Hao Zheng and Ni Liangxin: Enhancing the Consistency of Macro-Policy Orientations to Unleash the Synergistic Effects of Multiple Overlapping Strategies
The 2024 Central Economic Work Conference [1] proposed to leverage the superimposed effects of the Strategy for Coordinated Regional Development, Major Regional Strategies, and the Main Functional Zone Strategy. Currently, the intersection and superimposition of different regional strategies has become the norm. For instance, Shaanxi and Gansu belong to both the Western Development Strategy area and the Yellow River Basin Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development Strategy area; Henan and Shanxi belong to both the latter and the Rise of Central China Strategy area. Anhui, in particular, has become the only province where three major regional strategies overlap: the Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta, the Rise of Central China, and the Yangtze River Economic Belt Development. In October 2024, during an inspection tour of Anhui, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that Anhui must "leverage the superimposed advantages of multiple national development strategies" and "use the in-depth promotion of Yangtze River Delta integration as a lead to drive coordinated regional development within the province, playing a greater role in the Yangtze River Economic Belt development and the Rise of Central China strategy." The overlapping coverage of multiple regional strategies provides a rare opportunity for localities to aggregate and allocate resources over a wider range and at a higher level. Meanwhile, it must be recognized that in local practice, problems still exist: regional fragmentation, protectionism, and administrative barriers affect the efficiency of resource factor allocation; planning objectives and policy tools are not synchronized; specialized plans provide insufficient support for master plans; and the coordination of fiscal, tax, financial, industrial, and regional policies with national strategies and development plans is inadequate. These issues have hindered the full release of the overall efficiency of regional strategies.
Since the end of 2023, important meetings and documents, such as the Central Economic Work Conference, meetings of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and the Government Work Report, have repeatedly emphasized the need to "enhance the consistency of macro policy orientation." The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed that "we must improve the macro-control system, coordinately promote reforms in key areas such as fiscal, tax, and finance, and enhance the consistency of macro policy orientation." On October 8, 2024, the State Council held its tenth study session themed "Enhancing Consistency in Macro Policy Orientation, Strengthening Policy Synergy to Improve Implementation Effects," emphasizing the need to strengthen policy coordination and departmental synergy, utilize a "combination punch" [2] of policies, and form a powerful synergy for all parties to jointly promote high-quality development. Faced with intertwined strategic spaces and target tasks, enhancing the consistency of macro policy orientation and releasing the superimposed advantages of multiple regional strategies has become an important handle [3] for improving regional governance efficiency. It is also an important measure for leveraging the unique advantages of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. The focus is to achieve consistency in orientation across the overall layout, the institutional system, and institutional execution.
Aiming for consistency in the orientation of the overall layout, we must improve deep integration mechanisms. Consistency in the orientation of the overall layout means that in the measures to further comprehensively deepen reform, multiple regional strategies must form a synergy to achieve the overall effect of collaborative efficiency enhancement. For example, places like Shaanxi and Gansu should clarify the macro policy orientation of the two major strategies—Western Development and Yellow River Basin Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development—deeply study their correlation and interactivity, and build deep integration mechanisms for superimposed strategic operations. They should cultivate new engines for regional development, highlight the core advantages of strategic superimposition, formulate diversified development goals, and promote high-quality regional development. For Anhui Province, situated at the intersection of three major regional strategies, it must treat these strategies as an organic whole. Taking the in-depth promotion of Yangtze River Delta integration as the lead, it should simultaneously deepen the integration of industry and cities [4] and the innovation of management systems and mechanisms between Anhui and neighboring regions in the Central provinces and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. It should accelerate the autonomous and orderly flow of factors, explore new paths for integrated development across administrative regions, and continue to strive toward creating an influential source of scientific and technological innovation, a cluster for emerging industries, a new highland for reform and opening up, and a zone for the comprehensive green transition of economic and social development.
Aiming for consistency in the orientation of the institutional system, we must improve overall coordination mechanisms. Consistency in the orientation of the institutional sphere refers to a set of closely linked and mutually coordinated institutional mechanisms and legal-regulatory arrangements, covering fields such as economy, politics, culture, society, ecological civilization, and Party building. To achieve institutional consistency, it is necessary to clarify the relationships between the overall policy arrangement and specific policies, the systemic policy chain and specific policy links, top-level policy design and layered docking, policy uniformity and policy differentiation, and long-term policies and phased policies. We must neither substitute the whole for the part nor the part for the whole, and we must not let flexibility undermine principles nor let principles constrain flexibility. To this end, centered on implementing national strategies and national development plans, we must construct the laws, regulations, institutional mechanisms, and policy measures of regional development strategies at both central and local levels into a complete institutional system. We must strengthen the coordination of macro policies, incorporate both economic and non-economic policies into the consistency assessment of macro policy orientation, and coordinately manage the timing, intensity, and rhythm of policy introduction. We must strengthen the understanding, execution, and transmission of policies across all parties, ensuring that fiscal, monetary, industrial, price, employment, investment, consumption, and environmental protection policies work in synergy to maximize the mobilization of enthusiasm from all sides and form a policy synergy.
Aiming for consistency in the orientation of policy execution, we must improve mechanisms for convergence and implementation. "One part deployment, nine parts implementation" [5]. We must comprehensively assess the impact of multiple regional development strategies on economic development, stabilizing expectations, and employment and people's livelihoods. Horizontally, we must achieve organic convergence and mutual support between institutional fields such as economy, politics, culture, society, ecological civilization, and Party building. Vertically, we must realize convergence between different levels of the institutional system. Temporally, we must coordinate the sequential and feedback relationships between planning, schedules, budgets, projects, outputs, and results, enhancing the consistency of the entire process of policy formulation and execution with the overall goal orientation of multiple strategies. We must strengthen the organic convergence between various regional development strategic plans, and between specialized plans, regional plans, spatial plans, and local plans with the national development plan. We must leverage the guiding role of national development strategies, strengthen the foundational role of spatial planning, and enhance the supporting role of specialized and regional plans. We must improve the implementation mechanisms for strategic planning, refine the implementation policy system, and strive to improve the consistency and matching of policy goals, tools, intensity, timing, and rhythm at all levels. Before a policy is introduced, it must undergo a consistency assessment; when a policy is executed or adjusted, it must maintain continuous consistency with the macro policy orientation; after a policy is implemented, its effects must be reviewed and evaluated in a timely manner, and policies inconsistent with governance goals must be adjusted or suspended promptly.
(Authors: Hao Zheng and Ni Liangxin are researchers at the Anhui Provincial Center for the Study of the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, based at the Provincial Party School)
Source: Guangming Daily (December 27, 2024, Page 06)