Zhang Peng: Promoting High-Quality Development as the Theme of the "15th Five-Year Plan" Period: Historical Evolution, Theoretical Connotation, and Practical Requirements
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC): "High-quality development is the top priority in building a modern socialist country in all respects." In December 2023, at the Central Economic Work Conference, he emphasized: "We must adhere to high-quality development as the 'hard truth' [1] of the New Era." These major assertions profoundly reveal the historic shift in the stage of economic development after socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the New Era. The "Proposal of the CPC Central Committee on Drawing Up the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" (hereafter referred to as the Proposal), adopted by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, explicitly establishes high-quality development as the theme for economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period (2026–2030). This is both a precise grasp of the phased characteristics of our country’s development and a strategic choice oriented toward the goal of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035.
The "15th Five-Year Plan" period occupies an important position in the historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It builds upon the continuous development since the beginning of Reform and Opening-up, particularly the deep implementation of the "14th Five-Year Plan," and paves the way for the goal of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035. It is a critical period for consolidating foundations and exerting full force. At this historical juncture that connects the past and the future, profoundly comprehending and accurately grasping the rich connotation and practical requirements of "taking the promotion of high-quality development as the theme" holds vital theoretical value and practical significance for scientifically planning the blueprint of the "15th Five-Year Plan" and continuing to write new chapters of the "two miracles" [2]—rapid economic development and long-term social stability. This article focuses on three core issues: first, how the ideology and concept of high-quality development germinated, formed, and was established as the theme of economic and social development for the "15th Five-Year Plan" through the practice of successive five-year plans; second, the multidimensional theoretical connotation of high-quality development and its inherent logical relationship with the new development philosophy, the new development pattern, and new quality productive forces; third, the practical requirements and implementation paths for promoting high-quality development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. By systematically reviewing and deeply analyzing these issues, we construct a comprehensive analytical framework that unifies the historical, theoretical, and practical logic of high-quality development, providing academic support for the economic and social development of our country during the "15th Five-Year Plan" and for an even longer period to come.
I. The Historical Evolution of the Theme of High-Quality Development
The major concept and practice of high-quality development have undergone a gradual process from exploration to formation. Establishing this theme in the five-year plans is a strategic choice that inherits historical experience, responds to realistic needs, and faces future trends. Its evolution has roughly passed through three stages.
(1) The Initial Exploration Stage (1st to 5th Five-Year Plans, 1953–1980): Recovering the National Economy and Constructing an Industrial System
In the early period of the founding of New China, facing a situation of being "poor and blank" [3], the Party's primary task was to recover the national economy and consolidate the newly born political power. In 1950, the Third Plenary Session of the Seventh CPC Central Committee proposed "struggling for a fundamental turn for the better in the state's financial and economic situation." In 1956, the 8th National Congress of the CPC correctly pointed out that "the major contradiction in our country is the contradiction between the people’s need for rapid economic and cultural development and the current situation where economy and culture cannot meet the people’s needs," and proposed concentrating strength to develop social productive forces. The five-year plans of this period aimed to establish an independent and complete industrial system, with a focus on developing heavy industry. The "1st Five-Year Plan" concentrated on the construction of 156 key projects, laying the initial foundation for socialist industrialization. Although the period from the 2nd to the 5th Five-Year Plans experienced twists and turns, the industrial development strategy was consistently maintained, gradually forming a comprehensive industrial system.
The practical characteristic of this stage was "recovery-oriented economic construction," and the main task was to solve the problem of "existence"—that is, whether something existed at all. By concentrating limited resources on developing heavy industry, the country broke free from the backward industrial state of old China and laid the foundation for the long-term development of New China. However, due to factors such as an insufficient understanding of the laws of socialist construction and the influence of the complex and volatile domestic and international environments at the time, errors such as the "Great Leap Forward" and the "Cultural Revolution" occurred, and the national economy developed through twists and turns.
(2) The Reformative Grope-and-Search Stage (6th to 12th Five-Year Plans, 1981–2015): Centering on Economic Construction and the Scientific Outlook on Development
In 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee achieved a great historical turning point, making the historic decision to "shift the focus of the Party and state's work to economic construction and implement Reform and Opening-up." In 1981, the Sixth Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee formally proposed that the principal contradiction in our society was the "contradiction between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and backward social production." Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out: "The primary task of socialism is to develop the productive forces and gradually improve the people's material and cultural living standards." He also stated: "The superiority of socialism must, in the final analysis, be reflected in the fact that its productive forces develop faster and higher than those of capitalism, and that the material and cultural life of the people is continuously improved on the basis of developing the productive forces." These important assertions provided theoretical support for the establishment of relevant policies. During this period, from the rural household contract responsibility system to urban economic structural reform, from the establishment of Special Economic Zones to accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and finally to the establishment and improvement of the socialist market economy system, all major reforms revolved around the center of economic construction. Deng Xiaoping's 1992 Southern Tour speeches proposed that "development is the hard truth," emphasizing the fundamental role of economic growth in solving China's problems under specific historical conditions, which propelled decades of high-speed growth in the national economy.
Since Reform and Opening-up, our Party's concepts regarding economic development have continuously evolved. The 12th National Congress proposed that "correctly implementing the principle of the planned economy as primary and market regulation as supplementary is a fundamental issue in the reform of the economic system," opening the curtain on economic reform centered on leveraging the role of the market. The 13th National Congress explicitly proposed the basic line of the primary stage of socialism characterized by "one center, two basic points" [4], formally emphasizing "taking economic construction as the center." The 14th National Congress determined the reform goal of establishing a socialist market economy system, providing the basic institutional guarantee for economic development. The 15th National Congress proposed that "around the center of economic construction, there must be new breakthroughs in the reform of the economic system." The 16th National Congress proposed that "development is the Party’s top priority in governing and rejuvenating the country," continuing to emphasize unwavering adherence to economic construction as the center. The 17th National Congress proposed the "Scientific Outlook on Development," requiring us to "adhere to being people-oriented and establish a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable outlook on development."
The five-year plans (and "programs" [5]) of this period gradually saw the germination of the concept of paying attention to the quality of development while promoting high-speed economic growth. The "6th Five-Year Plan" used the name "National Economic and Social Development Plan" for the first time, beginning to focus on the coordinated development of economy and society. The "7th Five-Year Plan" took improving economic efficiency as one of its core goals, shifting from an emphasis on development speed to equal emphasis on speed and efficiency. The "8th Five-Year Plan" established the goal of socialist market economy reform, accurately grasping the key to promoting and guaranteeing economic development. The "9th Five-Year Plan" proposed "realizing a fundamental shift in the mode of economic growth," starting the exploration of transforming development modes. The "10th Five-Year Plan" emphasized strategic adjustment of the economic structure, promoting the shift of the economic growth mode from extensive to intensive, further clarifying the direction and goals of this transformation. The "11th Five-Year Plan" used the word "Guideline" (guihua) instead of "Plan" (jihua) for the first time [5], setting the reduction of energy consumption per unit of GDP as a binding indicator and emphasizing requirements such as energy conservation and environmental protection; while continuing to promote rapid economic development, it began to shift toward comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable development. The "12th Five-Year Plan" emphasized "taking scientific development as the theme and accelerating the transformation of the economic development mode as the main line," fully implementing the Scientific Outlook on Development, marking that the Party's understanding of the laws of economic development had entered a higher level.
The development themes of this stage showed distinct progressive characteristics: from pursuing "growth in total economic volume" to focusing on "development quality and efficiency"; from a singular focus on economic growth goals to the gradual establishment of the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" [6]; from "letting some people get rich first to lead others toward wealth" to focusing on "overall planning and all-round consideration"; and so on. Because the phased characteristics and themes of development were accurately grasped, the Chinese economy experienced nearly forty years of high-speed growth, its total economic volume jumped to second in the world, its comprehensive national strength was comprehensively enhanced, and the people's living standards were significantly improved.
(3) The Formation Stage of High-Quality Development (13th to 14th Five-Year Plans, 2016–2025): New Development Philosophy, New Development Pattern, and High-Quality Development
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the internal and external environments have undergone profound and complex changes. Internationally, the global economic landscape has undergone deep adjustments, technological innovation progresses daily, and competition between major powers has become increasingly fierce. Domestically, problems such as resource and environmental pressures brought about by the past high-speed growth model—which relied on scale expansion—have become prominent. The people's demands for quality of life and ecological environment have continuously increased. The principal contradiction in our society has transformed into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has accurately grasped the new phased characteristics of China's economic development and has successively proposed a series of major original ideas and theories, leading the economic and social development to fully transition to a stage of high-quality development.
During his inspection of Henan in May 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping first proposed the "new normal" for economic development. In December of the same year, at the Central Economic Work Conference, he first proposed "supply-side structural reform." In October 2015, in the Proposal for the "13th Five-Year Plan" adopted by the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, he first proposed the "new development philosophy" [7]. In October 2017, the 19th National Congress made the major judgment that the principal contradiction in our society had transformed into the "contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development," and first proposed that "China's economy has transitioned from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development." In December of the same year, the Central Economic Work Conference systematically explained the core connotation and practical requirements of high-quality development. In October 2022, the 20th National Congress established high-quality development as the top priority for building a modern socialist country in all respects and wrote it into the Party Constitution. In December 2023, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed that "we must adhere to high-quality development as the 'hard truth' of the New Era." In April 2020, at the seventh meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, it was first proposed to "build a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and the domestic and international dual cycles promoting each other." In August of the same year, at a symposium with experts in economic and social fields, it was first proposed that our country would enter a "new development stage." In October of the same year, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee adopted the Proposal for the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the 2035 Long-Range Objectives, clarifying that the new development stage is the stage of building a modern socialist country in all respects and marching toward the Second Centenary Goal, and made systematic planning and strategic deployment for constructing the new development pattern. Since July 2023, during inspections in places like Sichuan and Heilongjiang, General Secretary Xi Jinping first proposed "new quality productive forces," and subsequently provided profound expositions on the characteristics, connotations, and development requirements of new quality productive forces.
From the 1978 strategic decision for Reform and Opening-up when the Chinese economy entered a stage of high-speed development, to the 2017 declaration at the 19th National Congress that the economy had shifted to a stage of high-quality development; from Comrade Deng Xiaoping's 1992 assertion that "development is the hard truth," to General Secretary Xi Jinping's 2023 assertion that "high-quality development is the hard truth of the New Era"—our Party's understanding and practice of economic and social development have achieved a qualitative leap. The ideology and theoretical system of high-quality development have gradually formed, finding a scientific and correct direction and path for building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation.
II. The Theoretical Connotation of High-Quality Development
High-quality development has a multidimensional and profound theoretical connotation. It is a brand-new development theory for socialism with Chinese characteristics entering the New Era. It has greatly enriched and developed the basic principles of Marxism regarding productive forces and relations of production, the economic base and the superstructure, and economic and social development, making major original contributions.
(1) Based on Epistemology: High-Quality Development is Development that Embodies the New Development Philosophy
Marxism holds that matter determines consciousness, and consciousness reacts upon matter; human knowledge comes from practice and in turn acts upon and guides practice. High-quality development is development under the guidance of the new development philosophy; it is development that implements the new development philosophy completely, accurately, and comprehensively. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that high-quality development is "development in which innovation becomes the primary driving force, coordination becomes an endogenous characteristic, green becomes the prevailing form, openness becomes the only way, and sharing becomes the fundamental purpose." This important discourse, from the five dimensions of the new development philosophy, profoundly reveals the basic connotation of high-quality development.
Innovative development is the primary driving force for high-quality development. High-quality development places innovation at the core, achieving an "effective improvement in quality" of economic development by enhancing total factor productivity. Innovation refers not only to scientific and technological innovation but also includes institutional innovation, management innovation, model innovation, and scenario innovation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out, "Innovation is the primary driving force leading development. To grasp innovation is to grasp development; to plan for innovation is to plan for the future." "By seizing innovation, one seizes the 'ox's nose' [8] that pulls the overall situation of economic and social development." This emphasizes the key role of innovation in breaking through development bottlenecks, highlights the pivotal position of innovation in the coordinated advancement of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, and requires treating innovation-driven growth as the core of economic transformation.
Coordinated development is an endogenous characteristic of high-quality development. High-quality development aims to resolve the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "Solving the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development, narrowing the development gap between urban and rural areas and among regions, and achieving the well-rounded development of individuals and common prosperity for all people remain a long and heavy task." Coordinated development between urban and rural areas, among regions, and between the economy and society, material and spiritual civilization, and various industries is an inherent part of high-quality development. High-quality development "is not a requirement only for economically developed regions, but a requirement that must be implemented in the development of all regions."
Green development is the universal form of high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Accelerate the green transformation of development modes. Promoting the greening and decarbonization of economic and social development is a key link in achieving high-quality development." "Green development is the defining color of high-quality development, and new quality productive forces are themselves green productive forces." High-quality development requires integrating ecological and environmental protection throughout the entire cycle and process of economic development, dialectically unifying the ecological environment with economic development, forming green productive forces, green modes of production, and green lifestyles to achieve the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature.
Open development is the only path for high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Practice has proven that China's economic development over the past 40 years was achieved under open conditions; the realization of high-quality development for China's economy in the future must also be conducted under even more open conditions." High-quality development involves coordinating both domestic and international markets and resources, with domestic circulation as the mainstay, and integrating into the global economy at a deeper level and higher standard. Against a backdrop of rising anti-globalization sentiment and increasing protectionism, it is all the more necessary to unswervingly promote high-level opening up to the outside world, steadily expand institutional opening up, actively align with international rules, and—through combining "bringing in" with "going out"—create an open, smooth, and stable institutional environment, using openness to promote reform, development, and innovation.
Shared development is the fundamental purpose of high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Promoting social fairness and justice and improving the people's well-being are the starting point and ultimate goal of our country's reform and development." High-quality development is development that relies on the people, is for the people, and where the fruits of development are shared by the people. We must persist in the people-centered development philosophy, taking the people's aspirations for a better life as our goal, guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods during development, and solidly promoting common prosperity during development, so that the fruits of development benefit all people more extensively and fairly.
(2) Based on Methodology: High-Quality Development is the Dialectically Unified Effective Improvement in Quality and Reasonable Growth in Quantity
Dialectical materialism is the basic methodology of Marxist philosophy. High-quality development embodies the laws of the unity of opposites and the transformation of quality and quantity in dialectical materialism; it is the dialectical unity of "effective improvement in quality and reasonable growth in quantity." General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Economic development is a process of spiral ascent; the ascent is not linear. When quantitative accumulation reaches a certain stage, it must turn toward qualitative improvement. China's economic development must also follow this law."
Effective improvement in quality is the key to high-quality development. "Quality" here is reflected not only in economic indicators, environmental constraint indicators, and social undertaking indicators but also in the advanced nature, rationality, and stability of different industrial and economic structures. This includes the optimization and upgrading of industrial structures, the improvement of total factor productivity, the enhancement of innovation capabilities, the increase in resource utilization efficiency, the improvement of the ecological environment, and the rationalization of income distribution, among others. Without an effective improvement in quality, quantitative growth is difficult to sustain.
Reasonable growth in quantity is the foundation of high-quality development. As a large developing country with a population of over 1.4 billion, China needs to maintain a reasonable rate of economic growth to better solve employment issues, improve people's livelihoods, and enhance comprehensive national strength. By 2025, China's per capita GDP will reach over $14,000, and by 2035 it will reach the level of a moderately developed country (per capita GDP of over $20,000). To achieve this, a "reasonable growth in quantity" of an annual average of over 4.17% must be maintained. Only in this way can certain contradictions and problems be resolved during development, providing a safeguard for the effective improvement in quality.
The relationship between quality and quantity is one of mutual promotion and complementarity. High-quality development seeks a high-level dynamic balance between quality and quantity. By continuously increasing the contribution rates of factors such as technology, talent, knowledge, management, and data, and optimizing the rational combination of various factor resources, total factor productivity is increased, thereby driving sustained and healthy economic growth. The industries, employment, finance, public services, and infrastructure construction brought about by a reasonable growth rate in turn provide the material and talent foundation for factor supply and technological innovation.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period [9], we must make full use of China's advantages—its huge economic volume, market capacity, and strong industrial supporting capabilities, as well as its ultra-large-scale market and rich application scenarios—to accelerate the realization of high-quality development transformations in all fields and aspects of economy and society, from quantitative change to qualitative change and ultimately to systemic and global change, laying a solid foundation for basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035.
(3) Based on Axiology: High-Quality Development is Development that Meets the People's Ever-Growing Needs for a Better Life
The proletarian movement is the movement of the vast majority, and Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "High-quality development is development that can well meet the people's ever-growing needs for a better life." This assertion closely links economic development with human needs and well-rounded human development, embodying the fundamental value orientation of the Marxist view of development.
Taking the people as the center is the starting point and ultimate goal of high-quality development. High-quality development is not growth for the sake of growth; rather, it has a standpoint and principles. It is for the purpose of letting the people lead a good life, transforming the fruits of development into a sense of gain, happiness, and security that the masses can perceive and access. The transformation of the principal contradiction in society [10] is the problem-orientation of high-quality development. High-quality development is intended to solve the principal contradiction of the New Era—that "between the people's ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development." It is highly targeted and directional; it is another vivid manifestation of using the "arrow" of contemporary Chinese Marxism to shoot the "target" [11] of the era.
Chinese-path modernization is the objective requirement of high-quality development. One of the essential characteristics of Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people. This is not only a development goal but also a civilizational choice—it rejects the Western "elite modernization" achieved at the cost of the interests of the majority, and carves out a new path for socialist modernization characterized by a huge population size, the unity of fairness and efficiency, the coordination of material and spiritual wealth, harmony between humanity and nature, and peaceful and stable development.
From the perspective of the history of economic thought, high-quality development achieves a transcendence of traditional concepts of development. For a long period after World War II, the concept that "growth equals development" was dominant. The one-sided pursuit of economic growth brought about problems such as over-exploitation of resources, serious environmental pollution, and a widening income gap. After the 1970s, factors such as well-rounded human development, ecological protection, and fair distribution were gradually incorporated into the scope of development. The Human Development Index (HDI) compiled by the United Nations Development Programme became an important indicator for measuring development levels. The HDI is based on three major indicators: life expectancy at birth, average years of schooling, and gross national income per capita, with a value ranging from 0 to 1; a higher value indicates a higher level of development. China's HDI rose from 0.713 in 2012 to 0.788 in 2023, moving from the "high human development" group (HDI range 0.700–0.799) toward "very high human development" (≥0.800). Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC [12], the transition to high-quality development has shown its true colors. More importantly, China's high-quality development not only includes the HDI indicators regarding health, education, and a decent standard of living (measured by income), but also emphasizes technological innovation, social civility, institutional governance, cultural prosperity, the ecological environment, national security, and other key elements. In particular, it takes "meeting the people's ever-growing needs for a better life as the fundamental purpose," making China's theory of high-quality development more comprehensive, more in line with objective laws, and more people-oriented—representing a full transcendence of Western economic development theories.
(4) Based on Marxist Theory of Productive Forces: Accelerating the Development of New Quality Productive Forces is an Inherent Requirement and Important Focus for Promoting High-Quality Development
High-quality development requires a new theory of productive forces for guidance. In the face of the accelerating technological revolution and industrial transformation of the 21st century, the formation and qualitative state of productive forces are undergoing profound changes. The era calls for a 21st-century Marxist theory of productive forces adapted to these changes. Based on a profound insight into the world's great changes unseen in a century and a deep grasp of the historical laws of the development of human social productive forces, General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively proposed the theory of new quality productive forces. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "New quality productive forces are birthed by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading. Their basic connotation is the leap in workers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimized combination, with a substantial increase in total factor productivity as the core indicator."
The "newness" of new quality productive forces is reflected in several aspects. First is the new technological revolution, marked by major breakthroughs in biotechnology, intelligent technology, and new material technology. This revolution not only reshapes traditional industrial forms but also gives birth to new industries, new models, and new drivers, becoming the new engine driving the economic leap. Second is new production factors, including technological knowledge, data, management, and talent. Through efficient integration, these breakthrough traditional resource constraints and significantly enhance resource allocation efficiency and economic growth potential. Third is new workers, including higher-quality laborers such as innovative talents and high-skilled talents, who are the key carriers for technological innovation and the transformation of achievements; their creativity and adaptability directly determine the level at which new quality productive forces are realized. Fourth is new tools of labor: intelligent tools such as the Internet, artificial intelligence, industrial robots, and industrial software have greatly extended human labor capabilities, driving the production process toward automation, intelligence, flexibility, and greening. Fifth is new means of labor and objects of labor, such as data resources, virtual space, biological genes, nanomaterials, new energy, computing power, space, and the deep sea. These expand the boundaries of resources available for human development and open up entirely new spaces for value creation, providing the material basis for sustainable development and strategic competition. Sixth is new permutations and combinations, mainly referring to the mutual empowerment between new technologies, new factors, new tools, and new objects. Through different optimized combinations, total factor productivity is enhanced. This systemic, synergistic, and dynamic reconfiguration breaks the linear growth path and forms a multiplier effect, which is the essential characteristic distinguishing new quality productive forces from traditional productive forces.
The "highness" of high-quality development and the "newness" of new quality productive forces are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. The new characteristics of new quality productive forces are precisely the new momentum for promoting high-quality development, while high-quality development provides the innovative environment and material conditions for new quality productive forces. New quality productive forces are not a simple patch on traditional productive forces, but a systemic leap driven by technological revolution, supported by institutional change, and guided by a people-oriented approach. By developing new quality productive forces, we can bring about changes in the quality, efficiency, and driving force of economic development, thereby better promoting high-quality development.
(5) Based on Marxist Political Economy: Accelerating the Construction of a New Development Pattern is the Strategic Basis for High-Quality Development
Marx pointed out in Capital that production (supply) is the starting point and basis of economic activity; it determines subsequent links such as distribution, exchange, and consumption, while the need for consumption determines production, and this determining role is realized under the conditions created by production. In the third part of the second volume of Capital, Marx specifically studied...
"Reproduction and circulation of the total social capital" established the classic theoretical framework for the macroeconomic cycle. The theory of "dual circulation" in the new development landscape proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping is precisely an inheritance and development of the Marxist theory of the macroeconomic cycle. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Looking to the future, we must take the satisfaction of domestic demand as the starting point and ultimate goal of development, accelerate the construction of a complete domestic demand system... strive to clear the links of production, distribution, circulation, and consumption, and gradually form a new development landscape in which the domestic macro-cycle is the mainstay and the domestic and international dual cycles promote each other, cultivating new advantages for China’s participation in international cooperation and competition under new circumstances."
The domestic macro-cycle is the fundamental guarantee for high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The smoother the domestic cycle, the more it can form a gravitational field for global resources and factors, the more conducive it is to building a new development landscape where the domestic macro-cycle is the mainstay and the domestic and international dual cycles promote each other, and the more conducive it is to forming new advantages in participating in international competition and cooperation." The Proposals emphasize "promoting the formation of an economic development model dominated more by domestic demand, driven by consumption, and fueled by endogenous growth." The domestic macro-cycle involves expanding effective domestic demand from both the supply and consumption ends. By leveraging domestic demand to clear the links of production, distribution, circulation, and consumption, the supply system is made to dynamically adapt to the demand structure, thereby guiding resources to aggregate in high-tech, high-value-added, green, and low-carbon fields. At the same time, relying on the unique advantages of a large nation, it attracts global resource factors, accelerates technological iteration and the diffusion of innovation achievements, promotes the integration of scientific and industrial innovation, facilitates the continuous optimization and upgrading of industrial and economic structures, and enhances the endogeneity, resilience, and sustainability of economic development.
The mutual promotion of domestic and international dual cycles is an important support for high-quality development. High-quality development is by no means a closed development or a self-contained cycle; rather, it achieves efficient factor allocation and a leap in position within global value chains through higher-level opening up. The international cycle compensates for domestic shortcomings and forces industrial upgrading by introducing high-end technology, management experience, talented capital, and high-quality goods and services. By deeply participating in the global division of labor and rule-making, it expands market space and elevates the status of Chinese enterprises in global industrial, supply, and innovation chains. Especially against the backdrop of intensifying global technological competition, the mutual promotion of domestic and international dual cycles can enhance the linkage effect between domestic and international markets and resources, effectively integrate into global innovation networks, capture frontier knowledge spillover effects, accelerate breakthroughs in key core technologies, and form a new development pattern that is "centered on our own initiative, linked internally and externally, self-reliant and self-strengthening, secure and efficient."
In short, high-quality development is a multi-dimensional and systemic complex reform project involving development concepts, development landscapes, development drivers, development modes, development paths, and development purposes. Its connotation is extremely rich and profound, requiring continuous summarization, refinement, and development in both theory and practice.
III. Practical Requirements for High-Quality Development During the "15th Five-Year Plan" Period
The Proposals set forth an important orientation of "Five Essentials" in the guiding principles for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period: adhere to taking economic construction as the center, taking the promotion of high-quality development as the theme, taking reform and innovation as the fundamental driving force, taking the satisfaction of the people’s growing needs for a better life as the fundamental purpose, and taking comprehensively and strictly governing the Party as the fundamental guarantee. In the second section of specific discussions, targeting key issues related to the overall situation and long-term interests, the strategic tasks and major measures for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period are deployed across twelve areas, constituting the practical requirements for high-quality development during this period.
(1) Taking Economic Construction as the Center: Consolidating the Material Foundation of High-Quality Development
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Taking economic construction as the center is the key to national rejuvenation [13]." Making this the first item of the important orientation is an inevitable requirement for accurately grasping the historical coordinates of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, effectively responding to profound and complex changes in the international and domestic environments, and consolidating the economic base and material foundation for the continued advancement of Chinese-path modernization. "Taking economic construction as the center" requires insisting on treating economic work as the "bull’s nose" [14] that drives and supports all other work, ensuring that other work consciously subordinates itself to and serves this central task.
1. Persisting in placing the focus of economic development on the real economy, and placing the high-quality development of manufacturing in a more prominent position When the real economy is stable, the economy is stable; when the real economy is strong, the economy is strong. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The real economy is the foundation upon which a country stands." On one hand, China possesses the world's most complete industrial system. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," the annual added value of manufacturing has exceeded 30 trillion yuan, maintaining the "top spot" in global manufacturing for 15 consecutive years, with the output of more than 200 major industrial products ranking first in the world, building a solid foundation and immense confidence for the real economy. On the other hand, some sectors of the real economy still face issues of being "large but not strong" or "comprehensive but not refined," with "external blockades" and "internal involution" [15] coexisting. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, only by firmly grasping the real economy as the focus, maintaining a reasonable proportion of manufacturing, and accelerating the building of a manufacturing power, a quality power, an aerospace power, a transportation power, and a network power, can we continuously consolidate and strengthen the foundation of the real economy, win the initiative in the volatile international competition, and inject lasting momentum into high-quality development.
2. Accelerating the construction of a modernized industrial system to provide high-quality supply for high-quality development Building a modernized industrial system is an important support for promoting high-quality development and is also a key task on the supply side during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Accelerating the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. We will consolidate and enhance the position and competitiveness of industries such as mining, metallurgy, chemicals, light industry, textiles, machinery, shipbuilding, and construction in the global industrial division of labor. We will use new technologies, processes, and management models to carry out "full-chain" transformations of traditional industries, improving their levels of intelligence and green development to give them new vitality. Through the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, it is estimated that the next five years will see an increase of approximately 10 trillion yuan in market space, releasing immense developmental momentum and people's livelihood dividends. Forward-looking layout of strategic emerging industries and future industries. We will moderately advance the construction of new infrastructure and promote the renewal and digital-intelligent transformation of traditional infrastructure. We will build new energy, new materials, aerospace, and the low-altitude economy into new pillar industries, and proactively layout future industries such as quantum technology, bio-manufacturing, hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and 6G communications. Promoting the high-quality and efficient development of the service industry. We will drive producer services toward specialization and the higher end of the value chain, and consumer services toward high quality and diversification, improving the level of integrated development between modern services and advanced manufacturing and modern agriculture, and promoting the digital-intelligent transformation of the service industry.
3. Building a strong domestic market to stimulate the demand potential of high-quality development A strong domestic market is the stabilizer and power source for promoting high-quality development and the strategic support for Chinese-path modernization. Persisting in the strategic basis of expanding domestic demand. We will insist on the close integration of improving people's livelihoods with promoting consumption, and investing in "things" with investing in "people," vigorously boosting consumption. We will expand effective investment and stimulate the vitality of private investment, leading new supply with new demand and creating new demand with new supply, promoting a virtuous interaction between consumption and investment, and supply and demand. Building a unified national market. We will fully implement the key tasks of "Five Unifications and One Opening" [16], accelerate the cleanup and abolition of various regulations and practices that hinder a unified market and fair competition, break down bottlenecks and obstacles to the construction of a unified national market, and promote the free flow and equal exchange of commodities and factors, thereby improving resource allocation efficiency.
(2) Taking Reform and Innovation as the Fundamental Driving Force: Activating the Powerful Engine of High-Quality Development
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Reform and opening up is the 'crucial move' that determines the fate of contemporary China, and also the 'crucial move' that determines the realization of the 'Two Centenary Goals' and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." Reform focuses on the perfection of systems and mechanisms, including perfecting the socialist market economy system, expanding high-level opening up, and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. Innovation emphasizes technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrading, covering the entire chain from basic research and technological development to the transformation of achievements. Reform provides institutional guarantees for innovation, and innovation provides directional leadership for reform; the two promote each other to jointly stimulate developmental vitality. To promote high-quality development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, we must demand momentum from reform, focusing on building a high-level socialist market economy system to achieve a better combination of an efficient market and a proactive government; we must demand momentum from innovation, placing innovation at the core of the overall national development situation and developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions.
1. Accelerating the realization of high-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening Chinese-path modernization must rely on technological modernization for support. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "To promote high-quality development, the most important thing is to accelerate high-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, and actively develop new quality productive forces." He further pointed out: "New quality productive forces are an advanced state of productive forces wherein innovation plays the leading role, breaking away from traditional economic growth modes and development paths for productive forces, characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, and consistent with the new development philosophy." Their innovativeness lies in no longer being confined to traditional factor inputs, but rather taking new elements such as data, technology, and knowledge as key variables, highlighting the core position of innovation in driving economic development. We must urgently break through the "stranglehold" problems of key core technologies, leverage the advantages of the new-type whole-nation system, and strengthen original innovation and research on key core technologies. We will promote the deep integration of scientific and industrial innovation, clearing the "last kilometer" from the "laboratory" to the "industrial chain," and pushing more scientific achievements from the "lab bench" to the "production line." We will advance the development of education, technology, and talent as an integrated whole, coordinating the building of a leading power in education, technology, and talent, and enhancing the overall efficacy of the national innovation system. We will deeply advance the construction of a Digital China, fully implementing the "AI Plus" action, leading the transformation of scientific research paradigms with artificial intelligence, and asymmetrically empowering all industries.
2. Accelerating the construction of a high-level socialist market economy system Constructing a high-level socialist market economy system is the institutional guarantee for high-quality economic development. The core is to properly handle the relationship between the government and the market, being both "flexible in letting go" and "effective in management," achieving a state where the "market is efficient and orderly while the government is proactive and moderate." We will give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, further deepen reform comprehensively, and break down institutional and mechanistic obstacles to high-quality development. We will better leverage the role of the government, improve macroeconomic governance, and strengthen strategic guidance and public services. We will fully stimulate the vitality of various types of business entities, adhere to and implement the "Two Unswervinglys" [17], and promote the "Three Concentrations" of state capital [18], continuously driving state capital and state-owned enterprises to become stronger, better, and larger. We will implement the Private Economy Promotion Law, providing legal and institutional guarantees for private enterprises to participate fairly in market competition and use production factors on an equal basis.
3. Expanding high-level opening up Opening up to the outside world is China's basic state policy. The Proposals place "expanding high-level opening up and creating a new situation of win-win cooperation" in an even more important position. We will steadily expand institutional opening up, proactively align with international prevailing rules, safeguard the multilateral trading system, and expand the international cycle. We will optimize the environment for foreign investment, expanding market access and opening fields with a focus on the service industry, attracting more high-quality foreign capital to participate in the construction of a modernized industrial system to achieve mutual benefit. We will promote the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" to go deeper and more solid. We will vigorously develop trade in services, innovatively develop digital trade, and promote the quality and efficiency of foreign trade.
(3) Taking the Satisfaction of the People’s Growing Needs for a Better Life as the Fundamental Purpose: Adhering to the Value Orientation of High-Quality Development
The people's aspiration for a better life is our goal. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "In planning the economic and social development for the ‘15th Five-Year Plan’ period, we must not forget our original aspiration, take the benefit of the people as the fundamental value orientation, persist in ensuring and improving people's livelihoods during development, and steadily promote common prosperity." The Proposals emphasize in their guiding ideology that solid steps should be taken toward common prosperity for all people, which is a general requirement guiding economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.
1. Promoting high-quality full employment and perfecting the income distribution system Employment is the foundation of people's livelihoods, and income is the source. We will deeply implement the employment-priority strategy, improve employment promotion mechanisms, and build an employment-friendly development mode. We will optimize the income distribution structure, perfecting the institutional system for the coordinated matching of primary distribution, redistribution, and third-party distribution to ensure that residents' income growth is synchronized with economic development. We will adhere to the principle of distribution according to work as the mainstay while allowing multiple modes of distribution to coexist, increasing the share of residents' income in national income distribution and the share of labor compensation in primary distribution, and perfecting redistribution adjustment mechanisms with taxes, social security, and transfer payments as the main means. We will implement plans to increase the incomes of urban and rural residents, effectively increase the income of low-income groups, steadily expand the size of the middle-income group, reasonably regulate high incomes, and ban illegal incomes, promoting the formation of an olive-shaped distribution pattern and solidly advancing common prosperity.
2. Perfecting the multi-tiered social security system
Social security is the basic institutional guarantee for maintaining social fairness and enhancing the well-being of the people. Our country has already built the world's largest social security system. We must continue to improve and implement the national coordination system for basic old-age insurance and accelerate the development of a multi-level and multi-pillar old-age insurance system. We shall strengthen the multi-level medical security system, promote provincial-level coordination of basic medical insurance, and refine the triple institutional protection consisting of basic medical insurance, serious illness insurance, and medical assistance. Coverage of unemployment and work-related injury insurance must be expanded, increasing the participation rates of those in flexible employment, migrant workers, and those in new forms of employment. We will improve the social assistance system, strengthen dynamic monitoring and regularized assistance for low-income populations, and firmly secure the bottom line of basic livelihood, ensuring the social security net is woven more densely and perfectly.
Improving the Quality of Public Services Improving the public service system is an inevitable requirement for guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods. We must operate education that satisfies the people, promoting the expansion and quality improvement of basic education, increasing the enrollment scale of high-quality undergraduate education, and exploring the extension of the duration of compulsory education. In building a "Healthy China," we shall strengthen public health capacities, deepen the reform of public hospitals, promote the inheritance and innovation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and improve people's health levels in an all-around way. To promote high-quality population development, and in response to challenges such as population aging and declining birth rates, we must optimize birth-support policies, accelerate the construction of a birth-friendly society, and effectively reduce the costs of childbirth, parenting, and education for families. We will actively develop elderly human resources and promote the "silver economy." We shall coordinate coordinated development between urban and rural areas and regions, improve the system for the equalization of basic public services, and refine the national basic public service system.
Promoting the Common Prosperity of People's Spiritual Life Chinese-path modernization is a modernization in which material and spiritual civilizations are coordinated. The people's needs for a better life include both a richer material life and a better spiritual life. We must promote and practice the Core Socialist Values, strengthen the ideological development of the people, and improve their cultivation and the degree of social civility. We shall vigorously prosper cultural undertakings, accelerate the development of cultural industries, improve the quality of literary and artistic creation, refine the cultural management system, and accelerate the construction of an independent knowledge system of Chinese philosophy and social sciences. We will enhance the communication and influence of Chinese civilization, improve the systems and mechanisms for international communication, utilize new media means, construct a Chinese discourse and narrative system, and enhance the affinity and effectiveness of international communication.
(IV) Taking Comprehensively and Strictly Governing the Party as the Fundamental Guarantee: Fortifying the Political Guarantee for High-Quality Development "To govern the country, one must first govern the Party; only when the Party prospers can the state be strong." [19] Persisting in and strengthening the Party's overall leadership is the fundamental guarantee for socialist modernization. The Proposals emphasize the extreme importance of upholding Party leadership and strengthening Party building within its guiding ideology for economic and social development during the "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the "Six Persistences" [20] that must be followed, and its major tasks and measures. It requires persisting in leading social revolution through the Party's self-revolution, persevering in promoting the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, and enhancing the Party's capacity for political leadership, ideological guidance, mass organization, and social mobilization. This will improve the Party's ability and level in leading economic and social development, providing a fundamental guarantee for the smooth advancement of various tasks during the "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" period.
Persisting in and Strengthening the Centralized and Unified Leadership of the Party Central Committee The key to managing China's affairs well lies in the Party. We must further refine the institutional system of Party leadership that oversees the overall situation and coordinates all parties, and improve the implementation mechanism for the Party Central Committee's major decisions and deployments to ensure vertical integration and powerful execution. We must unremittingly use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to coagulate the soul and recruit the spirit, continuing to use the Party's innovative theories to unify thought, will, and action. We shall develop intra-Party democracy, improve and implement democratic centralism, and persist in scientific, democratic, and law-based decision-making. We will tighten the Party's organizational system, enhance the political and organizational functions of Party organizations, and coordinately promote the construction of primary-level Party organizations in all fields. We will specifically focus on Party building in new economic organizations, new social organizations, and new employment groups, giving full play to the exemplary vanguard role of Communist Party members, so that the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee operates "as the body directs the arm, and the arm directs the fingers." [21]
Persevering in Promoting Comprehensively and Strictly Governing the Party The more effective the management and governance of the Party, the stronger the guarantee for economic and social development. We must implement the general requirements for Party building in the New Era, taking the Party's political building as the command, comprehensively strengthening ideological, organizational, conduct, and disciplinary building, integrating institutional building throughout, and deeply advancing the anti-corruption struggle. We must unremittingly implement the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations and promote the regularization and long-term effectiveness of conduct building. We must persist in addressing Party spirit, Party conduct, and Party discipline together, integrating the rectification of the "Four Winds" with the punishment of corruption. We will simultaneously advance the mechanisms to ensure that officials "do not dare, cannot, and do not want to be corrupt," resolutely winning the tough, protracted, and total war against corruption. We shall improve the supervision system of the Party and the state, with intra-Party supervision as the lead, promoting the coordination of all types of supervision. We will strengthen the regulation and supervision of the allocation and exercise of power, refining institutional mechanisms where authorization, exercise, and restriction of power are unified, clear, transparent, and traceable, truly "confining power within the cage of institutions" and creating a clean and upright political ecosystem.
Improving the Modernization Capabilities of the Cadre Corps "Once the political line is determined, cadres are the deciding factor." [22] We must implement the standards for good cadres in the New Era, adhere to the correct orientation of personnel selection, and place political standards first, strictly vetting politics, character, capability, conduct, and integrity. We shall establish and practice a correct view of performance (zhengjiguan) [23], improve the cadre assessment and evaluation mechanism, and refine work mechanisms to effectively prevent and correct deviations in performance views. We will adjust cadres who are not competent for their current positions and promote the regularization of the system where leading cadres can be both promoted and demoted. We will strengthen cadre education, training, and practical exercise, refining regularized training—especially basic training mechanisms—to comprehensively improve cadres' capabilities for modernization. We must persist in combining strict management with professional kindness, balancing incentives with constraints, strengthening all-around management and regular supervision of cadres, and creating an environment conducive to entrepreneurship and achievement, thereby stimulating the internal drive and overall vitality of the cadre corps to provide a strong guarantee of talent for the completion of the "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" goals.
Conclusion High-quality development is a long-term and arduous task that requires us to continuously deepen our theoretical understanding and construct a more complete independent Chinese knowledge system of economics; to innovate continuously in methodology, using more advanced policy tools to provide insight into and regulate complex economic situations; and to strive for precision in practice, promoting the formation of synergy among various tasks and measures to ensure their implementation.
The "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" period is a crucial period for laying the foundation and exerting full force for our country to basically realize socialist modernization. Persisting in "taking the promotion of high-quality development as the theme" holds significant and far-reaching historical and practical significance. High-quality development concerns not only China’s own development but also contributes Chinese wisdom and provides Chinese solutions for human development. As the world's largest developing country, our successful path of Chinese-path modernization—themed on promoting high-quality development—is of great world significance for breaking the myth that "modernization equals Westernization" and expanding the channels for developing countries to move toward modernization. With the complete, accurate, and comprehensive implementation of the New Development Philosophy, the accelerated construction of the New Development Paradigm, and the continuous formation of new quality productive forces, China's economic and social development will surely achieve a shift to higher levels of effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth. The Great Cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation will surely be realized.