A bird’s-eye view of Wuxi. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Wuxi, an economic powerhouse in East China’s Jiangsu province, officially unveiled its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–30) at a press conference on June 25, outlining a comprehensive roadmap to strengthen its position as a modern industrial and commercial hub while advancing high-quality development.
Mayor Jiang Feng outlined the city’s key achievements, strategic priorities, and development targets for 2026. He highlighted Wuxi’s economic performance over the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), with GDP surpassing 1.68 trillion yuan ($247.23 billion) in 2025 — an average annual growth rate of 5.7 percent.
“The achievements of the past five years have laid a solid foundation and given us confidence for the period ahead,” Mayor Jiang said. “We are committed to building Wuxi into a city known for industrial and technological innovation and cultural heritage, while further enhancing its reputation as a modern commercial and industrial hub.”
The plan identifies four priority areas: developing new-quality productive forces, cultivating new growth drivers, enhancing people’s well-being, and improving governance efficiency.
On the productivity front, the city aims to further increase research and development investment and raise the share of strategic emerging industries to 50 percent of total industrial output by 2030, positioning itself as a competitive hub for industrial innovation and intelligent manufacturing.
Wuxi-made robots are on display at the 2026 Yangtze River Delta Robotics and Automation Expo on June 11. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
That push extends to artificial intelligence. Over the past year, the city has developed 44 vertical industry models, rolled out more than 200 finished products, and produced 16 humanoid robot models.
Turning to new growth drivers, Wuxi is placing equal emphasis on domestic demand and external demand. To spur domestic consumption, the city has forged a distinctive path by integrating culture, commerce, tourism, and sports. A prime example is its role as a sub-venue for the 2025 CMG Spring Festival Gala, during which tourist arrivals surged 34.6 percent year-on-year and tourism revenue jumped 27 percent over the holiday.
On the external front, Wuxi enjoys a solid foundation in terms of foreign demand. In 2025, the city’s total import and export value exceeded 800 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 829.28 billion yuan, with trade ties spanning 225 countries and regions.
On the social front, the plan targets the creation of more than 600,000 new jobs over five years, steady growth in residents’ per capita disposable income — which already exceeds 75,000 yuan — and continued improvement in the urban-rural income ratio, which remains the best in southern Jiangsu.
Clear water and blue skies in Wuxi. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Environmental protection also remains high on the agenda. The city has committed to keeping Taihu Lake’s water quality at Grade III — a standard it first achieved in 2024, making it the first of China’s three major key-governed lakes to earn a “fairly good” rating.
In parallel, the city is strengthening grassroots social governance, enhancing workplace safety, and rigorously managing risks in key areas to keep public security satisfaction firmly above 95 percent.
With that foundation in place, Wuxi is turning its attention to supercharging its business climate. By optimizing market access, smart government services, factor allocation, and rule-of-law protections, the city aims to embed efficient governance into every stage of enterprise growth — making Wuxi not only a safe place to live, but a premier destination to invest and thrive.
As the inaugural year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, 2026 marks a critical milestone toward Wuxi’s modernization drive. The city has set a GDP growth target of 5 percent for the year.
“Wuxi will step up as a key economic engine for the region,” Mayor Jiang said. “We are confident and ready to adapt to changing conditions and solve real problems, ultimately, to help drive growth for Jiangsu and the nation.”
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