Shanghai Charts Course for Global Financial Hub by 2035

Shanghai has laid out a full spectrum of goals on finance for the next five years and beyond, following an unequivocal push by China’s central leadership to grow the city into an international financial centre. China’s largest city-level economy aims to evolve into a world-class, socialist metropolis by 2035, with an intensified focus on innovation and manufacturing, according to a local document released on Monday. Shanghai unveiled its proposals for the drafting of its own 15th five-year plan, with multifaceted socio-economic goals covering the years 2026 to 2030. A full chapter in the document is dedicated to its financial centre development, throwing weight behind China’s imperative to put Shanghai on the global map of financial hubs. Echoing Shanghai’s elevated roles in national planning, the city aims to achieve all-round development on top of becoming a global financial centre, with other priorities for the next half-decade including artificial intelligence, chips, shipping and advanced manufacturing. “[Shanghai aims to] make decisive progress in its development into a socialist, modern international metropolis with global influence, while leading and driving Chinese-style modernisation on a national level,” the proposal document stated.