The coming year will surely have some significant surprises in store, both politically and economically. However, one relatively predictable feature of the global landscape will be the launch of China’s new five-year plan, the 15th such iteration. Beijing’s five-year plans have long been defining characteristics of not just the Chinese but also the wider international calendar. So, it is not only China, but much of the rest of the world, including the Middle East, which will be watching the blueprint for the nascent superpower’s development in the period to 2030.