SYDNEY, March 17 (Xinhua) -- China's 15th Five-Year Plan has set a clear course for sustainable and innovation-driven development, offering predictability in an unpredictable world, said Australian historian John Queripel.

"The prime thing both business and investors fear is unpredictability, with long-term planning being impossible with volatility," Queripel, also a writer and social commentator based in Newcastle, Australia, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"China plans strategically for the long term, making business decision-making easier, and this stability has driven an ever-increasing investment in China, both from overseas and internally," he said.

Chinese lawmakers have approved the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development at the closing meeting of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress on March 12.

China is moving into more value-added markets, pushing forward with an innovation-led economy, he noted.

"Increasingly guided by technological breakthroughs and development, China has moved into high-tech domains such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, semiconductors and green energy," he said, "This has been made possible by earlier long-term planning to develop STEM capacity within the Chinese education system."

In most high-tech industries, such as new energy vehicle (NEVs), clean energy, AI and robotics, China has moved to the global forefront and is likely to increase that advantage in the coming years, he said, attributing the rise to careful long-term planning.

Queripel noted that carefully thought-through strategic planning, as given in successive five-year plans, has enabled the Chinese economy to grow dramatically.

"Such long-term holistic strategic planning is the prime thing Western and other nations can learn from China," he said.

Meanwhile, he observed that much economic development in the world today centered on short-term profit taking neglects the essential realities of sustainability and social equity -- yet the current five-year plan takes them very seriously.

Strengthening social equity is economically beneficial, he pointed out, adding that an increase in internal consumer demand is a set goal of the Chinese government, and the best way to do this is through development that is socially equitable.

"China leads the world in green development," he said, noting that China is being increasingly powered by clean energy. ■