Wang Jiangcheng: A "State" Perspective on the Construction of Chinese-path Modernization
The central task of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is to unite and lead the people of all ethnic groups across the country in completing the building of a great modern socialist country in all respects and achieving the Second Centenary Goal [1], thereby comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization. This mission clears the objective of building a great modern socialist country and explicitly proposes that "Chinese-path modernization" is the strategic path for advancing the construction of a powerful nation and realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The National Development Goals of Chinese-path Modernization
A modern state (government) must fulfill the function of driving economic and social development and possess the capacity to integrate resources from various sectors to promote development across all aspects of society. China's achievements in rapid economic and social development sufficiently demonstrate this point, whereas many "failed states" are, to a certain extent, such because they lack effective national development capacities.
Since the onset of the New Era, Chinese development—or Chinese-path modernization—has established the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" as its overall layout. This is an organic whole comprising interconnected and mutually reinforcing components, including economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization construction. The "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" serves as the overarching framework for building socialism with Chinese characteristics and is the direct handle [2] for advancing national development in a holistic manner. Under the guidance of the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" and the strategic goals and concepts of holistic national development—as well as within the complex international and domestic environment of responding to the changes unseen in a century [3]—the requirements for integrity, coordination, and unity in national development are intensifying, and holistic characteristics are rising. Coordinated regional development, common prosperity, and the common progression of all ethnic groups toward socialist modernization are essential orientations of the state’s overall development goals. Within this, the modernization of rural areas and frontier ethnic regions is the highest priority [4] of national development and represents the two key regional areas that must be broken through to realize Chinese-path modernization.
The integrated development of urban and rural areas is an inevitable requirement for Chinese-path modernization and the state's overall development; it is the fundamental strategy for achieving rural modernization. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee pointed out that "we must coordinate new-type industrialization, new-type urbanization, and comprehensive rural revitalization, 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, narrow the urban-rural gap, and promote common prosperity and development of urban and rural areas." Urban-rural integrated development requires improving the systems and mechanisms for promoting new-type urbanization, consolidating and improving the basic rural operation system, refining the support systems for strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers, and enriching the peasantry, and deepening the reform of the land system. In the vast rural areas, preventing a large-scale return to poverty and comprehensively promoting rural revitalization are the basic development tasks. Key breakthrough points include improving the rural economic system and granting as well as protecting farmers' property rights and interests, the construction and renovation of rural infrastructure, village planning and the expression of villagers’ will, and the development of township enterprises and village-level physical industries, alongside rural ecological environmental protection.
In frontier ethnic regions, the Party Central Committee has proposed a program of work and policies for ethnic regions centered on the main line of forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation [5]. Special emphasis is placed on ensuring that all reform and development projects highlight the significance of the sense of community for the Chinese nation, the significance of maintaining unity and opposing separatism, and the significance of improving people’s livelihoods and coalescing hearts [6], so that the community of the Chinese nation becomes unbreakable. Frontier ethnic regions possess comparative advantages and prominent status in terms of resources, ecology, cultural exchange, and foreign trade. These regions must base themselves on their strategic positioning and comparative advantages within the pattern of dual circulation, identify the entry points and focal points for aligning with national strategies, adjust their industrial structures, develop new quality productive forces, and release developmental efficacy. Simultaneously, with the in-depth construction of the international circulation pattern, frontier ethnic regions will also transform from "depressions" [7] in national development into the frontlines of the country’s opening-up. Frontier ethnic regions should proactively align with national opening-up strategies, explore building development goals that correspond to their local characteristic advantages, formulate development plans, create model pilots, and play a demonstrative and leading role.
The National Governance Efficacy of Chinese-path Modernization
While maintaining high-speed economic growth, China has achieved long-term social stability, which is a concentrated expression of Chinese national governance efficacy. As some scholars have noted, we place equal importance on both development and governance, forming a "developmental governance" model.
The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed the general goal of comprehensively deepening reform: "to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity." This positioned national governance as the top-level design for comprehensively deepening reform and introduced the concept of "national governance." The introduction of the concept of "national governance" is a major theoretical innovation of the Party. A country's governance system and governance capacity are the concentrated expression of its national institutions and its capacity for institutional execution. The national governance system is the institutional system for managing the country under the leadership of the Party, including institutional and mechanistic arrangements and legal/regulatory frameworks in all fields—economic, political, cultural, social, ecological civilization, and Party building. This constitutes a complete set of closely linked and coordinated national institutions. National governance capacity, meanwhile, is the ability to use national institutions to manage social affairs in all aspects, including reform, development, and stability; domestic affairs, foreign policy, and national defense; and the governing of the Party, the state, and the military. The national governance system and governance capacity form an organic whole and complement each other; only with a good national governance system can governance capacity be improved, and only by improving national governance capacity can the efficacy of the national governance system be fully exerted. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee further emphasized better transforming institutional advantages into governance efficacy, more clearly defining the governance orientation of Chinese-path modernization and taking governance—especially governance efficacy—as an important evaluative index for observing and assessing the advantages of the Chinese system. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee pointed out that the general goal of further comprehensively deepening reform is to "continue to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity."
Currently, China is advancing comprehensively deepening reform and governance transformation with institutional building as the main line, so as to enhance the efficacy of Chinese national governance. The promotion of the transformation of national institutional advantages into governance efficacy is influenced by multiple factors. Some scholars believe that "three elements need to be considered: first, the scientific and progressive nature of national institutional settings; second, the coordination of the governance system; and third, the initiative of the governance subjects." The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed reform deployments in 14 areas, the core of which is institutional building in related fields, including systems, mechanisms, and work systems. The means by which Chinese national institutional advantages are transformed into governance efficacy are multi-layered and multi-dimensional: the leadership of the Party is the fundamental political guarantee, and the rule of law is the path-based guarantee; the value orientation is distinct—namely, persisting in putting the people first; and the goals are clear—namely, the "Seven Focuses" [8].
The National Security Capacity of Chinese-path Modernization
National security is the prerequisite and guarantee for the continuous advancement of national modernization; without national security, there is no national modernization. Ensuring national security is the top priority for the Party in consolidating its governing status and in uniting and leading the people of all ethnic groups in persisting in and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Coordinating development and security, enhancing our awareness of potential dangers, and remaining prepared for eventualities in times of peace is a major principle of our Party's governance." National security issues always bear the distinct mark of the era; the challenges and threats the state faces at different stages possess different characteristics, which inevitably requires response through continuous practical innovation. Maintaining national security is a long-term task of national modernization, the core of which is to consolidate and enhance the capacity to achieve national security goals.
The Communist Party of China has always attached importance to maintaining national security, especially maintaining the security interests of the people. The Report to the 20th CPC National Congress called for promoting the modernization of the national security system and capacity, emphasizing that "national security is the foundation of national rejuvenation, and social stability is the prerequisite for national prosperity. We must unswervingly implement the Holistic Approach to National Security and ensure that the maintenance of national security runs through all aspects and the whole process of Party and state work, so as to ensure national security and social stability." Numerous factors influence and threaten national security; ensuring national security is a grand, long-term systemic project involving many fields. Among the many security elements, non-traditional security factors cannot be ignored: national information security, national identity security in the fields of ethnicity and religion, and international public opinion security have become increasingly prominent under the new situation of international struggle. It is urgent to enhance the level of security governance in related fields by strengthening core competitiveness in those areas.
(The author is an Assistant Researcher at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) Source: Guangming Daily January 24, 2025 Web Editor: Huihui