Qin Gang: Place Greater Emphasis on System Integration to Enhance the Systematic, Holistic, and Synergetic Nature of Reforms
The "Decision" of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC proposed to "pay greater attention to systemic integration," establishing it as a crucial component of the guiding ideology for further comprehensively deepening reform. Prioritizing systemic integration has been an essential ideological and working method for our Party in comprehensively deepening reform since the start of the New Era. This focus on systemic integration demonstrates a high degree of consciousness in applying the worldview and methodology of dialectical materialism to further comprehensively deepen reform.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "In planning and advancing reform, we must adhere to systemic thinking and a holistic perspective, strengthen strategic and dialectical thinking, prioritize tasks based on their urgency, and pay greater attention to systemic integration." Dialectical materialism holds that the world is an interconnected whole and a system of mutual interactions; it emphasizes understanding the world and analyzing and solving problems through the lens of comprehensive systems, universal connections, and developmental change. At present, the strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the world's profound changes unseen in a century [1] are interacting and surging together. Development across various economic and social fields is deeply integrated. Further comprehensively deepening reform must pay greater attention to systemic integration and enhance the systemic, holistic, and coordinated nature of reform. Through strengthening holistic planning and systemic layout, we must ensure that reform measures in various fields and aspects exert force in the same direction, thereby enhancing overall efficacy.
Adhere to systemic thinking. Systemic thinking is a foundational ideological and working method. Paying greater attention to systemic integration inherently requires adhering to and applying systemic thinking. Systemic thinking emphasizes viewing objective things and their movements as organic wholes composed of various elements, understanding the laws of development by examining the interconnections and interactions between constituent elements and subsystems. Systemic thinking embodies Marxist epistemology and methodology. Marxism views human society as a system, regarding society as an organic whole composed of many elements. As components of the whole, various elements do not exist in isolation, nor are they a simple summation; rather, they are interconnected, interacting, and mutually influential. Epistemologically, adhering to systemic thinking means accurately recognizing and grasping the universal connections between various social elements, and continuously deepening the understanding of social development laws through holistic, associational, and structural analysis of society. Methodologically, adhering to systemic thinking means accurately grasping various major relationships in economic and social development, properly handling and adjusting various systemic and structural problems, and promoting the comprehensive and coordinated development of society. Further comprehensively deepening reform is a broad and profound social transformation and a complex and arduous systemic project. it involves many aspects—reform, development, and stability; domestic affairs, foreign policy, and national defense; and governing the Party, the state, and the military. It is multi-faceted and of great significance; we must adhere to and apply systemic thinking to grasp and advance it. We must handle major relationships such as those between the economy and society, government and the market, efficiency and fairness, vitality and order, and development and security, so as to promote the integration of reform goals, policies, and effects.
Adhere to a holistic perspective. Systemic integration embodies a holistic perspective; paying greater attention to systemic integration requires adhering to and establishing such a perspective. The so-called holistic perspective refers primarily to an ideological and working method characterized by being adept at observing general trends and planning for the overall situation [2]. A holistic perspective is an important foundation for systemic integration and a vital prerequisite for grasping the trends, principles, and requirements of reform and development. The holistic perspective is closely linked to systemic thinking; adhering to systemic thinking inevitably requires considering problems from a holistic standpoint. A holistic perspective emphasizes basing oneself on the whole and the long term, taking the overall situation as the starting point and ultimate goal of thinking. In terms of ideological understanding, adhering to a holistic perspective means keeping the big picture in mind and focusing on the general trend. In specific work, it means stepping outside the local to view the whole, and looking at the long term based on the present; it means elevating local and immediate problems to the height of the overall situation, thinking about issues, advancing work, and judging gains and losses from that height. The strategic deployments made at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization reflect a holistic and comprehensive view of continuing to push reform forward from the height of the overall development of the Party and the state's cause. To turn the "panoramic map" of further comprehensively deepening reform drawn by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee into a "construction blueprint," we must play the "chess game" [3] of reform well. We must firmly establish a holistic view of reform, ensuring that top-level design is based on the overall situation and that grassroots exploration considers the big picture. We should consciously act under the overall situation, positioning reform in various fields and aspects within the totality of reform, and considering current reform issues within the overall process of reform. Only in this way can we achieve vertical integration and horizontal coordination, preventing a situation where one side is neglected while the other is pursued, or where different parts even obstruct each other.
Strengthen strategic thinking. Paying greater attention to systemic integration also requires strengthening strategic thinking. Strategic thinking is an ideological and working method for planning fundamental, holistic, and long-term issues. Strengthening strategic thinking requires setting strategic goals based on the laws of development and making strategic deployments to achieve those goals. We must be adept at looking at and thinking about problems from a strategic perspective, continuously enhancing the principled, systemic, forward-looking, and creative nature of our work. Valuing strategic thinking is an advantage of our Party and an important experience in the success of our cause. This advantage and experience are reflected in every period and stage of the development of the Party and state's cause. To pay greater attention to systemic integration in further comprehensively deepening reform, we must strengthen strategic thinking and enhance forward-looking thinking, holistic planning, strategic layout, and holistic advancement. Strengthening forward-looking thinking helps us gain deep insight into the opportunities that may arise and the challenges that may be encountered in the reform process, allowing us to better foresee and grasp trends and subsequently establish corresponding strategies and tactics. Strengthening holistic planning helps us place the work of our own regions, departments, and units within the general trend that connects the local and the whole, the present and the long term, the domestic and the international, and history and reality—striving both to bring credit to one's own area and to add brilliance to the whole. Strengthening strategic layout helps clarify the timetable, roadmap, and priorities of reform, coordinating staged goals and striving to create and form developmental advantages in multiple areas. Strengthening holistic advancement helps promote the compatibility of reform goals, the coordination of reform measures, and the consistency of reform orientations, pushing reform to focus its energy, "clench into a fist" [4], and achieve synergistic efficiency.
Strengthen dialectical thinking. Strengthening dialectical thinking is also an important aspect of paying greater attention to systemic integration. Dialectical thinking manifests primarily as an ideological and working method that uses the method of contradiction analysis to understand things and solve problems. It emphasizes that the development of things is a unity of the movement of contradictions, focusing on grasping the principal contradiction and the principal aspect of a contradiction [5]. It involves understanding and analyzing problems with an eye toward connection and development, thereby grasping the internal connections and developmental changes of things. Strengthening dialectical thinking helps us better navigate the complex situations of reform and handle problems in development. The further the causes of the Party and the state develop, the more we need to continuously strengthen dialectical thinking. Adhering to and applying dialectical thinking helps us accurately grasp the dialectical relationship between "change" and "constancy," inheritance and development, and principle and creativity in further comprehensively deepening reform, promoting the alignment of the "local" with the "whole." In adhering to and applying dialectical thinking within further comprehensively deepening reform, the emphasis is on the unity of the "two-point theory" and the "priority theory" [6]. This means both comprehensively recognizing and grasping problems—better reflecting the full picture of things to provide more thorough ideas and plans for problem-solving—while also distinguishing between the primary and the secondary, highlighting key points, and properly grasping the priority, timing, and rhythm of reform measures to ensure they release their maximum effect.