Liu Yong and Wang Guohong: Temporal Requirements, Distinctive Features, and Significant Significance of Further Comprehensive Deepening of Reform to Advance Chinese Modernization
The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese-path Modernization, deliberated and adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, explicitly points out: "The present and the period to come are a critical period for advancing the cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation on all fronts through Chinese-path modernization. Chinese-path modernization has been continuously advanced through reform and opening up, and it will surely open up broad prospects through reform and opening up." This bestows a higher historical positioning and a greater scope of action upon the further comprehensive deepening of reform to advance Chinese-path modernization. As the "fundamental driving force for advancing Chinese-path modernization and an important grasp [1] for stabilizing the overall situation, responding to changing circumstances, and opening new vistas," the comprehensive deepening of reform has not only enabled our country to catch up with the times in great strides and promoted historical achievements and historical transformations in the cause of the Party and the state; it has also provided a powerful impetus and institutional guarantee for realizing the central task of comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization, opening up a new landscape for Chinese-path modernization. Why, then, is it necessary to propose "further comprehensively deepening reform" on the basis of "comprehensively deepening reform"?
To this end, this article attempts to examine the further comprehensive deepening of reform within the context of the New Era and the new journey of advancing Chinese-path modernization, analyzing the epochal requirements and prominent characteristics of its proposal, and on this basis, exploring the major significance of further comprehensively deepening reform for advancing Chinese-path modernization.
I. The Epochal Requirements of Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform to Advance Chinese-path Modernization
The 20th CPC National Congress proposed the major proposition of Chinese-path modernization. Building upon this, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed "further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization," highlighting the urgent requirements that advancing Chinese-path modernization places upon the further comprehensive deepening of reform—namely, that "faced with complex international and domestic situations, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and the new expectations of the people, we must continue to push reform forward." To grasp the major significance and general requirements of further comprehensively deepening reform, it is necessary to place it within the realistic situation of advancing Chinese-path modernization to clarify its epochal background and specific context.
(1) Consolidating Public Support and Gathering Strength to Realize the Party’s Central Task in the New Era
To turn the strategic blueprint drawn by the 20th CPC National Congress into reality, the fundamental factor lies in further comprehensively deepening reform. The central task established by the Party based on the basic national conditions of the current stage serves as the scientific guide for us to clarify our strategic direction and formulate lines and policies. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress pointed out: "From this day forward, the central task of the Communist Party of China will be to lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization." The central task proposed by the 20th CPC National Congress has clear objectives and directions, leading the comprehensive deepening of reform in the New Era toward the goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
On the one hand, from the perspective of ideological content, the Party's central task endows the further comprehensive deepening of reform with the epochal connotation of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Reform and opening up is an "important magic weapon" [2] for the cause of the Party and the people to catch up with the times in great strides, and it is the "key move" [3] that determines the fate of contemporary China. "Adhering to the deepening of reform and opening up," as a major principle that must be firmly grasped on the road ahead established by the 20th CPC National Congress, is highly correlated with Chinese-path modernization and directly points toward the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; it is the realistic unfolding of the complete logic of the Party’s central task. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee deeply focused on seven aspects: a high-level socialist market economy system, whole-process people's democracy, a strong socialist culture, the quality of people's lives, a Beautiful China, a Peaceful China, and the Party's leadership. This greatly enriched the profound connotation of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and constituted the realistic logic and practical path for completing the Party's central task, "elevating the realm of realizing the Chinese Dream [4] of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with entirely new connotations."
On the other hand, the Party's central task endows the further comprehensive deepening of reform with strategic goals for the next decade and more. The great cause of reform and opening up has traveled a 35-year journey from the "local exploration and ice-breaking breakthroughs" of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee to the "systemic integration and comprehensive deepening" of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, possessing two epoch-making significances. From the "comprehensive deepening of reform" at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee to the "further comprehensive deepening of reform" at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, more than ten years of effort have been expended, promoting the achievement of historical successes and historical transformations in reform and opening up. These two historical periods are interconnected and together lay the important foundation for advancing Chinese-path modernization. On this basis, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee further proposed the phased goal of basically completing reform tasks by 2029 and the overall goal of basically realizing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity by 2035. This is highly consistent with the strategic plan of "basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035" in the Party's central task and is an important link within it. The Party's central task provides an overall strategic blueprint for the development goals of the Party and the state, which both calibrates the specific historical positioning for further comprehensively deepening reform and signals broad prospects for its development and progress.
(2) Perfecting and Developing the System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics to Advance the Modernization of the National Governance System and Governance Capacity
The further comprehensive deepening of reform is carried out by targeting fundamental, overall, stable, and long-term issues in the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It adheres to institutional building as the main thread and institutional innovation as the lead, relying on the adjustment of interests and institutional changes to activate developmental vitality and form comparative advantages that occupy a favorable position in international competition. "The system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the fundamental institutional guarantee for the development and progress of contemporary China; it is an advanced system with distinct Chinese characteristics, obvious institutional advantages, and a strong capacity for self-perfection." Institutional building aims at realizing "institutional modernization" and deepening the expansion of "the modernization of national governance," sublimating the connotation and extension of institutional building and achieving a qualitative leap in institutional theoretical innovation. The modernization of national governance is synchronized with, and even isomorphic to, the comprehensive building of a modern socialist country. Since the comprehensive deepening of reform is the fundamental driving force for advancing Chinese-path modernization, it constitutes the fundamental driving force for realizing the modernization of national governance, running through the entire process of Chinese-path modernization. Continuing to perfect and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity must resolve several problems: First, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics possesses multi-dimensional institutional advantages, but how can the superiority of the socialist system be maintained perpetually and its institutional advantages remain unshakable? Second, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a complete system with clear levels and complex structures; how can the system’s stability and connectivity be maintained so that the system always operates efficiently? Third, realistic development has raised many challenges; how can the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics respond to realistic problems and resolve realistic difficulties? These questions can only be answered by thinking from the perspective of further comprehensively deepening reform.
Therefore, strengthening the institutional guarantee for Chinese-path modernization requires further comprehensively deepening reform. The comprehensive deepening of reform shoulders the major mission of advancing institutional change; it is the self-perfection and self-development of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and is the source of why the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics always maintains strong vitality and dares to overcome all difficulties and challenges. First, further comprehensively deepening reform focuses on the institutional and mechanistic obstacles constraining various aspects of economic and social development. Through institutional change and structural innovation, it forms the inherent qualities and institutional attributes of transformation and innovation, ensuring that the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics maintains its vitality and gains the initiative for Chinese-path modernization. Second, further comprehensively deepening reform targets "stuck points" and "bottlenecks" in the operation of the system, achieving systemic smoothness, integration, and throughput [5]. By realizing effective transitions between fundamental systems, basic systems, and important systems, it can effectively improve the scientific nature, interconnectedness, and efficacy of institutional arrangements. Third, further comprehensively deepening reform is based on the functional positioning of "consolidating foundations, enhancing advantages, patching up shortcomings, and strengthening weaknesses." Through systematic and hierarchical structural adjustments and institutional changes, it can consolidate and perfect the advantages of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and effectively transform institutional advantages into national governance efficacy.
(3) Promoting High-Quality Development to Better Adapt to the Transformation of the Principal Contradiction in Our Society
Correctly recognizing the historical position and stage of development in which Chinese-path modernization is situated is the fundamental basis for the CPC to clarify stage-specific tasks and formulate principles and policies. Since entering the New Era, the principal contradiction in society has transformed into the contradiction between the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. This transformation requires using the New Development Philosophy to guide new social practices and promoting high-quality economic and social development to better adapt to the change. The prominent manifestation and basic characteristic of the transformation of the principal contradiction in the economic development model is that supply-side, structural, and institutional contradictions have become the main contradictions and key bottlenecks constraining economic development. The traditional economic development model is unsustainable, and there is an urgent need to shift the mode of development and convert the drivers of development. High-quality development is the primary task of comprehensively building a modern socialist country and is also a profound change concerning the overall situation of Chinese-path modernization. Advancing this profound change requires giving full play to the driving and leading role of further comprehensively deepening reform, making overall arrangements and structural reforms in theory, policy, and strategy, and activating endogenous momentum, opening up development space, and developing new quality productive forces with entirely new economic development modes and management systems.
At present, the main factors constraining high-quality development remain unbalanced and inadequate development, which is the result of the constraints of the principal social contradiction. To this end, we must further comprehensively deepen reform and fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the New Development Philosophy. We must rely on reform to change the simple and extensive development methods of the past and form a more healthy and sustainable development model, providing institutional and mechanistic support for achieving high-quality development. Regarding the driving force of development, we must place greater emphasis on innovation-driven development, transforming the ideological obstacles and institutional defects that hinder innovation, releasing the vitality of innovation and creation, improving factor productivity, and injecting powerful innovative vitality into high-quality development. Regarding developmental relationships, we must place greater emphasis on balance and coordination, transforming the relationships between urban and rural areas, regions, and industries that are uncoordinated or misaligned with high-quality development. We must integrate factor resources, optimize configuration combinations, enhance overall development efficacy, and effectively resolve the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development. Regarding the development model, we must place greater emphasis on green and sustainable development, transforming the extensive development model of the past that relied solely on resource consumption, accelerating the formation of green modes of production and lifestyles, transitioning toward a resource-saving and environment-friendly society, and promoting modernization characterized by the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. Regarding developmental linkage, we must place greater emphasis on open cooperation, transforming closed and backward market systems and management models, improving the international investment and market environment, accelerating the establishment of a modern market system, and enhancing the quality of opening up and the internal-external linkage of development. Regarding the purpose of development, we must place greater emphasis on fairness and justice, transforming the current unbalanced and inadequate social distribution system and urban-rural development system, improving the living standards of the people, promoting social fairness and justice, and fully demonstrating the superiority of the socialist system. In short, the current problems are still problems of development; they can only be fundamentally solved by relying on scientific and effective high-quality development. Therefore, we must firmly hold onto the primary task of high-quality development and further comprehensively deepen reform around the principal social contradiction.
(4) Responding to Major Risks and Challenges to Promote the Steady and Long-term Progress of the Cause of the Party and the State
"Advancing Chinese-path modernization is an entirely new undertaking; various contradictions, risks, and challenges are bound to be encountered on the road ahead." Since entering the New Era, domestic and international situations have evolved in an intertwined manner, crises and opportunities coexist in the grand trend of technological and industrial transformation, and the situation of people's needs has shifted iteratively, placing higher realistic requirements on advancing Chinese-path modernization. Further comprehensively deepening reform to advance Chinese-path modernization requires enhancing the awareness of potential dangers, preventing and resolving risks, strengthening bottom-line thinking, and carrying forward the spirit of struggle, while coordinating the relationship between reform, development, and stability. From the perspective of the domestic development situation, downward pressure on the economy has increased, and economic operations exhibit prominent problems such as "insufficient effective demand, significant operational pressure on enterprises, numerous hidden risks in key areas, and an insufficiently smooth domestic circulation." From the perspective of the international development situation, the changes unseen in a century are still evolving profoundly, with frequent wars and conflicts and intertwined contradictions and risks. The external environment faced by Chinese-path modernization is becoming increasingly severe and complex, with instability and uncertainty factors significantly increasing. Numerous manifest and latent risks and challenges bring enormous pressure to the continuous recovery and improvement of the economy, constraining the sustained and steady development of Chinese-path modernization.
Chinese-path modernization has entered a complex field where contradictions and conflicts are prone to occur, opportunities and dangers are intertwined, and various predictable and unpredictable risks and challenges coexist. To properly handle the major challenges, risks, obstacles, and contradictions on the road ahead, there is a need for firmer strategic resolve and stronger developmental momentum to hedge against external risks, thereby enhancing the foundation and confidence to respond to challenges. The key to strengthening the certainty of macro-development lies in further comprehensively deepening reform.
First, further comprehensively deepening reform serves to always adhere to the correct direction. By summarizing and applying the precious experience of comprehensively deepening reform in the New Era, and by firmly grasping major principles—such as upholding the Party's overall leadership, persisting with a people-centered approach, upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground, maintaining institutional building as the main thread, persisting in the comprehensive underlying law-based governance of the country, and adhering to systems thinking—it reduces risks and hidden dangers for Chinese-path modernization at the foundational source of its direction. Second, further comprehensively deepening reform always adheres to a problem-oriented approach, transforming passive reform into proactive reform. Through economic and social structural reforms, it simultaneously advances political structural reform to achieve smooth social transformation and upgrading, thereby avoiding major reform risks during periods of profound shifts in the principal social contradiction [6] and the economic and political systems. Third, further comprehensively deepening reform is always anchored in the modernization of systems and the modernization of national governance. By establishing a series of dynamic institutional mechanisms, it can provide a strong guarantee for maintaining the perpetual vitality of the Party and the state, which is conducive to maintaining overall social stability, ensuring that the people live and work in peace and contentment, and safeguarding national security.
II. Distinctive Characteristics of Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform to Advance Chinese-path Modernization
Understanding and grasping the important measures of further comprehensively deepening reform to advance Chinese-path modernization must be closely integrated with the prominent characteristics of the reform. Further comprehensively deepening reform is the continuation and extension of the comprehensive deepening of reform since the beginning of the New Era. It emphasizes "summarizing and applying the precious experience of reform and opening up, especially the comprehensive deepening of reform in the New Era," adhering to the correct political direction, persisting with a problem-oriented approach, highlighting the leading role of economic structural reform, putting the people first, and strengthening systemic integration. This ensures that the comprehensive deepening of reform "places more emphasis on systemic integration, more emphasis on highlighting key points, and more emphasis on the actual results of reform," constituting a practical sequel and a new epochal chapter of comprehensively deepening reform in the New Era. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee focused on the new tasks and challenges facing Chinese-path modernization, presenting new characteristics and connotations in the content of reform, and proposing new viewpoints and judgments in theoretical innovation, highlighting the brand-new significance of further comprehensively deepening reform in opening up new prospects for Chinese-path modernization.
(1) Persisting with the economy as the leader, giving full play to the leading role of economic structural reform
Firmly grasping key tasks, central missions, and critical nodes to advance various undertakings is an important summary of experience gained by the Communist Party of China in leading the Chinese people through revolution, construction, and reform. From the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee’s proposal to "maintain economic structural reform as the main axis" to the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee’s reiteration that "economic structural reform remains the focus of further comprehensively deepening reform," this represents both a continuation of the previous path of reform and an extension of future reform efforts. It demonstrates the practical wisdom and scientific method of always grasping the principal contradiction [7] and advancing overall reform through important fields and key links. Chinese-path modernization faces the urgent need to achieve high-quality development, which dictates that promoting high-quality development is the primary task of further comprehensively deepening reform. Looking at the reform tasks proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, six out of fifteen sections involve economic structural reform, and twenty-four out of fifty-six major reform tasks involve economic structural reform. This fully reflects the central status and key role of economic structural reform in the overall reform landscape, emphasizing its role as a lever to lead and drive reforms in other fields to form a synergy. This indicates that the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee focused more on economic structural reform, emphasizing its leading role. By improving the socialist market economy system, it aims to form institutional mechanisms with greater momentum and vitality, thereby seeking reform impetus, breaking through reform resistance, and forming a collective force for reform.
The core issue in deepening economic structural reform is properly handling the relationship between the government and the market. This is both an inevitable requirement for stimulating the endogenous impetus and innovative vitality of the entire society and an epochal question that further comprehensively deepening reform must answer. In the process of gradually deepening reform, the CPC and the Chinese people have profoundly realized that the government and the market are not isolated or fundamentally opposed to each other; rather, they are a pair of interdependent and interconnected contradictory entities. Under socialist conditions, the two can achieve mutual integration and organic unity. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, economic structural reform was initiated around decentralizing economic management power, utilizing the law of value [8], and enhancing the initiative of market entities. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee focused on deepening economic structural reform by allowing the market to play a decisive role in resource allocation. The relationship between the government and the market has undergone a cognitive process of gradual transformation from opposition to mutual unity. On this basis, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee continued the reform direction established since 1978, focusing on building a high-level socialist market economy system. It made a series of major deployments around four aspects: improving the institutional mechanisms for promoting high-quality economic development, improving the macroeconomic governance system, perfecting the institutional mechanisms for integrated urban-rural development, and perfecting the institutional mechanisms for high-level opening up to the outside world. It strives to explore a brand-new model where the government and market promote, complement, and communicate with each other, aiming to achieve the organic unity of market mechanisms and government functions—striking a balance between "releasing vitality" (放得活) and "maintaining control" (管得住)—to provide high-level institutional support for the development of new quality productive forces.
(2) Persisting with innovation as the driver, building institutional mechanisms to support comprehensive innovation
Education, science and technology, and talent are important links in promoting innovation and creation, constituting the foundational and strategic support for Chinese-path modernization. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized the importance of strategic and overall major reforms, which means highlighting the important status of education, science and technology, and talent in further comprehensively deepening reform. By using high-level institutional mechanisms to stimulate the innovative and creative vitality of the entire society, the foundation for the development of Chinese-path modernization is consolidated. Facing a more severe domestic and international development situation and arduous reform tasks, education, science and technology, and talent must move away from their previous state of working in isolation and instead require integrated advancement and holistic planning. This is both an inherent requirement for enhancing the systemic, holistic, and collaborative nature of reform, and a realistic necessity for building a leading nation in education, science and technology, and talent. Based on this, the 20th CPC National Congress integrated education, science and technology, and talent as a distinct section for emphasis, adhering to a "three-in-one" (三位一体) holistic advancement to highlight their foundational and strategic supporting roles in the overall advancement of Chinese-path modernization. This "reflects our Party’s profound grasp of the laws governing socialist modernization." Following the arrangements of the 20th National Congress, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee further proposed the integrated reform of institutional mechanisms for education, science and technology, and talent. It calls for mutual coordination and synergy in fields such as disciplinary setup, talent cultivation, scientific research breakthroughs, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and talent incentives, accelerating the formation of a comprehensive reform effect and striving to improve the overall efficiency of the national innovation system.
The mutually promoting, complementary, and interactive relationship between education, science and technology, and talent requires us to integrally advance the reform of the education system, the scientific and technological system, and the talent development system to provide a continuous stream of momentum and intellectual support for Chinese-path modernization. In terms of education system reform, the focus is more on research orientation, taking scientific development and national strategic needs as a guide to reform the existing disciplinary setup mechanisms and talent cultivation models. This involves strengthening basic, emerging, and interdisciplinary subjects and the cultivation of top-tier talent, empowering technological innovation and talent development through deepening comprehensive educational reform. In terms of scientific and technological system reform, there is a greater emphasis on breakthroughs in key core technologies, adhering to the "Four Orientations" [9]. This aims to fully mobilize the vitality of innovative subjects such as the state, enterprises, and public institutions. Through system reform, factor allocation, funding guarantees, and achievement incentives, focus is placed on supporting basic research, frontier interdisciplinary fields, and key area layouts, collaboratively promoting the improvement of education quality and the building of a scientific research talent team. In terms of reforming the talent development institutional mechanisms, more emphasis is placed on incentives for innovative talent, persisting in combining independent cultivation with the introduction of overseas talent. This involves improving mechanisms for the discovery, selection, and cultivation of innovative talent and reforming the talent evaluation system to create a large number of high-quality innovative talents to promote educational development and scientific progress.
(3) Persisting with systems thinking as the core, further promoting comprehensively deepening reform
Further comprehensively deepening reform requires not only proficiency in grasping key points and critical areas to drive the overall situation but also a focus on the comprehensive and systemic nature of reform, grasping the unity of the "two-point theory" and the "priority theory" [10]. "Reform and opening up is a systemic project; we must persist in comprehensive reform and advance it through the synergy and cooperation of various reforms." Comprehensively deepening reform is an extremely complex system where the system and its elements influence each other, internal elements are intertwined, and various interest relationships within these elements are deeply entangled. Isolated or piecemeal repairs will not suffice; it must be a comprehensive and profound transformation—a deep-level reform that is interconnected, integrated, and systematic. Based on the systemic, holistic, and orderly characteristics of comprehensively deepening reform, it is necessary to apply collaborative, coupling, and associative methods to advance it. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee took "persisting in systems thinking" as a major principle that must be followed. It planned the reform within the overall framework of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four Comprehensives. By coordinately advancing reforms in fields such as democracy, the rule of law, culture, people’s livelihoods, and ecology, it clearly reflects the distinctive features of comprehensiveness and systematicity, perfecting the top-level design of Chinese-path modernization.
Focusing on systematicity, holism, and synergy is both an inherent requirement of comprehensively deepening reform and an important method for advancing it. "Solving the structural, hierarchical, and derivative contradictions in the system of Chinese-path modernization requires that comprehensively deepening reform must be a reform that unifies holism, synergy, and gradualism." On one hand, from the perspective of the overall design of reform, comprehensively deepening reform "is not about advancing reform in one field, nor several fields, but advancing reform in all fields"; one cannot act on one's own or follow one's own course. We should adhere to the "national chess game" (全国一盘棋) [11] approach, coordinating economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization reforms. We must straighten out the logical relationships between reforms in various fields, clarify the "connection maps" and "relationship networks" between them, and exert the maximum effectiveness of reform through systemic optimization. On the other hand, from the perspective of specific reform measures, no single reform measure exists in isolation; often, "pulling one hair moves the whole body." This requires comprehensive consideration and coordinated advancement. We should strengthen top-level design, clarify the sequence and rhythm of advancing reforms, focus on the stepped connection of reform measures, aggregate the advantageous forces of all parties, and enhance the functional coupling of reform elements. We must "focus on the synergy of reform plans, the synergy of reform implementation, and even more on the synergy of reform effects," ensuring that reform plans, implementation, and results complement and work in harmony with each other.
(4) Persisting with security as the guarantee, coordinating the two major tasks of development and security
National security is an important guarantee for achieving healthy and sustainable economic and social development and is the foundation for the steady and long-term progress of Chinese-path modernization. Along with the advancement of reform and opening up, the problems accumulated from past "stock" (existing) reforms and the new problems emerging from the new round of "incremental" (additional) reforms are intertwined, posing a major test for national security. At the same time, "local conflicts and turbulence are frequent, global problems are intensifying, and external containment and suppression are constantly escalating." The complex domestic and international environment requires us to enhance our ability to safeguard national security and effectively prevent and resolve risks and challenges. "To effectively respond to these risks and challenges and win the strategic initiative in increasingly fierce international competition, we need to further comprehensively deepen reform." Therefore, national security has become an unavoidable and important epochal subject for further comprehensively deepening reform, as well as an important strategic consideration in advancing Chinese-path modernization. Whether in the major significance and general requirements of the reform or in the specific measures and characteristics of its content, the comprehensive deepening of reform proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee is imbued with concern and strategic planning for national security. This further demonstrates the Central Committee's strong determination and firm confidence in resolving the difficulties and contradictions on the road of Chinese-path modernization through comprehensively deepening reform.
"Security and development constitute the basic process of a state’s existence, continuity, and development; the two are complementary and inseparable." Compared to the achievement of high-quality development, the safeguarding of national security carries greater uncertainty and more prominent practical necessity within the specific context of the New Era. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress listed "advancing the modernization of the national security system and capacity" as a standalone section for discussion, explicitly proposing to "secure the new development paradigm with a new security paradigm." This emphasis on advancing the modernization of the national security system and capacity demonstrates the Central Committee’s practical concern and farsightedness in coordinating development and security, and in harmonizing the construction of the new development paradigm and the new security paradigm. Centering on the four aspects proposed at the 20th CPC National Congress—improving the national security system, strengthening the capacity for maintaining national security, improving public safety governance, and refining the social governance system—the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed targeted reform measures across three areas: improving the national security system, refining mechanisms for public safety governance, and improving the social governance system, thereby further refining the systems and mechanisms of national security. Meanwhile, facing the urgent requirement posed by the intertwining of internal and external national security factors and the increasing impact of external national security risks, the Party Central Committee focused on the brand-new reform task of refining mechanisms for foreign-related national security and improving the capacity to maintain foreign-related national security. By persisting in securing high-quality development with high-level security, the Party provides a strong security guarantee for the steady and sustained progress of Chinese-path modernization.
(5) Persisting in Party leadership as the fundamental guarantee and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership over reform
"The Party’s leadership is the fundamental guarantee for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization." Comprehensively deepening reform is a comprehensive social transformation under the Party's leadership. Its means involve advancing the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, and its goal is to realize the flourishing and strengthening of the Party; it contains the dual logic of an advanced political party leading reform and reform advancing Party building. On the one hand, the underlying logic of persisting in the Party’s leadership over comprehensively deepening reform lies in the leadership of reform by an advanced political party. As a Marxist party, the practical basis and fundamental premise for the CPC to hold the leadership over reform is that the Party does not represent any interest group, power bloc, or privileged stratum; it has no special interests of its own, which ensures the comprehensiveness and thoroughness of reform. Only by possessing the advancement and purity of a Marxist party can it ensure that reform always serves the people and socialism, and that the correct direction of reform is maintained at all times. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee took "persisting in the Party’s overall leadership" as the primary principle for further comprehensively deepening reform and positioned the Party’s leadership as the fundamental guarantee for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization. This "fully highlights the strategic requirement of integrating the Party’s leadership throughout all fields and the entire process of further comprehensively deepening reform, and enhancing the ability to coordinate reform through the Party’s self-revolution."
On the other hand, persisting in the Party’s leadership over comprehensively deepening reform also adapts to the practical needs of strengthening Party building in the New Era. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized that further comprehensively deepening reform is an "inevitable requirement for further advancing the new great project of Party building in the New Era and building a stronger and more vigorous Marxist party." Simultaneously, it made strategic blueprints for improving the Party’s level of leadership over further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization, pointing out the important role of comprehensively deepening reform in strengthening Party building and improving Party leadership. Further comprehensively deepening reform faces a more complex practical situation and a more arduous historical task than in the past; there are more "hard bones" to gnaw [12] and more difficulties and challenges to resolve, which places new and higher demands on the Party’s governing capacity and leadership level. Focusing on improving the ability of Party committees at all levels to plan and advance reform, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee put forward a series of reform measures that advance with the times, such as refining the mechanisms for implementing the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, deepening the reform of the system for Party building, and further advancing the conduct of Party style, integrity, and the anti-corruption struggle. These measures effectively improve the Party's level of leadership over further comprehensively deepening reform, ensuring the Party always remains the firm leadership core of the cause of comprehensively deepening reform.
III. The Major Significance of Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform to Advance Chinese-path Modernization
On the basis of an in-depth analysis of the new situation and new requirements facing Chinese-path modernization, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee systematically elucidated major issues such as the direction and theme, practical principles, specific measures, and the fundamental guarantee of further comprehensively deepening reform. It "is a general mobilization and general deployment for pushing comprehensively deepening reform toward greater breadth and depth on the new journey in the New Era, and fully reflects the historical initiative to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advance the modernization of the state governance system and capacity." Further comprehensively deepening reform writes a new chapter for advancing Chinese-path modernization on the new journey in the New Era, and holds great significance for enriching and refining the theoretical system of Chinese-path modernization and opening up new frontiers for Chinese-path modernization.
(1) Enriching and developing the theory of socialist reform to provide theoretical guidance for advancing Chinese-path modernization
Theory does not arise out of thin air but is the result of ideological continuity and the gestation of the times; it is created under "circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past." [13] The theory of each era has different forms of expression while possessing entirely different content. The series of new ideas, new viewpoints, and new judgments regarding further comprehensively deepening reform to advance Chinese-path modernization from the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee have enriched and developed the theory of socialist reform, demonstrating the new vitality of socialist reform theory in the current era.
First, it enriches and develops the theory of basic social contradictions. Basic social contradictions run through the entire development of human society and are the general laws and objective material forces that determine the future trends of social development. "At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or—this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms—with the property relations within which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution." [14] This profoundly reveals the movement of contradictions between the productive forces and the relations of production and the laws of their development, finding a practical way forward for resolving basic social contradictions. Under socialist conditions, the basic social contradictions remain the contradictions between the productive forces and the relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure. However, these contradictions have been transformed from irreconcilable "external conflicts" into "contradictions among the people" [15] that can be unified; they can be resolved entirely through peaceful reform. This self-improvement and self-development of the socialist system is carried out on the basis of public ownership of the means of production, and is essentially different from Western-style "reformism" in terms of social formation and social system. Due to the universal establishment and wide application of socialist principles, the adaptation of the relations of production to the productive forces, and the superstructure to the economic base, has shifted from the historical "incompatibility" to a "basic compatibility," with the socialist system demonstrating immense superiority and strong vitality. Further comprehensively deepening reform to advance Chinese-path modernization emphasizes the achievement of the reform goals of "further liberating and developing social productive forces and increasing social vitality, and promoting better compatibility between the relations of production and productive forces, and between the superstructure and the economic base" through institutional changes and the construction of a system of institutions, contributing a new theoretical framework for resolving socialist basic contradictions.
Second, it enriches and develops the theory of socialist social revolution. Revolution is the inevitable result of social-historical development; it is the "locomotive of history" and a "powerful driving force for social and political progress." Marx pointed out that "Socialism is the declaration of the permanence of the revolution," which refers not only to the elimination of all old relations of production and social relations and the old ideas arising from them, but even more to the elimination of all class distinctions and their origins to achieve the most thorough social revolution. The social revolution proposed by Marx primarily refers to the highest form of class struggle—a political revolution in which the working class uses armed struggle to resist the bourgeoisie. However, "social revolution is the only true revolution, to which political and philosophical revolution must lead." [16] Social revolution is a critical reflection on and revolutionary construction of the existing world; it includes political and philosophical revolution but is not limited to them; it is a comprehensive social revolution and a holistic reshaping. During the period of socialist construction, the Marxist social revolution is manifested in the form of social revolution led by reform and the Party's self-revolution. "Reform is a profound revolution," and "reform and opening up is a new great revolution led by our Party among the people under the new conditions of the times." Raising reform to the height of social revolution highlights the comprehensive transformation of society by reform and endows social revolution with a contemporary connotation more suited to socialism with Chinese characteristics. This is not only a clarification of the characteristics and semantic expression of reform but also a reconstruction and grand expansion of social revolution, "pushing the theory of socialist reform to new heights."
Third, it enriches and develops the theory of the driving forces of socialist social development. Proceeding from the height of the general laws of human social-historical development, Marx believed that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles," thereby finding the direct driving force for the development of class societies. However, regarding the driving forces for the development of socialist society, the classical Marxist writers did not provide a direct answer, but only made general stipulations of principle. Engels pointed out that "so-called 'socialist society' is not anything immutable" but is a "society that is constantly changing and reforming." The driving force upon which socialist society relies for its existence and development lies in adopting a critical and revolutionary attitude, carrying out "constant changes and reforms" of the existing social system and social existence to achieve the "negation of the negation." Regarding modernization, Marx and Engels believed that future modernization would be one in which productive forces could be both greatly developed and fully utilized; it would be a modernization in which the independence and individuality of "all persons" and "each individual" could develop freely; and it would be a modernization in which the relations of production could adapt to the requirements of modern development. Consequently, the CPC consciously inherited and carried forward the spirit of historical initiative to "destroy the old world and build a new world," identifying the "constant changes and reforms" of socialist society as the use of reform to drive social change. In practice, it has further deepened the understanding of the laws of the Communist Party's governance, the laws of socialist construction, and the laws of the development of human society, pushing the theory of the driving forces of socialist social development to new heights. Further comprehensively deepening reform strives to achieve development that is of higher quality, more efficient, more equitable, more sustainable, and more secure. It is a profound transformation of ideological theory, organizational methods, state systems and governance systems, and broad public participation. It exhibits clear characteristics of being innovative, systematic, institutional, and people-centered, providing powerful momentum for promoting the development of socialist society and activating the majestic force of the Chinese people to comprehensively build a modern socialist country through Chinese-path modernization.
(2) Boosting the development of new quality productive forces to provide momentum and institutional support for advancing Chinese-path modernization
According to historical materialism, the contradictions between the productive forces and relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure of a given society, constitute the basic contradictions of that society, determining the replacement and change of social formations. The fundamental driving force for the progress of human society lies in the adjustment and transformation of the social mode of production from a lower to a higher level, and the practical movement of basic social contradictions from incompatibility to compatibility. From "reform" to "comprehensively deepening reform" and then to "further comprehensively deepening reform," what changes is the depth and breadth of reform, but "what remains unchanged is the adaptation to historical laws and the scientific grasp of the movement and developmental logic of the basic contradictions of Chinese society." The core logic of comprehensively deepening reform is to conform to the laws governing the movement of basic social contradictions, leading the transformation of the relations of production toward adaptation to the development of productive forces, and leading the transformation of the superstructure toward adaptation to the development of the economic base.
Further comprehensively deepening reform emphasizes dual objectives and dual strategic tasks: one is the goal of developing the productive forces, and the other is the goal of developing the relations of production and the superstructure. This reflects the multi-dimensional and systemic nature of the goals and tasks for further comprehensively deepening reform. From the perspective of the productive forces goal, further comprehensively deepening reform requires the formation of modern new quality productive forces. Productive forces are the most active and revolutionary factor in the mode of production, as well as the fundamental factor determining social development. Developing new quality productive forces is a brand-new subject of our times, as well as the developmental objective and forward direction of further comprehensively deepening reform. New quality productive forces represent an advanced state of productive forces led by scientific and technological innovation; its constituent elements are revolutionary breakthroughs in technology, innovative allocation of factors, and industrial transformation and upgrading. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made a series of strategic deployments centered on the technological, factor, and industrial conditions for developing new quality productive forces. These deployments push technological innovation toward common-interest [17], frontier, and disruptive fields; promote the concentration of production factors toward new quality productive forces; and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries into modern ones. This solidifies the favorable conditions and institutional foundations for developing new quality productive forces, providing the driving support for advancing Chinese-path modernization.
From the perspective of the developmental goals for the relations of production and the superstructure, further comprehensively deepening reform requires the formation of new-type relations of production and a new-type superstructure that are compatible with new quality productive forces. The first aspect is accelerating the formation of new-type relations of production. The relations of production exert a counter-effect on the productive forces, influencing and constraining their development; they are the concentrated focus and direct point of application for comprehensively deepening reform. New quality productive forces have brought about factor expansion and efficiency improvements across the entire domains of producers, objects of labor, and means of production, which inevitably places new and higher demands on the corresponding relations of production. Therefore, “to develop new quality productive forces, we must further comprehensively deepen reform and form new-type relations of production compatible with them.” These new-type relations of production are manifested in the national institutional and governance systems that correspond to new quality productive forces. In this sense, international competition over new quality productive forces appears on the surface to be a competition of new technologies and industries, but in essence, it is a competition of systems. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee focused on improving the systems and mechanisms for developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions [18]. It coordinated the deepening of reform in the economic system, the science and technology system, the administrative system, the ecological civilization system, and the talent system. This serves to cultivate a market environment, innovation environment, government service environment, green environment, personnel environment, external environment, and a world-class business environment suitable for the development of new quality productive forces, providing the necessary support in terms of the relations of production.
The second aspect is accelerating the advancement of reforms in the realm of the superstructure. The economic base and the superstructure constitute another important aspect of the basic contradictions of society [19]; the economic base determines the superstructure, and the superstructure must adapt to the developmental state of the economic base. Since the start of the New Era, the Communist Party of China has viewed the issue of superstructural change through a brand-new perspective and a broad historical lens. It creatively proposed the general objective of improving and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of the state governance system and governance capacity. This added rich institutional elements and contemporary connotations to socialist modernization, anchored the overall direction and goals for comprehensively deepening reform, and launched an unprecedented total revolution in superstructural change. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee continued the practical main line of institutional building, centering on eight areas: whole-process people’s democracy, the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, the systems and mechanisms for culture, guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods, the ecological civilization system, national security, national defense and the armed forces, and improving the Party's level of leadership. By continuously increasing the intensity of interest adjustments and institutional changes, the Session promoted the establishment of rules and systems across all fields of Chinese-path modernization. This urges the various aspects of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics to become more mature and stereotypical [20], as part of the unremitting effort toward the general goal of modernizing the state governance system and governance capacity, thereby providing a powerful institutional guarantee for developing new quality productive forces and advancing Chinese-path modernization. In short, developing new quality productive forces is the future direction and powerful engine for advancing Chinese-path modernization. Further comprehensively deepening reform must achieve both the tasks of developing new quality productive forces and the tasks of forming the new-type relations of production and superstructure compatible with them, providing powerful momentum and institutional support for Chinese-path modernization.
(3) Promoting the reform of the global governance system to create a favorable external environment for advancing Chinese-path modernization.
At present, the world's once-in-a-century changes are accelerating [21], the pattern of international interests is being readjusted, and the external environment faced by Chinese-path modernization is becoming increasingly complex. Specifically, in economic terms, the global recovery is sluggish, the trend of anti-globalization is rising, transnational investment is low, and international trade frictions are intensifying. In terms of security, regional conflicts are worsening, local disputes are frequent, geopolitical risks are rising, and peace and development face a major crisis. In terms of culture, some countries leverage their control over international discourse and cultural soft power to vigorously promote the "Clash of Civilizations" theory and "Western-centrism," exacerbating ideological conflicts. A profound and grand change of the times is unfolding on an unprecedented scale. Where the global governance system is going and how it should be reformed is not only a question of the world and the times, but also a question of China and its people. In today’s world of deepening multi-polarization and economic globalization, no country can thrive in isolation. Only by assuming shared responsibilities, taking collective action, and reforming and improving the global governance system can the world truly share in peace and development. Comprehensively deepening reform requires "a more stable international environment, closer international exchanges, a broader international market, and a more just international order." To this end, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized that China will firmly pursue an independent foreign policy of peace, promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, practice the common values of humanity, and implement the three major Global Initiatives [22]. It advocates for an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, participating in and leading the reform and construction of the global governance system. This demonstrates the global vision [23] of comprehensively deepening reform for the common development of all countries and its contemporary concern for the future direction of humanity.
"The second revolution of China, reform and opening up, has not only profoundly changed China but also profoundly influenced the world." Reform and opening up not only conformed to the Chinese people's strong desire to seek development and progress and realize national rejuvenation, but also aligned with the contemporary trend of the world's people longing for freedom and beauty and pursuing peace and development; it is the inevitable choice of history and the people. For more than forty years of reform and opening up, our country has always grasped historical laws and followed historical trends, coordinating domestic and international themes of the times. Holding high the banner of peace, development, cooperation, and win-win results, and adhering to the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, China has committed to stabilizing the international situation and peaceful order, promoting the common values of humanity, and playing an important constructive role in maintaining world peace and regional stability. At the same time, the CPC persists in maintaining a global vision, actively assuming international responsibilities, and taking into account the developmental needs of other countries while promoting its own development. Taking the "Belt and Road" construction as an opportunity, it has created new platforms for cooperation and practice, promoting the sharing of developmental opportunities among all nations to build a beautiful world, fully demonstrating the responsibility of a major power. It can be said that China's vivid practice of firmly promoting reform and opening up has activated the engine of global development, injected powerful force into world peace and development, and provided a successful example and practical model for promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, signaling China's propositions and contributions in the reform process.
"The modernization we pursue is not one where China prospers alone, but one where we look forward to realizing modernization together with all countries, including the vast number of developing nations." The key to achieving this beautiful goal lies in universally establishing new-type international relations characterized by mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation, and promoting the global governance system to move in a more fair, just, and reasonable direction, providing a strong institutional guarantee for world peace and development. In the current era, China's task of promoting world peace and development is heavier and its responsibility is greater. Facing a more difficult and complex external environment, we must firmly grasp the direction and steps of further comprehensively deepening reform and maintain strategic resolve, "staying calm and observing changes with a clear mind amidst the complex and volatile international situation." We must further strengthen our determination and belief in reform, resolutely discard old closed and conservative ideas, break through the ideological and institutional constraints that restrict development, and deepen mechanisms for global cooperation and communication. This will allow various developmental vitalities to fully burst forth, strengthening the reform and construction of the global governance system with the concept of fairness and justice and through firm, pragmatic actions, thus promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for humanity and creating a favorable external environment for advancing Chinese-path modernization.
Comprehensively deepening reform vividly interprets the Chinese characteristics, essential requirements, and major principles of Chinese-path modernization, making a major contribution to promoting the modernization of human society and enriching the theory thereof. China resolutely discards the old path of modernization characterized by outward expansion and colonial plunder taken by Western countries. It relies closely on reform to enhance its own vitality and stimulate endogenous momentum, opening a path of Chinese-path modernization with reform and innovation as the fundamental driving force. The path of Chinese-path modernization breaks the myth that "modernization = Westernization" and creates a brand-new style of modernization that transcends Western modernization. It not only "makes the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics a system with significant advantages and strong vitality," but also "provides a brand-new choice for developing countries to move toward modernization, contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to humanity's exploration for building a better social system." Further comprehensively deepening reform endows Chinese-path modernization with the contemporary character of peaceful development and win-win cooperation, constituting the distinct Chinese characteristics and global dimension of Chinese-path modernization, and forming Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to the questions of the world and the times. China’s comprehensive deepening of reform advances Chinese-path modernization to "resolve the difficult problems, chronic maladies, and crises that capitalist modernization cannot solve, and break the 'modernization curse' faced by contemporary developing countries; it is a great new discovery of scientific socialism." While achieving its own transformation through further comprehensively deepening reform, Chinese-path modernization promotes the in-depth development of world modernization, demonstrating universal significance in world history and "becoming a new form of human civilization accepted and recognized by the world."
IV. Conclusion
Based on the new historical starting point of Chinese-path modernization and focused on the urgent need to realize the central tasks proposed by the 20th CPC National Congress, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made a series of overall plans and strategic deployments for "further comprehensively deepening reform centered on advancing Chinese-path modernization." This established the practical theme, clarified the step-by-step arrangements, and planned the future blueprint for further comprehensively deepening reform on the new journey of the New Era. It profoundly responded to and scientifically answered the major contemporary question of "why and how to comprehensively deepen reform." Further comprehensively deepening reform insists on taking the economy as the lead, innovation as the driver, systemic thinking as the core, security as the guarantee, and Party leadership as the fundamental assurance. It both aligns with existing reform blueprints, reflecting historical continuity and gradualism, and displays the prominent characteristics of further comprehensively deepening reform, highlighting its contemporary nature and leapfrog progress, thereby providing powerful momentum and institutional guarantee for advancing Chinese-path modernization. It can be said that the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee further "manifested the firm determination and strong sense of mission to carry the reform through to the end; it is a re-declaration of what banner to hold and what path to take on the new journey of the New Era. It is of major and far-reaching significance for comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization." It represents an ideological leap and theoretical breakthrough for the Party in the process of comprehensively deepening reform, marking another major step forward on the new journey toward building a strong country and national rejuvenation, opening up a new realm of development.
Comprehensively deepening reform is a comprehensive and profound social revolution [24]. It emphasizes both the understanding of the world through reform—by mastering a scientific worldview and methodology—and the transformation of the world through reform, driving revolutionary changes in the actual world and continuously realizing the world-historical purpose of human development and progress. The series of new ideas, new viewpoints, and new judgments regarding the further comprehensive deepening of reform to advance Chinese-path modernization possess rich theoretical connotations and clear practical orientations. They manifest significant theoretical, practical, and epochal significance. These elements constitute an organic component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, demonstrating that the theoretical consciousness and historical initiative [25] of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people in advancing reform have reached new heights.
Building a great modern socialist country in all respects through Chinese-path modernization requires both a tenacious confidence and determination in modernization to handle the various challenges that will inevitably exist on the road ahead, as well as a firm resolve to further comprehensively deepen reform to resolve and address these challenges, ensuring they become the fundamental driving force for advancing Chinese-path modernization. Therefore, as the further deepening and expansion of comprehensively deepening reform unfolds, it will surely better adapt to the new requirements of Chinese-path modernization, follow its new principles, and shape its new kinetic energy. This process will endow Chinese-path modernization with distinct reform characteristics, inexhaustible innovative vitality, a peaceful choice of path, and a broad concern for the world [26]. It will provide the institutional guarantee and inject the fundamental impetus for advancing the construction of a strong nation and the rejuvenation of the ethnic group [27], opening broad prospects for humanity’s institutional exploration of a better life and continuously creating a new form of human civilization.
Article Source: Tansuo (Discovery), October 18, 2024 Internet Editor: Jingmu