Li Jiangtao and Qian Junhao: The "15th Five-Year Plan": Internal Logic and Practical Path for a "Strong Domestic Market" and the New Development Pattern
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed to "build a powerful domestic market and accelerate the construction of a new development pattern." This is a major strategic deployment for achieving "significant results in high-quality development" during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030). It reflects both the continuity of the major strategic choice to accelerate the construction of a new development pattern and demonstrates a historical initiative [1] to resolve development challenges.
A review of current literature on CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) reveals that academic circles have formed a systematic discourse around the integration of a "powerful domestic market" and the "new development philosophy." It is generally believed that the two possess an inherent unity and practical synergy. First, in terms of theoretical logic, it is emphasized that building a powerful domestic market is not an isolated strategy but rather a strategic vehicle for practicing the new development philosophy. The concept of innovation is the core driver: through technological self-reliance and supply-side structural reform, it lays the foundation for creating new demand through new supply. The concept of coordination is the key path, aimed at breaking down imbalances between urban and rural areas and regions to clear bottlenecks in the domestic macro-circulation. The green concept is an intrinsic requirement, promoting green consumption and green industrial upgrading to shape a sustainable market system. The concept of openness clarifies that a powerful domestic market is not "building a car behind closed doors" [2]; rather, through higher-level opening up, it enhances the linkage effect between domestic and international dual circulation. The concept of sharing is the fundamental purpose: through common prosperity and the improvement of people's livelihoods, it continuously releases the potential of internal demand, providing a solid social foundation for the market.
Second, in the practical dimension, research focuses on how the new development philosophy should guide the construction of a powerful domestic market. On the demand side, studies focus on promoting income distribution reform through "sharing" to boost consumption and guiding the upgrading of consumption structures through "green" principles. On the supply side, the emphasis is on driving the modernization of the industrial system through "innovation" and optimizing the layout of productive forces through "coordination." At the level of the institutional environment, research centers on deepening the concepts of "openness" and "coordination" to break down administrative monopolies and market fragmentation, thereby building a unified national market. Furthermore, frontier discussions have begun to delve into more specific fields, such as how emerging issues like the digital economy (integrating innovation and sharing), the "dual carbon" goals [3] (embodying green development), and industrial chain security (linking innovation and openness) interact within this framework. Future research is expected to further quantify the contribution of the new development philosophy to the enhancement of market efficiency and to deeply analyze the challenges and policy coordination schemes faced by the synchronous advancement of the two in a complex international environment. Overall, existing research provides solid academic support for the "powerful domestic market" and points out the key direction for transitioning from market scale advantages to quality and efficiency advantages. Meanwhile, some domestic newspapers, using real-time reporting, have published articles titled "Building a Powerful Domestic Market and Accelerating the Construction of a New Development Pattern" centered on the innovative theories of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee to provide relevant policy interpretations.
On this basis, this article begins by asking "why build a powerful domestic market and accelerate the construction of a new development pattern," clarifying its theoretical logic and historical necessity. It then systematically constructs an analytical framework of "demand–supply–momentum–security." Based on an accurate grasp of general requirements, the focus is placed on four areas—building a powerful domestic demand market, a powerful domestic supply market, the fundamental momentum, and security capabilities in key fields—organized around nine focal points. This aims to promote the steady and long-term progress of high-quality development, providing new academic support for understanding the endogenous evolutionary logic of a major power's economy, and offering a framework reference for the precise implementation of relevant strategic deployments during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
I. The Inherent Logic of Building a Powerful Domestic Market and Accelerating the Construction of a New Development Pattern
A "powerful domestic market" is not only a strategic fulcrum for responding to external uncertainties but also an internal requirement for promoting the steady progress of Chinese-path modernization. From the stage of national development, the balance of international power, and domestic structural contradictions to industrial system upgrading and the economic logic of expanding internal demand while supply creates demand—all indicate that the new development pattern "with the domestic macro-circulation as the mainstay" has both profound contemporary grounds and a solid realistic foundation. Therefore, a systematic analysis of the theoretical logic of building a powerful domestic market must be conducted through the multidimensional interaction of demand and supply, structure and momentum, and development and security. This reveals how it serves as the fundamental handle for promoting an effective improvement in quality and a reasonable growth in quantity during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, laying the theoretical framework for subsequent specific policy directions and practical paths. From a theoretical level, a "powerful domestic market" is not a simple policy choice, but a structural necessity determined by the transition of China's economic development stage, profound changes in the international environment, and the laws governing the economic operation of a major power.
(1) The external environment facing the 15th Five-Year Plan period is undergoing profound and complex changes, requiring that building a powerful domestic market be the core of accelerating the construction of a new development pattern.
"Forming a new development pattern" is one of the overall goals proposed by the 20th CPC National Congress that must be achieved by 2035; it also constitutes a major strategic task concerning the overall situation of Chinese-path modernization. Currently, there are still two Five-Year Plan periods remaining before the realization of this major goal or the completion of this major strategic task. Time waits for no one; the 15th Five-Year Plan period is a critical period for making major breakthroughs in constructing the new development pattern and gaining the strategic initiative in fierce international competition, holding an important position as a bridge between the past and the future.
To profoundly understand the urgency of accelerating the construction of a new development pattern with a powerful domestic market at its core, one must first correctly understand and grasp the external environment of China's development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Xi Jinping pointed out: "The more severe and complex the external environment, the more we must accelerate the construction of a new development pattern and firmly grasp the initiative in development. At present and for a period to come, we must persist in strengthening the domestic macro-circulation and accelerate the formation of a powerful domestic economic circulation system, using the stability of the domestic circulation to offset the uncertainty of the international circulation." This passage precisely explains China's major measures in response to changes in the world, the times, and history.
Internationally, the world’s once-in-a-century changes are accelerating, presenting unprecedented complexity and uncertainty. On the one hand, the balance of international power is undergoing profound adjustments, and a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating breakthroughs. This provides historical opportunities for China to leverage its latecomer advantages and "change lanes to overtake" [4], as well as numerous favorable factors for China to actively manage international space and shape the external environment. On the other hand, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change, with risks and challenges increasing significantly. Since the beginning of the Reform and Opening-up, China has long relied on an international circulation development model characterized by "both ends outside, large-scale imports and exports" [5]. The environmental conditions for this model have undergone fundamental changes. The risks of external shocks and declining external demand—particularly the attempts by Western countries to engage in increasingly complex and fierce technological "strangleholds" [6] and "decoupling and breaking chains" within the international circulation—pose severe challenges to China's economic security.
Domestically, the fundamental trend of China's long-term economic improvement remains unchanged; institutional advantages, market advantages, industrial system advantages, and human resource advantages have become more prominent. However, the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development remains salient, and risks and hidden dangers in key areas cannot be ignored. These internal structural contradictions may be amplified under external shocks and urgently need to be systematically resolved through the construction of a new development pattern. Only by strengthening the awareness of potential dangers, adhering to bottom-line thinking [7], and building a powerful domestic market to smooth the domestic macro-circulation can China effectively respond to external risks and challenges, ensuring that the ship of Chinese-path modernization breaks through the waves and moves forward.
(2) Building a powerful domestic market is the foundation for strengthening the domestic macro-circulation, the key link in accelerating the construction of a new development pattern, and the strategic support for Chinese-path modernization.
Only by basing ourselves on our own strength and smoothing the domestic macro-circulation can we survive and develop with vitality regardless of how the international winds and clouds change. Building a powerful domestic market is precisely the key and foundation for strengthening the domestic macro-circulation and smoothing the domestic and international dual circulation.
In April 2020, at the seventh meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, Xi Jinping first proposed the strategic concept of "constructing a new development pattern." In October 2020, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee made comprehensive deployments for "forming a powerful domestic market and constructing a new development pattern." Under the guidance of the 2035 goal of "forming a new development pattern," the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee further explicitly proposed to "build a powerful domestic market and accelerate the construction of a new development pattern." This series of interlocking and incrementally escalating strategic deployments clearly demonstrates that a powerful domestic market, through its massive demand pull and supply creativity, provides the fundamental momentum and developmental space for smoothing the national economic circulation.
The most general characteristic of a major power's economic development is its tendency toward inward-orientation due to a large population and massive market capacity. From a realistic foundation, a vast market of over 1.4 billion people—combined with the fact that China's per capita consumption scale still has significant room for growth compared to developed countries and the continuous growth of the middle-income group—provides enormous space for the expansion of total consumption. This endows China with massive market scale potential and advantages that are incomparable to any other country. Early in the Reform and Opening-up period, Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "For a socialist country like ours, we must of course open to the outside world and strengthen international economic exchanges, but the largest market is still at home." Xi Jinping emphasized: "The advantage of a major power's economy is that its internal circulation is viable." Both historical experience and theoretical logic show that relying on the domestic market and stimulating the potential of internal demand is the source of strength for the continuous and healthy development of a major power's economy.
Beyond a powerful domestic demand market, a powerful domestic market also includes a powerful domestic supply market. The vast quantities of high-quality consumer goods and services required by China’s massive population cannot rely on international market supplies; likewise, the employment of such a large population must rely on the supply of domestic jobs. Therefore, with a modernized industrial system as the core vehicle, building a powerful domestic supply market not only meets the people's growing needs for a better life but also serves as an important manifestation of deeply implementing the employment-first strategy and building an employment-friendly development mode. We must organically combine the strategy of expanding internal demand with deepening supply-side structural reform to enhance the endogenous momentum and reliability of the domestic macro-circulation. This is the key link in accelerating the construction of a new development pattern and the strategic support for Chinese-path modernization.
(3) A powerful domestic market will lay a solid foundation for promoting the effective improvement in quality and reasonable growth in quantity of the economy during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Promoting the effective improvement in quality and reasonable growth in quantity of the economy is an intrinsic requirement of high-quality development and an important guarantee for achieving the goals of Chinese-path modernization. Currently, China faces insufficient effective demand, particularly a persistently low household consumption rate, which constrains the reasonable growth of economic quantity and prevents the full release of economic growth potential. Bottlenecks and blockages exist in the domestic macro-circulation—such as the arduous task of replacing old growth drivers with new ones, reliance on others for key core technologies, and shortcomings in the modernized industrial system—which severely hinder the effective improvement of economic quality.
Building a powerful domestic market is the fundamental handle for breaking through these obstacles and achieving both "quality" and "quantity" during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. A powerful domestic market will inevitably lay a solid foundation for the sustained and healthy development of China's economy through its massive scale, continuously upgrading demand structure, and the stability of internal demand-driven supply. On the one hand, a powerful domestic market is the "ballast stone" for achieving reasonable growth in quantity and stabilizing the macro-economic landscape. "Reasonable growth in quantity" is the prerequisite. To reach the level of a moderately developed country in terms of per capita GDP by 2035, economic growth must be maintained within a reasonable range. Given that the international economic and trade order faces severe challenges and world economic growth momentum is insufficient, it has become a necessity to rely more firmly on a powerful domestic market to ensure that internal demand continuously strengthens its role as the main driver of economic growth. On the other hand, a powerful domestic market is the "booster" for promoting effective improvement in quality and driving the transition of development momentum. "Effective improvement in quality" is fundamental. A powerful domestic market is reflected not only in scale advantages but also in the continuous upgrading of the demand structure. This will inevitably drive profound changes on the supply side, promoting technological innovation, model innovation, and new business forms, accelerating the development of new quality productive forces, and pushing industries toward the medium-to-high end.
II. General Requirements for Building a Powerful Domestic Market and Accelerating the Construction of a New Development Pattern
During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we must adhere to the strategic basis of expanding internal demand and closely integrate benefiting the people’s livelihood with promoting consumption, and investing in physical assets with investing in people. We must use new demand to lead new supply and new supply to create new demand, promoting a virtuous interaction between consumption and investment, and between supply and demand, to inject strong momentum into high-quality development.
(1) Adhering to the strategic basis of expanding internal demand
On the one hand, expanding internal demand is a long-term, strategic choice for promoting sustained and healthy economic development and responding to domestic and international risks and challenges. Xi Jinping pointed out:
"Expanding internal demand concerns both economic stability and economic security; it is not a temporary fix, but a strategic move." This important thesis profoundly reveals the extreme importance of adhering to the strategic nexus of expanding internal demand. On the other hand, the "triple pressures" of shrinking demand, supply shocks, and weakening expectations that have emerged since the 14th Five-Year Plan period have not been alleviated; moreover, in the current and upcoming period, demand—particularly domestic demand—is facing even greater downward pressure.
For a long time, China has consistently maintained that expanding internal demand is the fundamental foothold for maintaining steady and rapid economic development, promoting the continuous optimization of the economic structure and the transition toward an internal-demand-led economy. Between 2008 and 2024, China's dependence on foreign trade dropped from 55.5% to 32.5%. Since the international financial crisis, the average contribution rate of China's internal demand to economic growth has been 98.3%, effectively offsetting the pressure brought by the cyclical contraction of international markets. Even between 2021 and 2024, as the international environment became more complex and severe, the average contribution rate of internal demand to economic growth remained at a high level of 86.4%, demonstrating the immense resilience and potential inherent in a powerful domestic market. However, whether based on the higher requirements of medium-to-long-term sustainable development, or the need to stabilize growth, employment, and expectations to guarantee livelihoods and consolidate the foundation for short-term growth, the requirement to "adhere to the strategic nexus of expanding internal demand" must be upheld. We must earnestly promote internal demand to become the main driver and stabilizing anchor of economic growth.
Adhering to the strategic nexus of expanding internal demand requires accelerating the construction of a complete internal demand system. On one hand, efforts must focus on enhancing the foundational role of consumption, allowing it to play a greater part in economic growth; on the other hand, we must earnestly strengthen the key role of investment in ensuring steady economic growth, thereby forming a pattern where consumption and investment interact benignly and exert force in coordination.
In 2024, China's household consumption rate was 39.9%, approximately 28 percentage points lower than that of the United States. Meanwhile, total household final consumption expenditure was about 37% of the U.S. level, and per capita final consumption expenditure was less than one-tenth of that in the U.S. This reflects both a gap and immense potential. Regarding investment, the structure must be further optimized and efficiency improved. Capital should be guided toward fields where both supply and demand benefit and which possess multiplier effects—such as livelihood construction, addressing "short boards" [8] in infrastructure, strategic emerging industries and future industries, the optimization and upgrading of traditional industries, and agricultural modernization. This will form a higher-level dynamic equilibrium where demand pulls supply and supply creates demand, laying a solid foundation for constructing the New Development Pattern.
(2) Adhering to the Close Integration of Improving Livelihoods with Promoting Consumption, and Investing in Tangible Goods with Investing in People
- Adhering to the close integration of improving livelihoods and promoting consumption. This integration is an important measure for exploring and innovating the primary motive force of consumption for continuous, healthy economic development. Improving livelihoods is of great significance in "stabilizing expectations" and thereby promoting consumption; conversely, promoting consumption provides continuous momentum for improving livelihoods by enhancing growth drivers. The two are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. Xi Jinping pointed out: "Consumption is a function of income. We must increase the income of urban and rural residents through multiple channels, especially improving the consumption capacity of low- and middle-income residents who have a high propensity to consume but were significantly affected by the pandemic." This profoundly reveals that a key area for China to promote consumption is the improvement of social welfare guarantees, stabilizing the expectations of residents—especially those with low and middle incomes—regarding future development, thereby increasing their propensity to consume and the total scale of consumption.
The essence of improving livelihoods lies in enhancing residents' actual purchasing power and willingness to consume through systemic measures. Meanwhile, the new business types and models birthed by consumption upgrades open new paths for substantively improving people's well-being. Deeply integrating the improvement of livelihoods with the promotion of consumption not only helps consolidate the endogenous impetus and reliability of the domestic Great Circulation [9] under the current complex external environment, but is also an inevitable requirement for practicing the People-Centered Development Philosophy and promoting substantive progress toward common prosperity. Practice has shown that investment in livelihoods is not only a requirement for social construction but can also generate significant economic benefits. By continuously improving livelihoods, we expand the space for consumption; by expanding and upgrading consumption, we better meet the people’s aspirations for a better life, achieving synergistic efficiency between social and economic policies.
- Adhering to the close integration of investing in tangible goods and investing in people. This integration is an important measure for exploring and innovating the primary motive force of investment for continuous, healthy economic development. Investing in tangible goods refers to consolidating the material and technical foundation of economic development through infrastructure construction, advanced equipment updates, and the perfection of the industrial system, thereby improving total factor productivity and the quality of the supply system. Investing in people focuses on livelihood fields such as education, healthcare, and social security, aiming to improve the quality of the workforce, stimulate innovative vitality, and enhance residents' consumption capacity, thereby injecting lasting endogenous momentum into the economic cycle. As China's economy shifts from a stage of high-speed growth to one of high-quality development, the traditional "investment in tangibles" model—reliant on the expansion of physical capital—faces challenges such as diminishing marginal returns and structural imbalances between supply and demand. There is an urgent need to transition toward "investing in people," pushing the growth driver from being labor-element-driven toward being human-capital-innovation-driven by increasing investment in human capital. Of course, in the short term, this cannot be achieved overnight. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, achieving a close integration of the two will help resolve the current contradictions in the structural imbalance between supply and demand, allowing high-quality supply on the production side and high-level demand on the consumption side to form a benign cycle. Particularly against the backdrop of changes in population scale and structure, strengthening investment in people is both an inevitable choice for responding to the weakening of the "labor quantity dividend" and a strategic measure for shaping a "human capital dividend" and seizing the commanding heights of new quality productive forces.
(3) Leading New Supply with New Demand, Creating New Demand with New Supply, and Promoting Benign Interaction Between Consumption and Investment, Supply and Demand
Leading new supply with new demand, grasping the new trends in consumption quality upgrading. The people’s pursuit of a better life implies a demand for a wider variety, higher level, and better quality of products and services, which in turn requires a corresponding supply at the same level. Material possession and functionality are no longer the totality of residential consumption demand; demands for experience, sharing, and emotional fulfillment are becoming significant components. New demands for service consumption, digital consumption, and green consumption continuously place new requirements on innovative supply, leading the direction of new supply and opening new fields for investment. Therefore, the adaptability and flexibility of the supply structure to changes in demand must be improved. We must keep a close watch on market demand changes and vigorously develop industries and products that adapt to new consumption trends, particularly increasing high-quality service supply in education, healthcare, elder care, culture, and tourism to meet the diverse, personalized, and high-quality consumption needs of the masses.
Creating new demand with new supply, cultivating new drivers of economic development. The supply of high-quality new products and services based on new technologies, new business types, and new models can create new consumption demands, scenarios, and categories, cultivating new consumption growth points. For example, the integration of "AI + consumption" has birthed new scenarios like smart homes and unmanned retail; the development of the platform economy has created new business types like instant delivery and livestreaming e-commerce; breakthroughs in green technology have promoted the popularization of new energy vehicles and energy-saving appliances. These new demands created by new supply not only expand the breadth and depth of the market but also provide powerful market traction for industrial upgrading and technological progress. We should further strengthen the supporting role of scientific and technological innovation, encourage enterprises to increase R&D investment, break through key core technologies, and create products and brands with international competitiveness. By improving the quality and efficiency of the supply system, we can transform potential demand into actual consumption, achieving a higher-level dynamic equilibrium between supply and demand.
III. Constructing a Powerful Domestic Market: Four Fields and Nine Focal Points for Accelerating the Construction of the New Development Pattern
In constructing a powerful domestic market and accelerating the New Development Pattern, we must adhere to a systems perspective, focusing on four key fields and performing well in nine aspects. We must apply precision and ensure that all measures are implemented effectively to lay a solid foundation for basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035.
(I) Focusing on Constructing a Powerful Domestic Demand Market to Form a Systemic Internal-Demand-Led Motive Force for the New Development Pattern
A systemic, internal-demand-led motive force is the fundamental basis for forming the New Development Pattern. At present, there is an urgent need to build a powerful domestic demand market and give full play to its leading role in the domestic Great Circulation.
Vigorously boosting consumption. Consumption is final demand and the most fundamental, stable, and lasting driver of economic growth. First, we must increase resident income, stabilize expectations, and enhance consumption capacity by promoting high-quality employment and reasonably increasing the proportion of public service expenditures in total fiscal expenditure. Second, we must accelerate the cultivation of international consumption center cities, create diversified consumption scenarios with broad reach and high visibility, and expand service consumption with a focus on loosening market access and integrating business formats. We must expand and upgrade commodity consumption and continuously improve the quality of consumer goods and services. We should actively promote the "First-Store Economy" [10], push for the integrated development of "business, tourism, culture, sports, and health," and cultivate and strengthen new types of consumption, vigorously advancing digital, green, and smart consumption. We should promote the deep integration of online and offline consumption and support innovative models like smart consumption and experiential consumption. Third, we must deepen institutional reforms in the consumption field to remove institutional and mechanistic barriers that restrict consumption. We should establish and perfect a management system adapted to the development of new consumption formats, improve long-term mechanisms for promoting consumption (especially inbound consumption), strengthen market price supervision, and enhance consumer rights protection to create a fair and orderly consumption environment and fully release the potential of internal demand.
Expanding effective investment. First, we should focus on national strategic deployments and project construction for security capabilities in key fields, appropriately advancing the layout of new infrastructure projects and accelerating the digital and intelligent transformation of traditional infrastructure. We must increase support for manufacturing investment, promoting equipment updates and technological upgrades in enterprises, and advancing the intelligent, green, and integrated development of industry. Second, we should perfect mechanisms to promote private investment, breaking down various hidden barriers and enhancing the confidence of social capital. We should increase the support of central budget investment for private projects, make coordinated use of new policy-based financial tools, and guide private capital to participate in project construction in key fields to fully stimulate the vitality of private investment. Third, we must continuously improve the quality and efficiency of government investment, coordinate the use of various types of government investment, explore the compilation of a full-scope government investment plan, and reasonably divide the directions and priorities of central and local investment while strengthening the whole-process management of government investment. Finally, the investment layout should better adapt to changes and trends in population structure and mobility, emphasizing investment in human resource development and all-around human development to improve the precision and effectiveness of investment.
Promoting coordinated urban-rural and regional development to increase the coverage of the domestic Great Circulation. Only through the coordinated development of urban and rural areas and regions can the space for the domestic Great Circulation become broader and its quality more substantial. First, we must utilize the overlapping effects of regional coordinated development strategies, major regional strategies, the functional zone strategy, and the new-type urbanization strategy to enhance the economic and population-carrying capacity of central cities and city clusters. Second, we must perfect multi-level, multi-field, and multi-form cross-regional coordination mechanisms, strengthening infrastructure connectivity, industrial coordination, and market docking between regions. Third, we must learn from and apply the experience of the "Thousands of Villages Demonstration and Ten Thousand Villages Renovation" Project (the "Green Rural Revival Program") [11] to solidly promote all-around rural revitalization, improving the completeness of rural infrastructure, the convenience of public services, and the comfort of the living environment. We should promote the two-way flow of urban and rural factors and advance urbanization with county seats as important carriers in a categorized manner, promoting the common prosperity and development of urban and rural areas.
Guaranteeing and improving livelihoods to stimulate the primary engine of internal demand through common prosperity for all. Protecting and improving livelihoods is an important foundation for stimulating the potential of internal demand. First, we should deeply implement the "Employment First" strategy, improving various employment promotion mechanisms and policies to build an employment-friendly development mode. We must effectively respond to the impact of external environmental changes and new technology development on employment. Second, we must improve the income distribution system, increasing the share of resident income in national income distribution and the share of labor remuneration in the primary distribution. We should perfect the primary distribution mechanism where various factors are evaluated by the market and remuneration is determined by contribution, pushing for the formation of an "olive-shaped" [12] distribution pattern. Third, we should perfect a multi-level social security system that covers the entire population, coordinates urban and rural areas, is fair and unified, and is sustainable. Fourth, we must accelerate the construction of a new model for real estate development, optimizing the supply of subsidized housing and increasing the supply of "improvement" [13] housing. Fifth, we must steadily promote the equalization of basic public services, perfecting public resource allocation mechanisms that match the resident population, and pushing for more public services to sink to the grassroots, cover rural areas, and lean toward remote regions and people in difficulty.
(II) Focusing on Constructing a Powerful Domestic Supply Market to Form the Systemic Material-Technical Foundation and Human Capital Guarantee for the New Development Pattern
Constructing a New Development Pattern requires an autonomous and controllable physical supply system and the backing of human capital to form a powerful domestic supply market.
- Accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system to satisfy basic material and employment needs and create new demand through high-quality supply.
A modern industrial system constitutes the material and technical foundation of Chinese-path modernization and is the tangible manifestation of a powerful domestic supply market. First, we must consolidate and strengthen the foundations of the real economy, keep the proportion of manufacturing basically stable, and elevate the modernization level of industrial and supply chains. This involves utilizing new technologies and new business forms to transform and upgrade traditional industries, grasping the trends of industrial transformation, cultivating and strengthening strategic emerging industries, and proactively planning for future industries. Second, we must construct a modern infrastructure system, planning a batch of major infrastructure and application demonstration projects with prominent leading roles to strengthen the supporting role of infrastructure in industrial upgrading. Third, we must promote the elevation of key industries' status and competitiveness in the global industrial division of labor, accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing, and develop intelligent, green, and service-oriented manufacturing.
- Investing in people, promoting high-quality population development, and strengthening the human capital guarantee capacity for the New Development Pattern.
Whether it is building a high-quality, large-scale labor force to guarantee the supply of human capital, or satisfying the people's needs for a better life and advancing common prosperity for all to increase the scale of the domestic Great Circulation [14], it is necessary to "invest in people" and promote high-quality population development. First, we must improve the support policy system for childbirth, reduce the costs of childbearing, rearing, and education for families, and implement the national strategy to proactively respond to an aging population. We should improve policy mechanisms for the coordinated development of elderly care programs and industries, and develop the "silver economy" [15]. Second, we must improve the allocation mechanism for educational resources to adapt to demographic changes, increasing the supply of educational resources in urban areas with a net inflow of school-age populations. Third, we must implement the strategy of prioritizing health, advance the construction of a Healthy China, and increase average life expectancy and public health levels. Fourth, we must advance the development of education, technology, and talent as an integrated whole, strengthening the alignment of planning, policy synergy, resource pooling, and evaluation linkage to achieve a virtuous cycle between independent technological innovation and the autonomous cultivation of talent.
(III) Focusing on the cultivation of fundamental momentum to eliminate institutional and mechanical obstacles restricting the healthy operation of the domestic Great Circulation.
We must take reform and innovation as the fundamental driving force, comprehensively eliminate various institutional and mechanical obstacles, and enhance the momentum and vitality for promoting the healthy operation of the domestic Great Circulation.
- Resolutely breaking through bottlenecks and blockages that hinder the construction of a unified national market.
Accelerating the construction of an efficient, standardized, fair-competition, and fully open unified national market is an inherent requirement for constructing the New Development Pattern. First, we must comprehensively clean up and abolish regulations and practices that impede a unified market and fair competition, breaking down local protectionism and market fragmentation. We must eliminate hidden thresholds and barriers in areas such as factor acquisition, qualification certification, bidding and tendering, and government procurement, strictly investigating all types of anti-competitive behavior and rectifying improper market intervention. Second, we must improve fundamental systems for unified property rights protection, market access, and social credit, and refine the system for the market exit of entities. We should construct fair and unified market supervision rules and standards, establish a sound supervision system covering the entire process and chain, and increase enforcement efforts against monopolies and unfair competition to form an economic order that is both "vibrant" and "well-managed." We must refine integrated circulation rules and standards and connect market facilities with high standards. Third, we must promote innovation in statistical, fiscal, and evaluation systems conducive to the construction of a unified national market, rationally allocating benefits between corporate headquarters and branches, as well as between production and consumption locations, to form an endogenous driving force.
- Elevating the efficacy of macroeconomic governance to promote the formation of more economic development models characterized by domestic demand leadership, consumption driving, and endogenous growth.
The macroeconomic governance system for the New Journey [16] should focus on creating a new model of domestic-demand-led economic development centered on consumption. Simultaneously, it should provide an important guarantee for the construction of a powerful domestic market through continuously improving macroeconomic governance efficacy. First, we must improve the macroeconomic governance system, which is guided strategically by national development plans, uses fiscal and monetary policies as primary means, and coordinates closely with policies regarding industry, prices, employment, consumption, investment, trade, regions, environmental protection, and supervision. We should strengthen counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustments, enhance the consistency of macro-policy orientations, and optimize comprehensive performance evaluations for high-quality development. Second, we must leverage the role of proactive fiscal policy, strengthen the coordination of fiscal resources and budgeting, and enhance fiscal sustainability. Third, we should construct a scientific and robust monetary policy system and a comprehensive macro-prudential management system, improve the modern financial regulatory system, and build a financial powerhouse.
(IV) Focusing on building national security capacities in key areas to safeguard the New Development Pattern with a New Security Pattern.
Coordinating development and security is the basic prerequisite for constructing the New Development Pattern. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period [17], we should focus on key areas, heighten our awareness of potential dangers, and regard the construction of a New Security Pattern for the New Journey—seeking development amidst security—as a crucial focal point for building a powerful domestic market and ensuring the ultimate formation of the New Development Pattern. First, we must ensure the security of grain, energy resources, important industrial and supply chains, and major infrastructure; improve the level of intensive and safe utilization of water resources; and maintain the security of strategic corridors. Second, we must promote the construction of national strategic hinterlands and backups for key industries to enhance the shock-resistance of industrial and supply chains. Third, we must strengthen national security capacity building in emerging fields. Fourth, we must coordinately promote the orderly resolution of risks in areas such as real estate, local government debt, and small and medium-sized financial institutions.
Conclusion
Currently, the environment for China’s economic development is facing profound and complex changes where strategic opportunities coexist with risks and challenges. Placing the foothold of development more firmly on the domestic side—by building a powerful domestic market, strengthening the domestic Great Circulation, and smoothing the domestic and international dual circulation—is of great practical significance for ensuring significant breakthroughs in constructing the New Development Pattern and achieving decisive progress in basically realizing socialist modernization during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. A powerful domestic market is not merely a situational arrangement to deal with external risks and challenges; it is an endogenous development advantage and the core support for Chinese-path modernization. This construction process, by stimulating the potential of domestic demand, driving technological innovation, and safeguarding industrial chain security, is currently reshaping and will continue to reshape our country’s economic structure, driving mechanisms, and development paradigms. Looking ahead to the "15th Five-Year Plan" and beyond, the maturation and perfection of the powerful domestic market will fundamentally reduce dependence on external markets, forming a higher-level dynamic equilibrium where demand pulls supply and supply creates demand, thereby laying the firmest foundation for our country to advance steadily and reach far in an uncertain world. This is not only an economic path but a necessary road toward the rise of a great power characterized by security, resilience, and sustainable prosperity; it will profoundly shape China's future economic landscape and development path.
Source: Mao Zedong Thought Studies (《毛泽东思想研究》), Issue 5, 2024. Editor: Huihui