Liu Li: Forming a Powerful Synergy to Jointly Advance Development—On the “Dual-Wheel Drive” Emphasized by General Secretary Xi Jinping
"Dual-wheel drive" means both wheels turning together to provide a powerful driving force, signifying the mutual coordination, joint exertion of effort, and integrated advancement of two aspects. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party [1], General Secretary Xi Jinping has focused on solving practical problems in reform, opening up, and socialist modernization in the New Era. Centering on the construction of a cyber-power [2], integrated urban-rural development, national innovation capacity, a new type of major-power relations, and the promotion of "Dual Carbon" [3] work, he has delivered important speeches, explicitly proposing and elaborating on "dual-wheel drive" in many areas. Deeply studying and grasping these important expositions is of great theoretical and practical significance for our adherence to dialectical thinking, application of systemic concepts, and the formation of a synergy to jointly advance the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation on the new journey of the New Era.
On February 27, 2014, at the first meeting of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that cybersecurity and informatization are two wings of one body and the dual wheels of a single drive; they must be planned, deployed, promoted, and implemented in a unified manner. Cybersecurity and the development of informatization share a relationship of dialectical unity. Security is the guarantee of development, and development is the purpose of security. To do well in cybersecurity and informatization work, one must handle the relationship between security and development properly. Without cybersecurity, there is no national security; without informatization, there is no modernization. Focusing on both development and security is key to advancing our country's transformation from a large cyber-nation to a strong cyber-power. Only by closely integrating cybersecurity and informatization to exert a "1+1>2" effect can we grasp the future of informatization development and accelerate the pace of building a cyber-power. The cyber-power strategy is one where the two wings of cybersecurity and informatization fly together, driven by dual wheels. Building a cyber-power requires both solving cybersecurity problems and accelerating the development of informatization, achieving coordination and simultaneous progress, protecting development through security and promoting security through development, striving to establish a foundation for enduring peace and a career of long-term stability [4].
On April 30, 2015, during the 22nd collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that we must continue to promote the construction of a new socialist countryside, enabling it to develop in coordination with new-type urbanization as a reciprocal unity, forming a dual-wheel drive. Advancing the integration of urban and rural development and promoting urban-rural fusion are inevitable requirements and important hallmarks of Chinese-path modernization. Currently, urban-rural relations have entered a new historical period. To empower urban-rural fusion through further comprehensively deepening reform, we must coordinate new-type industrialization, new-type urbanization, and comprehensive rural revitalization. We must comprehensively improve the level of integration in urban-rural planning, construction, and governance, promote the equal exchange and two-way flow of urban and rural factors [5], narrow the urban-rural gap, and promote common prosperity and development. We should improve the coordination mechanism for urban-rural planning, considering the formulation of development plans as a whole with integrated design and the "integration of multiple planners" [6] to promote integrated urban-rural construction. We should improve the mechanism for rural infrastructure construction, promoting the interconnection and shared use of urban and rural infrastructure. We must push for the formation of institutional mechanisms for the equalization of basic urban and rural public services, improve the equal employment system for urban and rural laborers, and ensure that the rural population migrating to cities can enter, stay, integrate, find employment, and start businesses, thereby opening up new space for urban-rural integrated development.
On May 28, 2018, at the 19th Academician Meeting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 14th Academician Meeting of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to adhere to the "dual-wheel drive" of technological innovation and institutional innovation. We must be problem-oriented and demand-driven, exerting effort in practical carriers, institutional arrangements, policy guarantees, and environment creation. We must persist in work regarding subjects of innovation, the foundation of innovation, resources for innovation, and the environment for innovation, while strengthening national strategic technological forces and enhancing the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. Innovation is a systemic project; technological innovation and institutional innovation must play their roles in coordination. Adhering to the "dual-wheel drive" of technological and institutional innovation means using technological innovation to open new fields and tracks for development and to shape new momentum and advantages, while using institutional innovation to break through institutional and mechanistic obstacles that constrain technological innovation, thereby mobilizing the initiative of innovation subjects and releasing innovation vitality to the maximum extent. To promote innovation-driven development and accelerate technological innovation, we must persist in facing the frontiers of world science and technology, the main economic battlefield, the major needs of the country, and the lives and health of the people. We must bridge the innovation chain and the industrial chain, fully leveraging the advantages of our country’s ultra-large-scale market which facilitates the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements, using market demand to pull technological innovation. The key to synergistically promoting technological and institutional innovation lies in vigorously advancing institutional innovation, leveraging the role of the new-type whole-nation system [7], accelerating the transformation of government functions in science and technology management, and utilizing organizational advantages to ensure that enterprises truly become the subjects of technological innovation. We must break the institutional and mechanistic barriers that constrain the initiative and creativity of scientific and technological personnel, stimulating the passion and vitality of all types of subjects so that factors of innovation can flow fully.
On November 11, 2019, while attending a welcome banquet held by Greek President Pavlopoulos, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the hope that both sides would drive the development of the comprehensive strategic partnership with the "dual wheels" of pragmatic cooperation and civilization dialogue, making new contributions to world peace and common prosperity. Exchange and mutual learning are essential requirements for the development of civilizations. China-Greece friendship is not only cooperation between two countries but also a dialogue between two great civilizations. In recent years, cooperation and exchanges between China and Greece in fields such as economy, trade, transportation, sports, education, and tourism have flourished. Civilization exchange and mutually beneficial cooperation are the two ties of China-Greece relations, which are becoming a model for peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation between countries with different systems and cultures. Today's world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and humanity faces more severe global challenges, which endows China-Greece relations with more profound historical significance and a broader world stage. China and Greece will jointly demonstrate the responsibility of ancient civilizations, contributing the wisdom inherent in ancient civilizations to improve the global governance system, creating a way for different civilizations and peoples to coexist harmoniously, and making due contributions to jointly building a community with a shared future for humanity.
On March 5, 2023, while participating in the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation at the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to strengthen the dual-wheel drive of technology and reform, deepen the reform of the rural land system, consolidate and improve the basic rural management system, develop the new-type rural collective economy, develop new-type agricultural management entities and socialized services, and develop appropriately scaled agricultural operations [8], so as to add impetus and vitality to agricultural and rural development. Strengthening the dual-wheel drive of technology and reform is an important methodological path for advancing comprehensive rural revitalization and achieving agricultural modernization. The key to agricultural modernization lies in technological progress and innovation. We must treat technology as the important support for our country’s agricultural breakthroughs and treat high-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening as the strategic support for building a strong agricultural country. We should strengthen the integration of agriculture and rural areas with technology, led by breakthroughs in key core agricultural technologies, focusing on foundational technologies, core germplasm [9], and key agricultural machinery and equipment, and construct an agricultural technology innovation system with clear tiers, collaborative division of labor, and moderate competition. The further rural revitalization advances, the more it needs reform to provide impetus and vitality. We must always treat the deepening of rural reform as a "magic weapon" [10] for rural revitalization. To further deepen rural reform, we must reform and improve the basic rural management system, improve the support system for strengthening, benefiting, and enriching farmers, deepen land system reform, utilize the experience of the "Green Rural Revival Program" [11], and promote comprehensive rural revitalization.
From July 17 to 18, 2023, at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to actively and steadily promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. We must adhere to the principles of national coordination, prioritizing conservation, dual-wheel drive, smooth internal and external circulation, and risk prevention. We must implement the "1+N" policy system [12] for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, build a clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient energy system, accelerate the construction of a new-type power system, and enhance the national capacity for oil and gas security. Achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality is a multi-dimensional, three-dimensional, and systemic project, a process of continuous optimization of resource allocation. To achieve the optimal allocation of resources, we must adhere to dialectical thinking and the "two-point theory" [13], requiring both a "promising government" and an "effective market," adhering to dual-wheel drive and the exertion of effort from "both hands" [14] to actively and steadily promote "Dual Carbon" work. We must fully leverage the leading and regulatory roles of the government, actively building a new-type whole-nation system focused on achieving "Dual Carbon" goals that features scientific coordination, concentrated forces, optimized mechanisms, and collaborative breakthroughs. We must optimize government service functions, strengthen technological and institutional innovation, and accelerate the green and low-carbon technological revolution. At the same time, we must fully leverage the decisive role of the market in allocating resources, deepen reforms in energy and related fields, scientifically construct pricing mechanisms, reduce the costs of pollution and carbon reduction, strive to improve energy efficiency, seize the commanding heights of the new energy industry, strengthen international green cooperation, and promote the "Dual Carbon" process through market-based construction.
Source: Learning Times [15], January 20, 2025 Web Editor: Huihui