Wang Yina: The Key Driving Force for Opening Up a New Realm of Governance
The advancing with the times and self-improvement of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics require all fields to continuously break through institutional and programmatic barriers and activate the momentum for innovative development amid the comprehensive deepening of reform. This involves advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity through a broad and profound revolution. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized "profound revolution" in relation to a series of major strategic deployments. These important expositions both uphold the basic tenets of Marxism and closely integrate with the vivid practices of the New Era, providing a fundamental compliance for resolving development difficulties and enhancing institutional vitality.
On December 31, 2012, during the second collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that reform and opening up is a profound revolution; we must persist in the correct direction and advance along the correct path. Reform and opening up is the "critical move" [1] that decides the fate of contemporary China; it is the inevitable path to persist in and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics and to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Positioning reform and opening up as a "profound revolution" is both the Party’s scientific judgment on the historical orientation of reform and opening up and an action guide for comprehensively deepening reform in the New Era. Since the beginning of reform and opening up, our Party has persisted in liberating the mind and seeking truth from facts. Based on the basic national conditions of the primary stage of socialism, we have organically combined the basic socialist economic system with the market economy system, which has both solidified the foundations of the socialist system and stimulated the vitality of various market entities, achieving historical progress in the productive forces. From the early pilot programs in Special Economic Zones to the institutional integrated innovation in Pilot Free Trade Zones, and from breaking through the dual-track price system [2] to deepening the market-based allocation of factors of production, this "profound revolution" has driven China to achieve a historical leap from a planned economy to a market economy, and from being closed or semi-closed to high-level opening up to the outside world. Reform and opening up is a process that is always "in progress" and never "finished." As the great changes unseen in a century accelerate their evolution and new problems and challenges emerge in an endless stream, we are required to follow the strategic deployments of the Party Central Committee regarding further comprehensively deepening reform and continue to push the profound revolutions in various fields to deeper levels.
On March 1, 2013, at the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Central Party School and the opening of the 2013 spring semester, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that at the very beginning of reform and opening up, the Party Central Committee stressed that realizing the Four Modernizations [3] is a profound and great revolution. In this great revolution, we have advanced by continuously resolving new contradictions. Therefore, all comrades in the Party must be good at learning and good at "re-learning." The transition from the "Four Modernizations" to "Chinese-path modernization" represents a step-by-step exploratory goal for the essence of socialism; even more, it is a relay race of profound revolution where one generation follows another in a continuous line of descent. In this profound revolution, leading officials shoulder major responsibilities such as guiding the direction, coordinating the overall situation, and promoting implementation. Facing new circumstances, new problems, and new contradictions, leading officials can only enhance the scientific nature, foresight, and proactivity of their work by strengthening their learning. Only then can they ensure that leadership and decision-making reflect the characteristics of the times, grasp objective laws, and are full of creativity, thereby overcoming the problems of "capability deficiency," "capability anxiety," [4] and lagging capabilities. In strengthening their learning, leading officials must rectify their attitudes, taking learning as a pursuit, a hobby, and a healthy lifestyle, ensuring they are fond of and find joy in learning. The content of learning must take Marxism as its guide and cover all aspects of knowledge, including the Party's line, principles, and policies, as well as national laws and regulations. Learning methods must integrate theory with practice, learning with specific problems in mind, so as to achieve learning through doing and doing through learning, applying what has been learned. The Chinese Communists have relied on learning to get to where they are today, and will inevitably rely on learning to move toward the future.
On May 26, 2017, while presiding over the 41st collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that promoting the formation of green development modes and lifestyles is an inevitable requirement for implementing the New Development Philosophy [5] and is a profound revolution in the concept of development. On June 23 of the same year, during an inspection in Shanxi, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that persisting in green development is a profound revolution in the concept of development. Ecological civilization construction is a fundamental plan concerning the eternal development of the Chinese nation; promoting the green transformation of development modes and lifestyles is a strategic choice of the Party Central Committee in its coordinated advancement of the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan." Ecological and environmental problems are, in the final analysis, problems of development modes and lifestyles. We must achieve a fundamental transformation of development modes by constructing an industrial structure with high technological content, low resource consumption, and low environmental pollution, and promote the overall leap of human civilization forms by advocating simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon lifestyles. Green is the defining color of high-quality development, and new quality productive forces are themselves green productive forces. Green development is by no means a simple fine-tuning of the development model, but a fundamental revolution against the traditional concept of development. On the new journey, we must correctly handle the relationship between economic development and ecological environmental protection, firmly establishing the concept that "protecting the ecological environment is protecting productive forces, and improving the ecological environment is developing productive forces." We must actively grasp the opportunities for the development of new quality productive forces, and coordinately promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth. In the sphere of production, we must continuously promote breakthroughs in green technology, accelerate the green transformation of traditional industries, and cultivate and strengthen emerging industries. In the sphere of daily life, we must strengthen publicity and education, enhance the awareness of conservation and environmental protection among the whole people, and make green lifestyles a conscious social action, laying a solid foundation for a modernization featuring harmony between humanity and nature.
On July 19, 2017, at the 37th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that promoting green agricultural development is a profound revolution in the concept of agricultural development and is also the main direction for supply-side structural reform in agriculture. Green agricultural development is the inevitable path for building a strong agricultural country. To deepen supply-side structural reform in agriculture, we must coordinate the relationship between agricultural production and ecological environmental protection, promoting the formation of an agricultural development pattern that matches the carrying capacity of resources and the environment and coordinates production, life, and ecology. The core of promoting green agricultural development lies in breaking traditional agricultural development paths, achieving a transformation of agricultural development from the pursuit of yield to the coordinated development of quality, efficiency, and ecology, reflecting a fundamental shift in China's mode of agricultural development. Positioning green agricultural development as a "profound revolution" in the concept of agricultural development reflects the deepened practice of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization in the "Three Rural Issues" [6] field. By establishing ecological compensation mechanisms and improving the standard system for the entire green agricultural industry chain, we will gradually build a modern agricultural institutional system that is "resource-conserving, environment-friendly, and ecologically preservative," solidifying the institutional foundation for high-quality agricultural development. At present, it is necessary to lead with the deepening of the reform of the rural management system, strengthen research on key technologies such as biological breeding and smart agriculture, and promote the deep integration of digital technologies such as big data and the Internet of Things with the entire green agricultural industry chain, constructing a modern agricultural development system that combines technological support, institutional guarantees, and market drivers.
On October 16, 2022, in the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that comprehensively governing the country according to law is a profound revolution in national governance, which concerns the Party's governance and the rejuvenation of the country, the happiness and well-being of the people, and the long-term peace and stability of the Party and the country. "The law is the beginning of governance." [7] When the rule of law flourishes, the country flourishes; when the rule of law declines, the country falls into chaos. Since the founding of New China, from the initial exploration of socialist legal system building to the establishment of the strategy of governing the country according to law after reform and opening up, and then to the in-depth advancement of comprehensively governing the country according to law in the New Era, the rule of law has always resonated at the same frequency as the cause of the Party and the state. The shift from "legal system" (fǎzhì) to "rule of law" (fǎzhì) [8] reflects a profound revolution in national governance, highlighting the authority and comprehensiveness of the law in national governance. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee clearly defined the overall goal of building a system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and building a socialist country under the rule of law, reflecting our country's firm determination to advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity through the rule of law, pushing China's rule of law construction into a new stage. In the new stage of development, facing a complex international situation and domestic tasks of reform, development, and stability, comprehensively governing the country according to law has become the fundamental strategy for resolving major problems, maintaining fairness and justice, and building a foundation for long-term peace and stability. To comprehensively advance the rule of law, we must take Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law as our guide and persist in the organic unity of Party leadership, the people being masters of the country, and governing the country according to law. We must comprehensively promote scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, impartial administration of justice, and law-abidingness by all. We must use the rule of law to consolidate reform consensus, regulate development behavior, and resolve contradictions and conflicts, exerting the role of the rule of law in consolidating foundations, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting the long term, so as to provide a stable, fair, and transparent rule-of-law environment for comprehensively building a modern socialist country.