The long awaited third plenary session of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party will kick off on July 15. In the four-day meeting its 376 members will vote on programmatic decisions prepared by the Politbureau that will aim to solve the pressing economic and social issues the country currently faces.

Johannes Heller-John talks with Kristin Shi-Kupfer and Katja Drinhausen about the Third Plenum as well as Chinese debates on the country’s current economic challenges and future pathways.

Kristin Shi-Kupfer is a professor of Sinology at the University of Trier. Katja Drinhausen heads the politics & society program at MERICS. Together they lead the China Spektrum project, which analyzes relevant current debates and positions among Chinese intellectuals and experts, as well as public discussions unfolding on social media platforms and online. 

China Spektrum is a joint project of the China institute of the University of Trier (CIUT) and the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). The project is made possible by a grant from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.