On Wednesday, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council released [in Mandarin] a new five-year plan to strengthen control over key sectors of the economy, including healthcare, education and technology. The new plan allows the government to scrutinize foreign stock listings, data security, consumer privacy, anti-competitive practices and merger irregularities. This plan is set to be in place until the end of 2025.

These new regulations follow crackdowns in the education and technology sectors that have been implemented in recent months. China recently restricted after-school tutoring in curricular subjects, a $120 billion dollar industry in the country. Moreover, antitrust enforcement in technology has been very active, with companies like Alibaba accepting substantial fines by regulatory authorities and Tencent being forced to relinquish exclusivity contracts.

The implementation of the five-year plan quickly began with new regulations issued for industries like smart cars [in Mandarin] and online insurance.

The five-year plan seeks to balance the competing needs of the emerging middle class as consumers and as workers, called “common prosperity guidelines.” The other primary area of regulation is information control, with special care being paid to big data and cloud computing.

The plan is set to be implemented immediately and will continue to be in effect until the end of 2025. It follows increased regulatory oversight and government intervention in key sectors of the economy, especially technology and internet-based companies.