Li Qiang Chairs State Council Meeting on Key National Work

Chinese Premier Li Qiang chaired a State Council executive meeting on July 31 to coordinate key national work for the second half of 2026, with the agenda spanning economic policy, infrastructure, health, housing and nuclear power. According to Xinhua, the meeting studied General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speech on the first-half economic situation and second-half economic work, approved a draft revision to housing provident fund rules, and gave the go-ahead to four nuclear power projects. CCTV’s flagship News Simulcast aired a full report on the decisions.

The meeting came at the midpoint of 2026, the first year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030), and followed the late-July Politburo review of the economy. In its readout, Xinhua said the meeting stressed uniting thought with the Party Central Committee’s “scientific judgment” on the economic situation, strengthening confidence while enhancing vigilance, and pushing the economy to develop “toward the new, the excellent and the good” for a strong start to the plan period.

Broad-Based Economic Push

On the economy, the executive meeting called for more effective macro-policy implementation — using existing stock policies in full while promptly planning practical, result-oriented incremental policies. It also urged forceful measures in areas with large potential and strong driving effects, faster implementation of major projects identified in the 15th Five-Year Plan, and steady progress on the “six networks” programme: the national water network, new-type power grid, computing power network, new-generation communications network, urban underground pipeline network and logistics network.

In a follow-up analysis, Xinhua detailed the meeting’s requirements for two of those networks. The new-type power grid must be built to high quality, with stronger coordination and policy support, strict engineering quality and safety management, and a clearer focus on meeting growing electricity demand while advancing the green, low-carbon transition. Wang Peng, deputy director of the China Energy Research Society’s Distribution and Sales Electricity Committee, said building a new-type grid “is not a simple upgrade” of existing transmission and distribution systems but “a systematic transformation of grid form” to meet changing energy demand and protect national energy security. He called for coordinated development of the backbone grid, distribution grid and smart micro-grids.

On logistics, the meeting called for stronger hub nodes and backbone corridors, better urban-rural last-mile delivery systems, more consistent cross-regional and cross-modal rules and standards, and wider sharing of logistics information. Cai Jin, president of the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, said the logistics network’s entry into the national strategic infrastructure sequence marks a new historical stage, lifting the sector from an industry-level issue to key support for the domestic economic cycle and high-quality development. A National Development and Reform Commission official said China aims to basically complete, by 2030, a logistics network in which hubs work closely with industry and consumption, corridors and networks connect domestically and internationally, and facilities, equipment, rules and information are interconnected nationwide.

Housing, Health and Regulation

The meeting also studied implementation of the health-first development strategy. It called for deepening medical and health system reform, improving public health, medical service and medical security systems, promoting medical and pharmaceutical innovation, and popularizing the idea that “everyone is the first person responsible for their own health.”

On housing, the executive meeting approved a draft decision to amend the Regulations on the Administration of Housing Provident Fund. Xinhua reported that the goal is to broaden the scope of fund withdrawal and use, expand coverage and improve management services to better meet residents’ diversified housing consumption needs. Wu Jing, director of Tsinghua University’s Real Estate Research Center, said the fund’s fundamental role in promoting housing consumption and safeguarding people’s wellbeing will become more prominent. As Chinese cities shift from large-scale expansion to stock quality improvement, Wu noted, household spending is expanding from buying and renting to renovating, maintaining and upgrading homes; fund coverage, he added, should be extended to self-employed and other flexible workers.

In a regulatory cleanup, the meeting approved draft decisions to amend provisions of 12 administrative regulations — including the National Pollution Source Census Regulations — and to repeal three regulations, among them the rules on preventing land-source pollutants from damaging the marine environment.

Nuclear Approvals

Most visibly, the meeting decided to approve four nuclear power projects, including the Liaoning Zhuanghe Phase I project. The State Council said the units must be built and operated to the world’s highest safety standards, with the primary responsibility of relevant entities consolidated, full-chain and all-domain safety supervision strengthened, and nuclear safety ensured “without the slightest error.”

The new approvals align with the meeting’s wider emphasis on meeting growing electricity demand and promoting a green, low-carbon transition. Analysts cited by Xinhua have framed both the grid and nuclear programmes as central pillars of China’s effort to balance energy security with decarbonisation.

Outlook

The scope of the meeting — from macro policy and infrastructure to housing, health and energy — shows the State Council using executive meetings as a coordinating platform for the 15th Five-Year Plan’s opening year. With the “six networks” set to anchor infrastructure investment and housing provident fund changes moving to the national level, implementation details and follow-up documents are likely to be closely watched in the coming weeks. For now, the signals point to a Beijing leadership that is determined to boost confidence and shore up domestic demand while keeping risk prevention and safety at the centre of policy execution.