Chongqing - Chongqing is aiming to turn the opening year of China's upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan into a strong launch point, with city leaders identifying 2026 as a crucial year for growth, openness, public services, and governance reform.

Construction workers accelerate work at the G348 highway reconstruction project site in Yunyang County, Chongqing, on March 10, 2026. (Photo/Yin Shiyu)

At a recent meeting of senior officials, Yuan Jiajun, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, said the city must grasp the goals and tasks for the new planning period and for 2026, while making better use of its comparative strengths and late-development advantages to contribute more to the national economy.

From a national policy perspective, Chongqing has a distinct role. It is China's only municipality directly under the central government in the central and western regions, giving it provincial-level status. It is also designated as a national central city, meaning a major urban hub expected to drive regional development. 

Officials said Chongqing has been assigned two main roles: serving as a strategic pivot for the development of western China and as a comprehensive inland hub for opening up.

They added that the 15th Five-Year Plan period will offer Chongqing a strategic window to strengthen those roles, build new advantages and overcome development bottlenecks.

City leaders said Chongqing's strengths are becoming clearer as national strategies converge with its solid industrial base and innovation potential. The priority, they think, is focused action.

The production line at Qingling Motors (Group) Co. is operating at full capacity on February 24, 2026. (Photo/Long Fan)

On the economy, Chongqing has set an expected target of more than 5% growth in gross regional product this year, while pursuing quality improvement. Officials have linked that goal to measures including raising the development level of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, a regional strategy built around the southwestern urban cluster, and advancing Chongqing's broader development agenda, including pilot zones for deeper reform, modern governance in megacities, and integrated urban-rural development and rural revitalization.

The city is also working to boost consumption and expand investment, while improving links among innovation, industry, finance, and talent. Priorities include building a hub for intelligent connected new-energy vehicles and developing a center for artificial intelligence applications.

Openness is another major theme. This year's government work report called for expanding openness in the services sector, improving cross-border trade, and accelerating the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC), a route linking western China with Southeast Asia and global markets. Since the start of the year, Chongqing has stepped up logistics activity, including cooperation with COSCO Shipping and the launch of a financial services center for ILSTC.

As western China's only comprehensive transport hub with multimodal rail, road, river, and air capacity, Chongqing is expected to further focus on major opening-up platforms. These include the hub port industrial park, the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Project on Strategic Connectivity (CCI), the pilot free trade zone, and Liangjiang New Area, a state-level new district.

Officials are also tying development goals to living standards and governance. Priorities include stronger employment support, more inclusive elderly care, and housing support for newly married and first-child families. At the same time, Chongqing is being positioned as a testing ground for smarter urban governance through digital systems and grassroots reform, as it addresses the challenges of managing one of China’s largest municipalities by area and population.