Liu Sifang: The Distinctive Characteristics of Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform
To handle China’s affairs well, the key lies with the Party. Persisting in and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership is a precious experience gained since the beginning of reform and opening up, particularly through the great practice of advancing the comprehensive deepening of reform in the New Era. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee systematically deployed the goals and tasks for further comprehensively deepening reform, closely centering on the advancement of Chinese-path modernization. The Communist Party of China (CPC) is the core of leadership for advancing Chinese-path modernization, and the Party’s overall leadership provides the fundamental guarantee for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization. The Party’s role as the core of leadership and its status as a fundamental guarantee stem from its political leadership, ideological guidance, strategic planning capability, mass organizational power, social mobilization power, and spiritual driving force. These “six major qualities” have ensured that the comprehensive deepening of reform in the New Era has achieved a series of major practical, institutional, and theoretical results. They constitute a vivid summation of why and how the Party is able to guarantee reform. To further comprehensively deepen reform, we must unswervingly persist in and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership over reform, ensuring that this leadership is implemented across all fields, aspects, and links of reform. We must better transform the advantages of the Party’s overall leadership into significant reform outcomes, ensuring the cause of Chinese-path modernization braves the wind and waves [1] and moves forward steadily and over the long term.
Political leadership ensures the correct direction for the Party’s leadership in further comprehensively deepening reform. Political leadership refers to the Party’s ability to grasp directions, major trends, and the overall situation, as well as its ability to maintain political resolve, navigate political circumstances, and prevent political risks; it holds the commanding position within the Party’s leadership and governing capabilities. The primary requirement for persisting in the Party’s leadership over reform is to persist in the Party’s political leadership, which means firmly aligning with the direction, stance, and principles of further comprehensively deepening reform. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: “Our reform has direction and principles.” The Party’s political leadership fundamentally ensures that further comprehensively deepening reform always advances along the correct political direction—resolutely changing what should be changed and leaving unchanged what should not. No matter what is reformed or to what stage it progresses, the Party’s overall leadership over reform must remain unshakable to ensure that reform never commits a subversive error [2]. It fundamentally guarantees the CPC Central Committee’s centralized and unified leadership over further comprehensively deepening reform. The entire Party must profoundly comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Establishments, enhance its consciousness and firmness regarding reform, and implement the Two Upholds in major reform decisions and deployments, ensuring the Party firmly holds the leadership and initiative of reform. It fundamentally guarantees that further comprehensively deepening reform always adheres to the theme of advancing Chinese-path modernization and anchors itself to the general goal of continuing to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. With economic system reform as the spearhead, the Party promotes reform in all sectors in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, fully playing its role as the core of leadership that oversees the overall situation and coordinates all parties.
Ideological guidance builds a solid theoretical foundation for the Party’s leadership in further comprehensively deepening reform. Ideological guidance refers to the Party’s continuous advancement of theoretical innovation and its use of the Party’s innovative theories to arm the minds of the masses, thereby building consensus, forming a collective force, and guiding the transformation of both the subjective and objective worlds. It plays a role in "soul-shaping" [3] within the Party’s leadership and governing capabilities. Ideological guidance is manifested in the provision of scientific theories for the Party’s leadership over the comprehensive deepening of reform. Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on comprehensively deepening reform, provides systematic discussions on the direction, goals, deployment, methods, measures, and subjects of reform. It scientifically answers major theoretical and practical questions such as why, for whom, what, and how to reform, providing scientific guidance for further comprehensively deepening reform. It is also manifested in persisting in integrating theory with practice, profoundly grasping the essence and practical requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on comprehensively deepening reform, and further entrenching reform-oriented thinking, awareness, and confidence. We must persist in and make good use of the "Two Combinations" [4], consciously applying the stances, viewpoints, and methods contained therein to improve the ability of Party organizations at all levels and Party leading officials to grasp, promote, and facilitate reform, thereby allowing reform theory to play its guiding role in reform practice.
Strategic planning capability anchors the goals and tasks for the Party’s leadership in further comprehensively deepening reform. The Party’s strategic planning capability reflects its capacity for advanced cognition, forward-looking thinking, and transformative innovation, as well as its ability to plan with foresight regarding political, global, and long-term matters. It plays the role of "laying out the chessboard" [5] in the Party’s leadership and governing capabilities. The immense achievements of reform and opening up are inseparable from the institutional advantage of the Party’s persistence in formulating long-term development plans. We must give full play to the Party’s strategic planning capability in enhancing the systematic, holistic, and synergistic nature of reform, ensuring that "a single blueprint is drawn to the end" [6]. The Party’s strategic planning capability is manifested in a reform approach that coordinates top-level design with "crossing the river by feeling the stones" [7]. This involves focusing on forward-looking thinking, holistic planning, and strategic layout while also valuing bold exploration and practice at the grassroots, encouraging different regions to carry out pioneering and differentiated pilot reforms. It is manifested in a reform deployment that combines breakthrough in key areas with holistic advancement, synergistically promoting digital transformation and tackling key reforms, and accelerating the formation of new relations of production compatible with new quality productive forces. This ensures major progress is first achieved in important fields and key links, achieving breakthroughs that drive the improvement of the overall situation. It is also manifested in a reform strategy that unifies goal-orientation, problem-orientation, and result-orientation, strengthening the systematic integration of reform tasks, policies, and effects. Efforts are focused on building a system of reform goals, policies, work, and evaluation, continuously iterating the architectural framework of comprehensively deepening reform, and coordinately advancing reforms at all levels and in all fields to enhance the coupling and synergy of various reform measures and amplify the comprehensive integration effect of reform.
Mass organizational power injects inexhaustible momentum into the Party’s leadership in further comprehensively deepening reform. The Party’s mass organizational power is concentrated in its ability to rely on, discover, awaken, mobilize, and organize the masses to engage in great social practice. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Striving for reform and promoting development is, in the final analysis, to let the people live a better life." The Party’s mass organizational power is manifested in always regarding the masses as the primary force for promoting reform, persisting in the mass line, always believing in and closely relying on the people, and respecting the people’s principal status and pioneering spirit. By organically combining the Party’s leadership with the creativity of the masses, a steady stream of power is injected into reform. It is manifested in the fact that the starting point and ultimate goal of reform are always the masses; reform is planned and promoted from the standpoint of the people, identifying the pressure points and breakthroughs of reform from the urgent needs and anxieties of the common people. Reform is tested by concrete results and the satisfaction of the masses, ensuring that the people’s sense of gain, happiness, and security is continuously enhanced. It is further manifested in giving full play to the role of primary-level Party organizations as bridges and links. Party members and officials go deep into the front lines and among the masses to listen to grassroots voices, becoming adept at drawing wisdom from the creative practices of the people, thereby stimulating the creative potential and robust momentum of the entire society to promote reform.
Social mobilization power gathers diverse forces for the Party’s leadership in further comprehensively deepening reform. Social mobilization power refers to the influence, guidance, and cohesive force the Party exerts on various social strata and groups through its nature, purpose, program, line, work style, and image; in essence, it is an expression of the Party’s soft power. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "Extensively building consensus and fully mobilizing all positive factors are very important for the smooth advancement of reform." The Party’s social mobilization power is manifested in its original aspiration and founding mission to seek happiness for the people, rejuvenation for the nation, and the common good for the world. Further comprehensively deepening reform aims to eliminate institutional and configurational defects through reform, satisfy the people’s aspirations for a better life through developmental performance, and continuously advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization. It involves upholding the global governance view of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, actively participating in the reform of the global governance system, and contributing Chinese wisdom to world peace and development. It is manifested in using the beautiful vision of Chinese-path modernization to inspire, encourage, and call upon people, using the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation to lead Party-mass relations, ethnic relations, religious relations, and relations with compatriots at home and abroad. It involves mobilizing all positive factors, uniting all forces that can be united, seeking the greatest common denominator, and drawing the largest possible concentric circles [8]. It is also manifested in creating a favorable atmosphere for further comprehensively deepening reform, guiding public opinion, rationally managing reform expectations, and shaping the image of a major country’s major party in the New Era, thereby mobilizing the broadest social forces to participate in the torrent of reform.
Spiritual driving force provides the backing of conviction for the Party’s leadership in further comprehensively deepening reform. The Party’s spiritual driving force is centrally manifested in providing a powerful spiritual force for advancing the cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation. Over the past century, the CPC has formed a spiritual lineage with the Great Founding Spirit of the Party [9] as its source. In particular, the great spirit of reform and opening up nurtured since that period serves as a powerful spiritual impetus for further comprehensively deepening reform. The Party's spiritual driving force is manifested in strengthening education on ideals and convictions, promoting the contemporary transformation of the spiritual lineage of Chinese Communists, and continuously drawing wisdom and strength from it to enhance the Party’s cohesion and combat effectiveness. It is manifested in vigorously promoting the spirit of reform and innovation characterized by the courage to be the first, strengthening a personnel orientation that values the courage to take responsibility and overcome difficulties, and encouraging grassroots exploration. It creates a favorable social atmosphere that supports, protects, and tolerates reformers. It is also manifested in carrying forward the spirit of struggle in the New Era, continuously tempering the will to struggle and enhancing the ability to struggle, using a spirit of "venturing out," a drive for "innovation," and a style of "hard work" to effectively respond to and resolve various risks and challenges encountered in reform.
Further comprehensively deepening reform is a profound transformation involving the innovation of ideological theory, the reform of organizational methods, national institutions, and governance systems, and the wide participation of the people. To ensure the correct direction of this systematic and profound transformation and to fully manifest the qualities of the Party’s leadership over reform, we must remain sober and determined in solving the unique challenges facing a large party [10] and lead social revolution through the Party's self-revolution. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that the courage to engage in self-revolution and strictly governing the Party are the most distinctive traits of our Party. The CPC possesses the ability for self-purification, self-perfection, self-innovation, and self-improvement, enabling it to maintain its advanced nature and purity forever—this is our unique advantage in continuously promoting reform. Today, the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century at an accelerated pace, and a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing in depth. Faced with profound and complex changes in the international and domestic environments, the difficulty of social revolution has become more prominent. The more complex and arduous the tasks of social revolution, the more thorough the self-revolution must be. On the New Journey, only by continuously advancing the Party’s self-revolution, earnestly enhancing the political consciousness of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, improving the system for doing so, and perfecting the institutional system for the Party’s self-revolution—thereby making the Party stronger and more powerful through revolutionary forging—can the "six major qualities" of the Party's leadership be fully manifested, and the great historical responsibility of further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization be fulfilled.
(The author is the Deputy Director of the Chongqing Center for the Study of the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, and the Party Group Secretary and President of the Chongqing Academy of Social Sciences) Source: Guangming Daily, February 19, 2025 Online Editor: Huihui