China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) on Monday commenced a key meeting to finalise a new five-year plan amid concerns over an economic slowdown driven by US trade tensions and a sweeping purge at the top of the military. CCP, headed by President Xi Jinping, began the three-day meeting of the plenary session, considered to be the most important in the current context of growing competition with the US.

According to the data released on Monday, China’s economy grew at 4.8 per cent, the slowest pace this year compared to the previous quarters. The data for this quarter was the weakest pace of growth since the third quarter of 2024.