Wang Ruijun: How to Integrate Strict Management with Care, and Balance Incentives with Constraints
The "Suggestions of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" (hereinafter referred to as the Suggestions), adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, pointed out that we must "combine strict management with deep concern, and place equal emphasis on incentives and constraints, so as to stimulate the internal drive and holistic vitality of the cadre force." The 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030) is a critical stage for consolidating the foundation and launching a comprehensive effort to basically achieve socialist modernization. The tasks of reform, development, and stability are arduous and heavy. They require the vast number of Party members and cadres to enhance consensus and confidence, bolster internal drive and holistic vitality, build on the existing momentum, continue the struggle, and strive to open up new horizons for Chinese-path modernization.
I. The New Era and New Journey Call for Cadres to Dare to Exercise Responsibility and Be Skilled in Action
Daring to exercise responsibility and being skilled in action are fundamental qualities and professional requirements for Party members and cadres; they represent a fine tradition that has led our Party from victory to victory. On the New Era’s new journey, the world's once-in-a-century great changes are accelerating, and the changes of the world, the times, and history are unfolding in unprecedented ways. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's development environment will face profound and complex changes, presenting a series of new topics, challenges, and requirements for the construction of Chinese-path modernization. These directly test the strategic capabilities, fighting courage, and response levels of our cadre force. Implementing the Suggestions effectively requires a tempered contingent of Party members and cadres who are politically sound, highly qualified, courageous in taking responsibility, and skilled in their actions.
From the current situation, the capabilities, literacy, and spirit of responsibility of the cadre force have seen substantial improvement through the tempering [1] of the Great Practice of the New Era. At the same time, we must recognize several issues that cannot be ignored. Prominent problems within the Party involving impurity in ideology, organization, and work style have not yet been fundamentally resolved. Some Party members and cadres lack the spirit of responsibility, possess weak capabilities for struggle [2], and lack the spirit of practical work; the phenomena of the Four Winds—specifically formalism and bureaucratism—remain prominent. Some cadres lack political sensitivity and need to improve their political capacity; they suffer from a lack of ability or "capability anxiety" [3], leaving them without the confidence to dare to take responsibility or the skill to act. Facing strict constraints, some cadres have developed a negative mentality of "doing more leads to more mistakes, doing less leads to fewer mistakes, and doing nothing leads to no mistakes," choosing to be "peace-time officials" [4] or "nice guys" [5]. A tiny minority of cadres mistakenly separate management and supervision from entrepreneurship, or pit strict management against deep concern and incentives against constraints. They feel that strict management ties their hands and feet, even using strict constraints as an excuse for failing to take responsibility or action.
The root causes of these problems lie in the cadres' own ideals, beliefs, capabilities, and sense of responsibility, but also in the organizations' shortcomings in education, training, management, supervision, and assessment. This merits our in-depth analysis. First, some cadres have a distorted view of performance. Some have wavering ideals, a thinning sense of mission, and a poor understanding of "for whom, what kind of, and how achievement is made." Their internal drive for entrepreneurship has fundamentally weakened; they only move when pushed, or sometimes not at all. Second, some cadres lack the necessary skills. They fail to keep pace with the times, relying on old concepts to view problems, old routines to make decisions, and old methods to promote work. They are bewildered and helpless when facing new contradictions. Some lack the initiative to learn or improve their professional literacy, failing to find the focus or method when faced with high-quality development tasks, mass line work, or risk prevention. Third, the systems for cadre education and management are not yet sound. Some localities and departments have failed to systematically integrate strict management with deep concern. They have not sufficiently coordinated material, spiritual, or promotion-based incentives, and the comprehensive effect of such care has not been fully realized.
II. Strict Management and Supervision are Organically Unified with Encouraging Responsibility and Action
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection [6] the need to "unify strict management and supervision with the encouragement of responsibility and action, enabling cadres to innovate and build careers while remaining compliant with rules and discipline." This profoundly reveals the internal unity of these two aspects. To persist in combining strict management with deep concern and placing equal emphasis on incentives and constraints, we must accurately apply the "Four Forms" [7] of supervision and discipline. This ensures the integration of discipline, law, emotion, and reason, creating a clean and upright political ecosystem and a favorable environment for entrepreneurship, thereby fully stimulating the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the cadre force.
Strict management and encouraging care are like the "two wheels of a cart" or the "two wings of a bird." Strict management sets a clear track for cadres, while encouraging care injects a steady stream of power. First, strict management establishes rules and clear bottom lines. As the saying goes, "Strictness is love, laxity is harm; neglect leads to ruin." The prerequisite for building a career is doing things cleanly. Encouraging responsibility has a bottom line. Strict management and supervision aim to clarify directions, establish rules, rectify work styles, and strengthen "immunity" [8], so that cadres know what can and cannot be done. Second, encouraging care adds momentum and vitality. Caring for cadres is a fine tradition of our Party and a necessity for ensuring that cadres can focus on their work without distraction. By perfecting the system of care—including political concern, ideological care, work support, and benefit guarantees—we can enhance the sense of honor, belonging, and fulfillment among cadres. Third, the two are dialectically unified and complementary. Strict management is a "tightening hoop" [9] but even more a "protective talisman." Its fundamental purpose is to "catch problems early and small" and "nip them in the bud." Real-time daily supervision is the greatest protection for a cadre. Deep concern is a "refueling station" and a "source of power." Without strict supervision, "deep concern" can degenerate into "spoiling." Strictness is the foundation of Party cadre management and an inevitable requirement for the Party to maintain its rigor and purity. Practice proves that good cadres are produced through strict supervision and encouraged through sincere care. We must unequivocally stand behind those who take responsibility, allowing cadres to explore boldly within the bounds of discipline.
III. Always Combine Strict Management with Deep Concern and Place Equal Emphasis on Incentives and Constraints
The magnificent journey of our era and the great cause passed down through generations call for a high-quality cadre force to lead the way with practical action. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted, "We must persist in combining strict management with deep concern... to form a dense atmosphere and a vivid situation of forging ahead on the new journey and making contributions in the New Era." How do we achieve this? Party committees at all levels and their organizational departments must focus on resolving prominent contradictions in cadre construction, correcting erroneous concepts, and establishing a management system that oversees ideology, work, style, and discipline, alongside a positive incentive system that honors practical work. This must reflect both the strength of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party and the warmth of organizational care.
Strengthen the tempering of Party spirit and guide cadres to firm up their ideals and sense of mission. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out during the 21st collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee that "strengthening Party spirit focuses on firming up ideals and beliefs, forging loyalty to the Party, deepening feelings for the people, purifying moral quality, and maintaining integrity." To temper a strong Party spirit, we must first solve the "master switch" [10] problem of the cadres' worldview, outlook on life, and values. We must guide cadres to be firm believers in the lofty ideal of Communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics, actively throwing themselves into the practice of Chinese-path modernization. We must strengthen political loyalty education, guiding cadres to remain loyal to the faith, the country, the people, and the organization. They must maintain political stamina [11] and a spirit of struggle in the face of risks. Through warning education—such as analyzing typical cases and visiting warning education bases—we can ensure cadres truly respect the law and fear the consequences of breaking discipline. We must enhance political capacity, guiding cadres to improve their "political judgment, political understanding, and political execution," keeping the "top priorities of the nation" (guo zhi da zhe) [12] in mind, and ensuring they align themselves with the Central Committee, profoundly understanding the decisive significance of the Two Establishments and resolutely achieving the Two Upholds.
Strengthen concern and incentives to stimulate cadre vitality through comprehensive measures. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the symposium on promoting the Great Development of the Western Region in the New Era that we must "care for grassroots cadres, especially those in areas with harsh conditions, encouraging them to be enterprising and bold." We must use supervision to add pressure and trust to add power, unequivocally supporting cadres who act boldly and honestly without seeking private gain. We must establish a personnel orientation that values responsibility, practical work, and actual results, adhering to the principle of "appointing people on their merits" from "all corners of the country" [13]. We should use cadres scientifically, ensuring "the right person for the right post." We must focus on cultivating cadres at the grassroots and in the heat of "major struggles." We should implement policies such as subsidies, paid leave, health check-ups, and honors, while paying attention to cadres' mental health and family lives, especially those facing illness or major life changes. We must continue to rectify the prominent problems of formalism and bureaucratism, implementing lists of duties for townships and sub-districts to unburden the grassroots, allowing cadres more time to serve enterprises and the masses.
Firmly grasp the execution of systems and urge cadres to exercise power according to regulations.
In May 2024, during an inspection tour of Shandong, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must guide Party members and officials to comprehensively understand and implement the Party's discipline. On the premise of observing regulations and discipline, they should work with peace of mind, act with a free hand, forge ahead with determination, and take proactive roles to create achievements worthy of the people and the times." Good officials are selected, but even more so, they are managed into excellence. Strict management is itself a form of profound care; it is a manifestation of genuine responsibility toward officials. We must strengthen the consciousness among officials to respect, observe, and execute regulations, ensuring that power, affairs, and people are managed through systems. This allows Party members and officials to maintain a "sense of awe" [14], harbor "trepidation" [15], and keep to the "bottom line" [16], becoming accustomed to working and living in an environment characterized by supervision and constraint.
From an organizational perspective, we must strictly guard the gates of politics, character, ability, conduct, and integrity. Regarding "sprouting" [17] or trend-based problems appearing among officials, we must promptly "bite the ear and tug the sleeve" [18]—providing early warnings and corrections to prevent situations where no one manages until a problem arises, where one is unwilling to manage small problems, or where one becomes unable to manage when a major crisis erupts. We must persist in integrating the post-responsibility system, goal-management mechanisms, and official incentive and constraint mechanisms. This includes the thorough implementation of the Regulations on Promoting the Upward and Downward Movement of Leading Officials, adjusting those unsuitable for their current positions and unblocking the channels for officials to "move down" or "exit."
We must seize the "Head" [19]—the key minority within the key minority—strictly implementing the system of collective discussion and decision-making for "Major Issues, Major Appointments, Major Projects, and Large-Scale Spending" (Sanzhong Yida). We must comprehensively promote the systems of power lists, responsibility lists, and negative lists, implementing the "Head's" final-statement rule [20] and the system where the "Head" does not directly manage finance. Furthermore, we must implement the recording of the major decision-making process and the lifetime accountability system. We must do a good job of managing officials in key positions concerning personnel, finance, and materiel, strengthening supervision over the entire process of power exercise—especially at key nodes—to prevent "rent-seeking."
We should establish and improve systems for source prevention, day-to-day oversight, the management of officials in important positions and key fields, and accountability reporting. This will form a comprehensive "systemic cage" for the strict management of officials that is rule-based, clarifies rights and responsibilities, and is effective and practical. We must strengthen the supervision of institutional execution, persisting in the principle that everyone is equal before the system, with no exceptions in execution. We must not allow for "flexibility" [21], "hidden doors," or "skylights." We must strike at those who "touch high-voltage wires" as soon as they "show their heads," and promptly investigate and punish those who play "edge-ball" [22] or exploit loopholes. We must pay attention to the collection and analysis of online public opinion, and resolutely maintain the seriousness and authority of our systems by investigating every issue found through inspections, audits, letters and visits, supervisory checks, and spot checks of personal matter reports.
Incentivizing responsibility and action involves guiding Party members and officials toward diligent, practical work and achieving success through sound methods. "Chinese-path modernization is achieved through hard work; all great undertakings are the result of practical action." "The word 'Official' (ganbu) starts with 'Doing' (gan)." Advancing Chinese-path modernization is a pioneering undertaking without precedent; approaches such as "carving a mark on the boat to find the sword" [23], "waiting by a stump for a rabbit" [24], "being stuck in old ruts and satisfied with the status quo," or "lacking ambition and sitting back to enjoy the fruits of others' labor" are all unacceptable. The broad masses of Party members and officials must "roll up their sleeves and get to work," maintaining a mental state of never-slackening diligence and a fighting posture of charging forward. They must consciously enhance their sense of responsibility and mission toward the Party, the country, the nation, and the people.
The focus must be on enhancing the capacity to promote high-quality development, serve the masses, and prevent or defuse risks. We must completely, accurately, and comprehensively implement the New Development Philosophy, taking high-quality development as the guiding principle for the overall situation. We must observe, think about, and handle problems from a high vantage point and a broad perspective, accelerating the construction of the New Development Paradigm with innovative ideas and methods. We should coordinate development and security, develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, and continuously enhance the professional spirit and competence of Party members and officials in their respective duties.
We must educate and guide Party members and officials to establish and practice a correct view of performance (政绩观), perfecting a differentiated evaluation system. This system should take indicators such as the improvement of people's livelihoods, social progress, ecological benefits, and public satisfaction as important contents of assessment. We should guide officials to do more practical work that is visible, tangible, and beneficial to the common people, and more good deeds that lay foundations, benefit the long term, and pave the way for future generations. We must unwaveringly treat "grasping the grassroots and laying the foundation" as a long-term strategy and a fundamental policy for consolidation. To evaluate grassroots work, we primarily look at: whether grassroots organizations have played a role in rural revitalization; whether the Party's line, principles, and policies have been implemented; whether the quality of grassroots officials has improved; whether grassroots conflicts are resolved in a timely and effective manner; and whether the people have received more tangible benefits. Through this, we will continuously enhance the political and organizational functions of grassroots Party organizations.
Finally, we must improve assessment methods, strengthening process management and precise evaluation. By fully utilizing modern means, we will increase the intensity of analysis, judgment, and tracking of officials, emphasizing the identification of officials through their performance in practice—especially at major junctures and critical moments. We must strengthen the application of assessment results, guiding officials to uphold political ethics, behave with integrity, act with vigor, and break new ground. This will create a favorable atmosphere of unity and progress, resulting in a vivid situation where everyone focuses single-mindedly on development and gathers strength to promote leaps in progress.
(The author is the Executive Vice President of the Guizhou Provincial Society for Party Building) Source: Qiushi (Red Flag Manuscript) Issue 24, 2024 Editor: Hui Hui