and create new sources of spending.8Jun 22 · Commerce Min.Iran ceasefire.
Beijing welcomed a first-phase memorandum between Washington and Tehran, its spokesman urging “equal-footed dialogue” as the only path to lasting calm in the Gulf.9Jun 18 · MFA
Voices
“Party committees and governments at every level must hold firm against any large-scale return to poverty, steadily advance rural revitalization, and push solid steps toward common prosperity for all.”
Xi Jinping, CPC General Secretary · June 177
“China welcomes the first-phase memorandum between the United States and Iran. Force cannot solve problems — equal-footed dialogue is the only right path.”
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian · June 189
“Employment is the most basic of livelihoods — it bears on the people's immediate interests, on healthy economic and social development, and on the nation's lasting stability.”
State Council, Employment-First Strategy plan · June 181
“High-level financial opening will be used to empower high-quality growth, strengthening offshore services for firms going global and for Belt and Road projects.”
People's Bank of China et al., Shanghai offshore-finance plan · June 183
“We are standardizing how network-data security risks are assessed, so that data security underpins both the use of data and the growth of industry.”
Cyberspace Administration official, on the new data rules · June 184
“‘Involution-style’ competition forces platform operators to take part, earning razor-thin profits or losses, with the quality of goods and services degrading.”
State Administration for Market Regulation · June 186
Sources
- State Council, “Notice on Issuing the Plan for Implementing the Employment-First Strategy (15th Five-Year Plan)” (Guofa [2026] No. 16), June 2026. gov.cn/zhengce/…/employment-first-15th-five-year-plan
- National Energy Administration, “2025 China Electricity Market Development Report Released — National Unified Electricity Market System Initially Built,” June 18, 2026. nea.gov.cn/…/2025-electricity-market-report
- People's Bank of China, “PBOC, NDRC, Financial Regulatory Administration, CSRC, SAFE and Shanghai Jointly Issue the Shanghai International Financial Center Offshore Finance Action Plan,” June 2026. pbc.gov.cn/…/shanghai-offshore-finance-action-plan
- Cyberspace Administration of China, “CAC, MIIT and Ministry of Public Security Jointly Release the Network Data Security Risk Assessment Measures,” June 18, 2026. cac.gov.cn/2026-06/18/…/network-data-security-risk-assessment
- National Bureau of Statistics, “The National Economy Ran Generally Stable in May, Shifting Toward the New and the Better,” June 16, 2026. stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/…/may-economy
- State Administration for Market Regulation, “Deeply Rectifying ‘Involution-Style’ Competition to Achieve Win-Win Development of the Platform Economy,” June 18, 2026. samr.gov.cn/xw/mtjj/…/involution-competition
- Xinhua News Agency, “Xi Jinping Issues Important Instructions on Normalizing East-West Cooperation Work,” June 17, 2026. news.cn/politics/leaders/…/east-west-cooperation
- Cyberspace Administration of China, “‘AI-plus’ Helps Cultivate New Drivers of Consumption” (Commerce Ministry and seven agencies' Implementation Opinions on Accelerating ‘AI-plus-Consumption’), June 22, 2026. cac.gov.cn/2026-06/22/…/ai-plus-consumption
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian's Regular Press Conference,” June 18, 2026. mfa.gov.cn/…/lin-jian-press-conference-june-18