Yin Yanlin: Comprehensively Advancing Chinese Modernization with High-Quality Development
High-quality development is the essential requirement for advancing Chinese-path modernization and concerns the overall situation of our country’s socialist modernization. The Proposals adopted by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee designate the promotion of high-quality development as the theme of economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period (2026–2030). This both maintains continuity with the "14th Five-Year Plan" and deploys strategic tasks based on an accurate grasp of the major development trends of the next five years. To advance Chinese-path modernization through high-quality development and lead a population of over 1.4 billion into modernization as a whole is a rare feat in human history and the mission and responsibility of Chinese Communists in the New Era. A comprehensive understanding and deep implementation of the major decisions and deployments regarding high-quality development in the Proposals is of great significance for the comprehensive advancement of Chinese-path modernization.
Viewed from the historical process of Chinese-path modernization, the realization of socialist modernization is a historical process of step-by-step progression and continuous development, requiring unremitting efforts and sustained struggle. The 19th and 20th National Congresses of the Party made a "two-step" strategic arrangement for the comprehensive building of a great modern socialist country. The first step is to basically realize socialist modernization by 2035. This needs to be completed over 15 years through the implementation of three Five-Year Plans, building upon the foundation of having comprehensively built a moderately prosperous society [1]. The "14th Five-Year Plan" is the first of these, and it has already laid a solid foundation. There are only 10 years left from now until 2035; only if development goes well in the first five years will it be possible to strive for greater initiative. The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for consolidating the foundation and launching full-scale efforts to basically realize socialist modernization, holding an important position that links the past to the future. Consolidating the foundation means that, based on the major achievements of our country's development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, we must further resolve the deep-seated contradictions and problems that constrain high-quality development and the construction of Chinese-path modernization. We must pay more attention to major matters and essential tasks that have a foundational impact on development and security, consolidate and expand our advantages, break through bottleneck constraints, and strengthen weak links, so as to make the foundation of development more stable and its resilience stronger. Launching full-scale efforts means focusing on coordinated action across all fields of economic and social development to achieve systemic breakthroughs and holistic improvement, promoting major breakthroughs in strategic tasks that concern the overall situation of Chinese-path modernization.
To ensure that decisive progress is made toward basically realizing socialist modernization during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, economic growth must maintain an appropriate speed. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "A major landmark indicator for basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035 is that the per capita GDP reaches the level of moderately developed countries." To this end, the Proposals put forward important goals such as maintaining economic growth within a reasonable range, steadily improving total factor productivity, and fully releasing economic growth potential. Meanwhile, in light of prominent current problems such as increased downward pressure on the domestic economy and insufficient effective demand, the Proposals suggest goals such as significantly increasing the resident consumption rate and continuously strengthening the role of internal demand as the primary driver of economic growth. Calculating backward from the long-term goal of reaching a per capita GDP of over 20,000 USD by 2035—doubling the 2020 figure (at 2020 constant prices)—and integrating factors such as population changes, the average annual GDP growth for the "15th" and "16th" Five-Year Plan periods needs to be 4.17%. Looking at the possibilities, and taking into account various conditions such as factor supply and technological progress—especially the current general state of insufficient domestic demand—economic growth rates often exhibit a pattern of being higher in the beginning and lower later; the larger the volume, the more the growth rate may slow down. Therefore, the average annual growth rate during the "15th Five-Year Plan" could be considered higher to lay a more solid foundation for basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035. Of course, emphasizing speed does not mean "speed above all." We must abandon the extensive [2] development mode that relies primarily on the input of resources and other factors to drive economic growth and scale expansion. We must pay more attention to the quality and efficiency of development, promote the formation of an economic development model dominated by domestic demand, driven by consumption, and fueled by endogenous growth. While striving for the fastest possible economic growth rate, we should place more emphasis on improving the quality of economic development, striving to achieve development that is of higher quality, more efficient, fairer, more sustainable, and more secure.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, relations between major powers will affect the international situation, and the evolution of the international situation will profoundly influence domestic development. Our country’s development is in a period where strategic opportunities coexist with risks and challenges, and where uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing. Internationally, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise. Some external forces are implementing all-around suppression and containment of our country, building "small yards with high fences" [3] and promoting "decoupling and severing chains." The competition between major powers is becoming more complex and intense. Simultaneously, the problems of unbalanced and inadequate development in our country remain prominent: there are "strangleholds" and "bottlenecks" in the domestic Great Circulation [4], the task of shifting from old to new growth drivers is arduous, the modernization of agriculture and rural areas lags behind, pressure on employment and resident income growth is relatively high, and there are still hidden risks in key areas. Maintaining economic growth within a reasonable range faces significant challenges and pressures. However, we must see even more clearly that our country’s economic foundation is stable, its advantages are many, its resilience is strong, and its potential is great. The supporting conditions and basic trend for long-term improvement have not changed. The advantages of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the advantage of a super-large scale market, the advantage of a complete industrial system, and the advantage of abundant human resources are becoming more apparent. Economic development has vast space and strong endogenous power, and there are many favorable factors for actively managing international space and shaping the external environment. In particular, the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee can ensure that the Party’s line, principles, and policies are integrated from top to bottom and effectively executed, enabling the "concentration of resources to accomplish great things." Facing a profoundly and complexly changing internal and external environment, we must maintain strategic resolve, strengthen our confidence in victory, and actively recognize, respond to, and seek out changes. We must use the spirit of historical initiative to overcome difficulties, battle risks, and meet challenges, concentrating our energy on managing our own affairs well, winning greater strategic opportunities while responding to risks and challenges, and firmly grasping the initiative of development amid fierce international competition.
Development is the foundation and key to solving all our country's problems. Although development is not equal to growth, growth is an indispensable component of development and is its foundation and prerequisite; it is difficult to speak of development in isolation from economic growth. Realistically, problems arising in development need to be solved through development. The Proposals clarify that adhering to high-quality development is an essential principle that must be followed, placing the achievement of significant results in high-quality development at the head of the primary goals. Currently, our country is in a critical period of transforming its development mode, optimizing its economic structure, and shifting its growth drivers. Promoting high-quality development is the urgent requirement and inevitable choice for crossing this threshold. This requires paying more attention to coordinating the two domestic and international interests, completely, accurately, and comprehensively implementing the New Development Philosophy, accelerating the construction of the New Development Pattern, persisting in taking economic construction as the center, and unswervingly promoting high-quality development. We must continuously expand our country's economic strength, technological strength, and comprehensive national power, using the certainty of our own high-quality development to better respond to the uncertainty of changes in the external environment, ensuring that the economy achieves sustained and stable development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period and for an even longer period.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that promoting high-quality development is the fundamental requirement for determining our development ideas, formulating economic policies, and implementing macroeconomic regulation at present and for a period to come. The Proposals have made comprehensive deployments for economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, and the theme of high-quality development runs through the entire text, reflected in the tasks deployed in various fields. To deeply study and grasp the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and strive to turn the "15th Five-Year Plan" from a grand blueprint into a vivid reality, the key lies in mobilizing the subjective initiative of leading cadres at all levels, firmly grasping the primary task of high-quality development, and creatively implementing the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, to comprehensively advance Chinese-path modernization with high-quality development, we should focus on the following aspects:
First, take the construction of a modern industrial system as the main battlefield for high-quality development. A strong real economy is where our country’s development advantages and foundation lie. The Proposals take "building a modern industrial system and consolidating the foundation of the real economy" as the first strategic task, clearly proposing to optimize and upgrade traditional industries, cultivate and expand emerging and future industries, and construct a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone. Traditional industries are the "basic plate" of our country's modern industrial system. To maintain a reasonable proportion of manufacturing, traditional industries must never be abandoned. Traditional manufacturing is not only the basis for ensuring employment and livelihoods but also the launchpad for technological innovation; without traditional manufacturing, technological innovation might lose its application scenarios and opportunities for iteration. The current focus of promoting high-quality development in traditional industries is qualitative upgrading, consolidating and improving the position and competitiveness of industries such as mining, metallurgy, chemicals, light industry, textiles, machinery, shipbuilding, and construction in the global division of labor. We must develop advanced manufacturing clusters, promote the digital-intelligent transformation of manufacturing, and develop intelligent, green, and service-oriented manufacturing. Emerging and future industries represent the direction of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and are also key areas of major power competition. The Proposals suggest making efforts to create emerging pillar industries and accelerating the development of strategic emerging industrial clusters such as new energy, new materials, aerospace, and the low-altitude economy. We must explore diverse technical routes, typical application scenarios, feasible business models, and market regulation rules to promote quantum technology, bio-manufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and 6G communications as new economic growth points. An increasing proportion of modern services is an important feature of a modern industrial system. The Proposals suggest advancing the extension of producer services toward specialization and the high end of the value chain by field. We must vigorously develop producer services, enhance professional, socialized, and comprehensive service capabilities for manufacturing, and improve the level of integrated development between modern services, advanced manufacturing, and modern agriculture. We should build new infrastructure moderately ahead of schedule and promote the renewal and digital-intelligent transformation of traditional infrastructure. The construction of a modern industrial system must adhere to the directions of intelligence, greening, and fusion. Currently, the green economy has become the commanding height of global industrial competition. We must use the "dual carbon" goals (peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality) as a lead, coordinately promoting carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth to enhance the momentum of green development.
Second, take the acceleration of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening as an important support for high-quality development. To promote high-quality development, the most important thing is to accelerate high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening and actively develop new quality productive forces. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, our country's total social R&D expenditure and the proportion of basic research expenditure both hit record highs. Scientific and technological innovation results have been fruitful, with our ranking in the Global Innovation Index rising from 14th to 10th. Important progress has been made in tackling key core technologies, and the R&D and application of AI, biopharmaceuticals, and robotics are in the global first tier. The Proposals suggest strengthening original innovation and the tackling of key core technologies, and advancing the development of education, technology, and talent as an integrated whole. We must take unconventional measures to promote the whole-chain breakthrough of key core technologies in key areas such as integrated circuits, industrial mother machines, high-end instruments, basic software, advanced materials, and bio-manufacturing. We must promote a virtuous interaction between independent technological innovation and independent talent cultivation, building an education center, science center, and talent center with global influence. We should fully implement the "AI+" action, seize the commanding heights of AI industrial applications, and empower thousands of industries in an all-around way. We should promote the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation, highlighting demand-orientation, and insisting that "industry sets the question, and technology provides the answer." We must promote enterprise-led collaborative innovation among industry, academia, and research, encouraging innovation resources to gather in enterprises and enhancing their innovation capabilities, so that enterprises become the mainstay of technological innovation decision-making, R&D investment, scientific research organization, and the transformation of achievements.
Third, take the construction of a strong domestic market as an important guarantee for high-quality development. Expanding domestic demand concerns both economic stability and economic security; it is not a temporary expedient but a strategic move. The Proposals suggest adhering to the strategic basis of expanding domestic demand, enhancing the endogenous power and reliability of the domestic Great Circulation, vigorously boosting consumption, expanding effective investment, and resolutely breaking through the "strangleholds" and "bottlenecks" hindering the construction of a unified national market. The current focus of boosting consumption is to cancel unreasonable or—
We must eliminate "one-size-fits-all" [5] restrictive measures, establish and improve management methods adapted to new consumer formats, models, and scenarios, and expand service consumption with a focus on relaxing market access and integrating business formats. We must optimize the structure of income distribution, earnestly achieving the "two synchronizations" [6] and striving to increase the "two ratios" [7] to enhance the consumption capacity of residents. We should increase the intensity of inclusive policies that directly reach consumers and increase government funding for expenditures on ensuring people's livelihoods. Simultaneously, we must better utilize the leading and magnifying role of government investment. To adapt to change in population structure and flow directions, industrial upgrading trends, and the optimization of service functions, we must optimize the layout of supporting infrastructure and public service facilities such as education. A batch of key projects should be implemented in consumption-supporting infrastructure fields including elderly care, childcare, health, and cultural tourism. In line with national development needs, a series of major landmark projects should be implemented in areas such as urban renewal, strategic backbone corridors, new energy systems, major water conservancy projects, and major national science and technology infrastructure. We must deepen the reform of the investment approval system and fully stimulate the vitality of private investment. Furthermore, we must advance the construction of a unified national market [8] in depth, unifying basic market systems and rules, breaking down local protectionism and market fragmentation, and promoting the smooth flow of goods and factors across a wider scope.
Fourth, we must maintain the persistence of comprehensively deepening reform and opening up as the fundamental driving force for high-quality development.
In adhering to the reform direction of the socialist market economy, the core issue is handling the relationship between the government and the market, ensuring the market plays the decisive role in resource allocation while better utilizing the role of the government. The Resolution [9] proposes focusing on institutional and mechanistic obstacles that constrain high-quality development, advancing deep-level reforms, expanding high-level opening up, and continuously enhancing developmental momentum and social vitality. We must adhere to and implement the "two unswervinglys" [10] to promote the complementary advantages and common development of all types of ownership. We should deepen the reform of state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises (SOEs), improve market-oriented operating mechanisms, and focus on functions such as strategic security, industrial leadership, national welfare and people's livelihood, and public services to promote the optimized layout and structural adjustment of the state-owned economy. We must implement the Private Economy Promotion Law to develop and strengthen the private economy. We should accelerate the improvement of systems and mechanisms for the market-based allocation of factors. We must deepen zero-based budgeting reform, appropriately strengthen the central government's fiscal powers, and increase the proportion of central fiscal expenditure. Local fiscal autonomy should be increased. We must improve the central banking system and smooth the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. We should enhance the inclusiveness and adaptability of capital market systems and improve capital market functions that coordinate investment and financing. We will actively expand autonomous opening up, promote innovative development in trade, and push for the balanced development of imports and exports. We should expand the space for two-way investment cooperation, promote the integration of trade and investment, and guide the rational and orderly cross-border layout of industrial and supply chains.
Fifth, we must treat the continuous improvement of the quality of people's lives as the starting point and ultimate goal of high-quality development.
Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people. The Resolution proposes respecting the principal status of the people, emphasizing the protection and improvement of people's livelihoods during development, and expanding developmental space while meeting livelihood needs. At the same time, it emphasizes persisting in "doing one's best while acting within one's means," [11] strengthening the construction of inclusive, basic, and "bottom-line" [12] livelihoods, and resolving the urgent, difficult, and anxious problems [13] of the masses. Centering on ensuring and improving livelihoods, we must deploy a series of highly balanced and accessible policy measures in areas such as promoting high-quality full employment, improving the income distribution system, providing education that satisfies the people, strengthening the social security system, promoting the high-quality development of the real estate market, accelerating the construction of a Healthy China, promoting high-quality population development, and steadily advancing the equalization of basic public services. These include increasing the property income of urban and rural residents through multiple channels, implementing plans to increase the income of urban and rural residents, effectively increasing the income of low-income groups, and steadily expanding the size of the middle-income group; and accelerating the development of a multi-level and multi-pillar old-age insurance system and gradually increasing the basic transition pension for urban and rural residents. To narrow regional gaps and the urban-rural divide, we must deploy practical measures to accelerate agricultural and rural modernization, solidly promote comprehensive rural revitalization, optimize the regional economic layout, and promote coordinated regional development. Achieving common prosperity for all is a long-term historical process; we must maintain historical patience and make unremitting efforts. We must persist in promoting common prosperity through high-quality development, coordinating "needs" with "possibilities," and building the guarantee and improvement of livelihoods upon the foundation of sustainable economic and fiscal growth. The focus should be on raising the level of public services, precisely providing basic public services in areas of greatest concern to the masses—such as education, healthcare, elderly care, and housing—and holding the "bottom line" of basic living for people in difficulty.