Mu Hong: Better Leverage the Leading Role of Economic System Reform
Exerting the guiding role of economic structural reform has been a vital experience in the historical achievements and transformations of the Party and state’s cause since the advent of reform and opening up. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has made the major strategic decision to comprehensively deepen reform, integrating it into the "Four Comprehensives" strategic layout. It has clearly proposed focusing on economic structural reform and exerting its guiding role, initiating a brand-new situation for our country’s reform and opening up through a series of epoch-making ideological transformations and practical innovations. In the recently published Volumes I and II of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s On Persisting in Comprehensively Deepening Reform, the most significant content running throughout the work is the important discourse on economic structural reform. These important expositions are the concentrated manifestation of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of new ideas, viewpoints, and judgments regarding the comprehensive deepening of reform in the economic field, demonstrating powerful truth and practical force in guiding new practices and leading new transformations.
Continuous theoretical deepening provides the fundamental adherence for exerting the guiding role of economic structural reform
Volumes I and II of On Persisting in Comprehensively Deepening Reform include 165 important manuscripts by General Secretary Xi Jinping, of which nearly 100 concern economic structural reform. In these manuscripts, General Secretary Xi Jinping, focusing on the domestic and international "two dimensions" [1] and rooted in the great practice of China's economic and social development, has continuously summarized and deepened our understanding of the laws governing economic structural reform in the New Era. He has creatively put forward a series of new ideas, viewpoints, and judgments, which represent the latest theoretical achievements in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxist political economy. They constitute both the "economic chapter" of reform thought and the "reform chapter" of economic thought.
The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee was epoch-making, initiating a new journey of comprehensively deepening reform and advancing reform through systematic, holistic design in the New Era; it also opened a new chapter in economic structural reform. Important manuscripts in Volume I, such as "Explanation on the 'Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform'" and "Assiduously Aligning Thinking with the Spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee," provide profound expositions on the vital status of economic structural reform in the New Era. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that to remain unswerving in taking economic construction as the center, we must remain unswerving in taking economic structural reform as the focus. Economic structural reform has a major influence and conductive effect on reforms in other areas. We must persist in taking economic structural reform as the main axis and strive to achieve new breakthroughs in reforms of important fields and key links, thereby leading and driving reforms in other sectors. In manuscripts such as "Using Both the 'Invisible Hand' and the 'Visible Hand' Well," "Unswervingly Persisting in Our Country's Basic Economic System to Promote the Healthy Development of Various Ownership Economies," and "On Deepening Supply-Side Structural Reform," General Secretary Xi Jinping provided in-depth expositions on directional and principled issues concerning the overall situation of China’s development. He emphasized that economic structural reform is the focus of comprehensively deepening reform, the core issue of which is handling the relationship between the government and the market well—allowing the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation and better exerting the role of the government. We must adhere to the direction of socialist market economy reform and persist in and improve the basic socialist economic system. Our country is so large and its population so numerous, and it is in and will long remain in the primary stage of socialism [2]. To push economic and social development forward, all parties must work together; as the saying goes, "when everyone adds fuel, the flames rise high." [3] The public-sector economy and the non-public-sector economy should complement and reinforce each other, rather than excluding or neutralizing one another. After the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, centering on the implementation of the New Development Philosophy, General Secretary Xi Jinping scientifically grasped the dialectical relationship between reform and development. In manuscripts such as "Leading Development with the New Development Philosophy" and "How to View the New Normal, and What to Do in the New Normal," he pointed out that persisting in innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared development is a profound transformation concerning the overall situation of our country's development. We must emancipate our minds, seek truth from facts, and advance with the times. In accordance with the development philosophy of innovation, coordination, greenness, openness, and sharing, we must make innovative theoretical generalizations and forward-looking policy arrangements. This includes increasing the intensity of structural reforms, correcting distortions in factor allocation, expanding effective supply, improving the adaptability and flexibility of the supply structure, and increasing total factor productivity. Having reached its current stage, China's development and reform are highly integrated; every step forward in development requires a step forward in reform, and the continuous advancement of reform will in turn provide strong momentum for development. We must both use the New Development Philosophy to guide and lead the comprehensive deepening of reform and, through deepening reform, provide the institutional and mechanistic guarantee for the full, accurate, and comprehensive implementation of the New Development Philosophy.
The report to the 19th CPC National Congress proposed that China's economy has transitioned from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development, and is currently in a critical period of transforming the development mode, optimizing the economic structure, and shifting growth drivers. Simultaneously, the profound changes unseen in a century are intertwined with the pandemic of the century; a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is in the ascendant, and the environment for China’s development is facing profound and complex changes. The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has accurately grasped the new characteristics of China's development stage and the new changes in the external environment. It regards persisting in high-quality development as the "unyielding logic" [4] of the New Era, focuses on institutional and mechanistic obstacles affecting high-quality development, and has made a series of profound expositions and major deployments for deepening economic structural reform. Regarding a better coordination of the relationship between reform and development, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in manuscripts such as "Promoting the Deep Integration and Efficient Linkage of Reform and Development" that reform has reached a new juncture. Only by comprehensively deepening reform can we better practice the New Development Philosophy, solve development difficulties, enhance development vitality, and cultivate development advantages. We must continue to grasp the internal connection between reform and development, ensuring that reform better interfaces with the needs of development, the expectations of the grassroots, and the aspirations of the people, thereby promoting the deep integration and efficient linkage of reform and development. Regarding the key tasks of reform, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in manuscripts such as "Accelerating the Construction of a Modern Economic System," "Focusing Reform Efforts on Promoting the Formation of a New Development Paradigm," and "Achieving Greater Breakthroughs and Demonstrating Greater Accomplishments in Reform During the New Development Stage" that we must combine the continuous advancement of reform with serving the overall work of the Party and the state. Centering on strategic goals and tasks such as implementing the New Development Philosophy, constructing a New Development Paradigm, and promoting high-quality development, we must advance creative and leading reforms and improve the institutional guarantees for a modern economic system. Regarding the prevention and handling of major risks and challenges, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in manuscripts such as "Relying on Reform to Respond to Changes and Open New Ground: Being Adept at Using Institutional Advantages to Respond to Risks, Challenges, and Shocks" that we must both resolve major risks through deepening reform and ensure the smooth advancement of reform by preventing and resolving major risks. We must be adept at accumulating, storing, and planning momentum, while also being adept at identifying, seeking, and responding to changes—firmly seizing the keys, actively encouraging exploration, highlighting the effectiveness of reform, and driving reform to better serve the overall situation of economic and social development. These important discourses guide us in accurately grasping the requirements of the new development stage, creating favorable institutional conditions for the full, accurate, and comprehensive implementation of the New Development Philosophy, the construction of a New Development Paradigm, and the promotion of high-quality development.
The 20th CPC National Congress established the central task of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects, achieving the Second Centenary Goal, and comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization. It clarified that high-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in all respects. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made systematic plans and comprehensive deployments for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization, focusing reforms in various fields and aspects on these goals. In Volume II of On Persisting in Comprehensively Deepening Reform, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in manuscripts such as "Taking the Comprehensive Deepening of Reform as the Fundamental Driving Force for Advancing Chinese-Path Modernization" and "Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform Must Closely Target the Theme of Advancing Chinese-Path Modernization" that we must treat the comprehensive deepening of reform as the fundamental driving force for advancing Chinese-path modernization and as a major lever for stabilizing the overall situation, responding to changes, and opening new prospects. We must maintain the correct direction, uphold the fundamentals and break new ground, and work with practical results to write a new chapter of reform and opening up on the new journey. We must anchor ourselves to the overarching goal of improving and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of China's system and capacity for governance. We must persist in combining goal-orientation with problem-orientation—going where the problems are and targeting them for rectification—resolutely breaking down ideological concepts and institutional drawbacks that hinder Chinese-path modernization, striving to resolve deep-seated institutional obstacles and structural contradictions, and continuously injecting strong momentum and providing powerful institutional guarantees for Chinese-path modernization. In manuscripts such as the "Explanation on the ‘Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese-Path Modernization’," "Deeply Studying and Implementing the Spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee to Effectively Grasp Implementation," and "Several Major Theoretical and Practical Issues in Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform," General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that deepening economic structural reform remains the focus of further comprehensively deepening reform. We must persist in upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground, neither taking the old path of being closed and stagnant nor the crooked path of changing flags [5]. We must highlight the priority of economic structural reform, resolutely eliminate institutional drawbacks that affect and restrict high-quality development, improve relations of production to better adapt to new quality productive forces, and shape new drivers and advantages for development. Facing drastic changes in the external environment, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in manuscripts such as "Promoting Deep-Level Reform and High-Quality Development through High-Level Opening Up" and "Comprehensively Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Joint Construction of the 'Belt and Road'" that we should steadily expand institutional opening up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards. We must accelerate the creation of new heights for opening up, build a new system for a higher-level open economy, and accelerate the construction of a New Development Paradigm. Certain countries are engaging in "small yards with high fences," tariff barriers, and the politicization, instrumentalization, weaponization, and "over-securitization" of economic and trade issues, forcing enterprises to take sides and make choices that run counter to economic laws. This does not conform to market rules or the general trend of openness. We must jointly maintain an international environment of openness and cooperation. These important discourses represent both a theoretical elevation of the historical experience of reform and opening up and an innovative creation for promoting high-quality economic and social development under new circumstances. They possess new characteristics of the times and hold major guiding significance for better exerting the guiding role of economic structural reform within the process of further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization.
Continuous expansion in practice drives historical achievements in economic structural reform
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the personal leadership and command of General Secretary Xi Jinping, economic structural reform has been deployed across all fronts and advanced systematically. Efforts have focused on resolving the prominent problems facing China's development through institutional and mechanistic means, laying a solid institutional foundation for accelerating the construction of a New Development Paradigm and promoting high-quality development, while injecting powerful momentum into economic development.
Persisting in and implementing the "two unswervinglys." [6] General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that persisting in and improving the basic economic system—in which public ownership remains the mainstay while diverse forms of ownership develop together—is a vital pillar for consolidating and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The Party and the state persist in and improve the basic socialist economic system, unswervingly consolidating and developing the public-sector economy, and unswervingly encouraging, supporting, and guiding the development of the non-public-sector economy. We must persist in and implement the "two unswervinglys" to ensure that various ownership economies use productive forces equally according to the law, participate in market competition fairly, and receive equal legal protection, thereby promoting complementary advantages and the common development of all ownership economies. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have unswervingly consolidated and developed the public-sector economy. Focusing on resolving long-standing deep-seated contradictions and problems facing the development of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), we have concentrated on strengthening and improving the Party's leadership over SOEs, improving the management system of state-owned assets, and strengthening supervision to prevent the loss of state assets. We have continuously increased the intensity of market-oriented reforms, focusing on solving a batch of long-standing problems that had remained unresolved—such as the transition to corporate systems and the stripping away of SOEs' "social functions" [7]—promoting the optimized layout of the state-owned economy, and encouraging the concentration of state capital in important industries and key fields. As a result, the vitality, control, influence, and risk-resistance capacity of the state-owned economy have been continuously enhanced. We have introduced reform measures at multiple levels to encourage, support, and guide the development and expansion of the non-public-sector economy, formulated and implemented the Private Economy Promotion Law, and focused on solving the difficulties and high costs of financing for private enterprises. We have also worked to reduce cost burdens, strengthen the protection of property rights, and build a "pro-business and clean" [8] new type of relationship between government and business, creating a better environment and providing more opportunities for the development of private enterprises. We are improving the modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics, promoting the entrepreneurial spirit, accelerating the construction of world-class enterprises, and stimulating the internal motivation and creative vitality of all types of market entities.
Promoting institutional and mechanistic innovation conducive to the development of new quality productive forces. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that productive forces are the fundamental driving force of human social development and the ultimate cause of all social change and political transformation. New quality productive forces are characterized by innovation playing the leading role; they break away from traditional economic growth modes and development paths for productive forces, possessing the characteristics of high technology, high efficiency, and high quality. They represent an advanced state of productive forces that aligns with the New Development Philosophy. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has clarified the strategic direction of innovation-driven development, strengthened the Party's centralized and unified leadership over scientific and technological work, systematically advanced the reform of the science and technology system, and improved the new-style national mobilization system [9]. It has deployed national strategic scientific and technological forces, perfected mechanisms for integrating science and technology with the economy, dismantled institutional barriers restricting the initiative of researchers, optimized the ecosystem for open innovation, and stimulated the innovative vitality of the entire society. Simultaneously, the Party has persisted in driving industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation, accelerated the construction of a modern industrial system supported by the real economy, and improved systems to enhance the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains. This has promoted the formation of new quality productive forces in practice, demonstrating their strong momentum and support for high-quality development. After the 20th CPC National Congress, addressing new situations and changes both at home and abroad, General Secretary Xi Jinping further pointed out that high-quality development requires guideance from new theories of productive forces. Developing new quality productive forces is an inherent requirement and a major focus for promoting high-quality development. We must further comprehensively deepen reform to form new relations of production that are compatible with them. We are accelerating institutional and mechanistic innovation, advancing reforms in education, science, and talent in an integrated manner, and improving systems for the deep integration of scientific and industrial innovation. We are focusing on clearing bottlenecks and obstructions [10] that restrict the development of new quality productive forces, facilitating the clustering of various advanced production factors toward their development, and promoting their accelerated growth.
Constructing a unified, open, competitive, and orderly market system. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the need to adhere to the reform direction of the socialist market economy, focusing on giving full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation and better exercising the role of the government. This involves accelerating the construction of a national unified large market and the improvement of the macroeconomic governance system. Building a unified, open, competitive, and orderly market system is the foundation for allowing the market to play a decisive role in resource allocation. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have adhered to the reform direction of the socialist market economy, maintaining the combination of an effective market and a capable government, and advancing market-oriented reforms in both breadth and depth. We have perfected basic market systems, improved systems for property rights protection, market access, fair competition, and social credit, and pushed forward reforms in tender and bidding management, the standard system, and economic statistics. We are building a law-based economy and a credit-based economy to consolidate the foundational support for market operations. In constructing a national unified large market, we have reformed the market supervision system, strengthened anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition oversight, and cleared away various regulations and practices that hindered the development of a national unified market and fair competition. We have advanced the reform of market-based allocation of production factors, improved market-determined pricing mechanisms, and refined the distribution system to promote the smooth flow of all factors and the efficient allocation of resources, thereby fully releasing market potential. Centered on smoothing the domestic circulation, we have organically combined the strategy of expanding domestic demand with deepening supply-side structural reform. We are accelerating the cultivation of a complete internal demand system, with a focus on improving long-term mechanisms for expanding consumption, deepening the reform of the investment and financing system, perfecting mechanisms for government investment to effectively drive private investment, and strengthening long-term mechanisms for private enterprises to participate in major national projects. These efforts leverage China's ultra-large-scale market advantage and accelerate the formation of a high-standard market system.
Improving the macroeconomic governance system. Improving a macroeconomic governance system that takes national development planning as its strategic guide, uses fiscal and monetary policies as its primary tools, and ensures close coordination among policies for employment, industry, investment, consumption, environmental protection, and regional development—characterized by optimized targets, reasonable division of labor, and efficient coordination—represents a major innovation in the theory and practice of macro-control by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have grasped the requirements of macroeconomic governance, perfected the system of macro-control institutions, and coordinately advanced reforms in key areas such as finance, taxation, and banking, thereby enhancing the consistency of macro-policy orientation and significantly improving the efficacy of macroeconomic governance. We have perfected the national strategic planning system and policy coordination mechanisms, incorporating both economic and non-economic policies into assessments of macro-policy consistency, improving expectation management mechanisms, and refining cross-cyclical policy design and counter-cyclical adjustment mechanisms. We have deepened the reform of the fiscal and tax systems, continuously advanced the reform of the budget management system, fully implemented performance-based budget management, streamlined fiscal relations between the central and local governments, improved the fiscal transfer payment system, advanced reforms in fiscal systems below the provincial level, and perfected the government debt management system. We have also refined the tax system and its administration, optimized the tax structure, and improved the systems for local and direct taxes. In deepening financial system reform, we have accelerated the development of a modern central banking system, continuously improved the "twin-pillar" regulatory framework of monetary and macro-prudential policies, deepened market-based reforms of interest and exchange rates, and improved incentive and restraint mechanisms for financial services to support the real economy. We have strengthened the development of a multi-level capital market, regulated and guided the healthy development of capital in accordance with the law, and improved the financial regulatory system to safeguard the bottom line against systemic risks.
Refining the institutional foundation for promoting common prosperity. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that Chinese-path modernization is the socialist modernization of common prosperity for all people. We persist in taking the realization of the people’s aspiration for a better life as the starting and ending point of our modernization drive, striving to maintain and promote social fairness and justice, promoting common prosperity for all, and resolutely preventing polarization. We must implement the people-centered development philosophy, focusing on the most immediate and practical interests of the people to advance reforms in key areas, thereby continuously enhancing the people's sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security, and steadily promoting common prosperity. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have firmly grasped the essential requirements of common prosperity. Centered on guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods, we have introduced a series of pragmatic reform measures in areas such as promoting high-quality and full employment, improving the income distribution system, refining the social security system, providing education that satisfies the people, building a Healthy China, and promoting the equalization of basic public services. To resolve the "urgent, difficult, and anxious" problems [11] of the masses, we have focused on narrowing regional and urban-rural gaps. We have improved mechanisms for regional coordinated development, promoting a new pattern in the Great Western Development, achieving new breakthroughs in the full revitalization of Northeast China, accelerating the rise of the Central Region, and hastening modernization in the Eastern Region. We have advanced the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. We have also promoted ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin, accelerated the construction of a regional economic layout and territorial space system characterized by complementary advantages and high-quality development. We have improved the mechanisms for integrated urban-rural development, steadily advanced the reform of the rural land system, actively constructed a new type of agricultural management system, and perfected support systems for strengthening, benefiting, and enriching farmers. We innovated poverty alleviation mechanisms, won the battle against extreme poverty, and established mechanisms to effectively link the consolidation and expansion of poverty alleviation achievements with rural revitalization, ensuring the bottom line that no large-scale return to poverty occurs.
Promoting a comprehensive green transition of economic and social development. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that handling the relationship between development and protection is a worldwide challenge and an eternal subject for human social development. Throughout the entire process of Chinese-path modernization, we must grasp the dialectical unity between high-quality development and high-level protection. We must plan development from the height of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, taking the carrying capacity of resources and the environment as the prerequisite and foundation. We must consciously restrict economic activities and human behavior within the limits that natural resources and the ecological environment can sustain, promoting effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth of the economy during the green transition. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has incorporated ecological civilization construction into the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, coordinating high-quality development with high-level protection. It has systematically arranged and comprehensively advanced the reform of the ecological civilization system, accelerating the comprehensive green transition of economic and social development. We have issued the "Master Plan for the Reform of the Ecological Civilization System" alongside major reform plans for natural resource asset property rights, territorial space development and protection, spatial planning, environmental governance, total resource management and comprehensive conservation, and paid use of resources and ecological compensation. We have formulated or revised the Environmental Protection Law and over 30 other ecological and environmental laws and regulations, established the Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection system, and constructed a foundational institutional framework for ecological protection characterized by strict prevention at the source, rigorous management of the process, and severe punishment for consequences. Led by the objectives of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality," we have strengthened the top-level institutional design for green development. We have focused on deepening reforms in optimizing industrial layouts, planning and building new energy systems, establishing a "dual control" system for both the total amount and intensity of carbon emissions, improving standard systems and market-oriented mechanisms for green development, and refining incentive mechanisms for green consumption, thereby accelerating the construction of a green, low-carbon, and circular economic system.
Developing a new system for a higher-level open economy. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that developing a new system for a higher-level open economy is a strategic move we have taken proactively to promote reform and development through openness. We must center our efforts on serving the construction of the new development pattern, focusing on institutional opening-up. We must deepen institutional and mechanistic reforms in key areas of foreign exchange and cooperation—such as investment, trade, finance, and innovation—perfect supporting policies and measures, and proactively raise China's opening-up to a new level. To accelerate the construction of the new development pattern, we must scientifically understand the relationship between the domestic circulation and the domestic and international dual circulation, implementing opening-up across a wider scope, in broader fields, and at a deeper level. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has implemented a more proactive opening-up strategy, delivering a "combination of punches" [12] to accelerate the construction of a new system for an open economy. We have deepened reforms in trade and investment, expanded market access, and fully implemented the management system of pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list. We have completely abolished restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector and created a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized first-class business environment. We have proactively aligned with high-standard international economic and trade rules, created a transparent, stable, and predictable institutional environment, and expanded autonomous opening-up. We have orderly expanded the opening of China's commodity, service, capital, and labor markets, and actively participated in the reform of the global economic governance system. We have optimized the regional layout of opening-up, accelerated the construction of opening-up highlands such as Pilot Free Trade Zones and the Free Trade Port, promoted the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road," and built high-level opening-up platforms at multiple levels. By implementing the Holistic Approach to National Security, we have coordinated opening-up and security, enhanced our capacity and level of supervision over opening-up, and strengthened our ability to dynamically maintain national security in an open environment, thereby providing a safeguard for high-level opening-up.
Advancing the continuous improvement of reform institutions and mechanisms to provide an important guarantee for deepening economic system reform. Economic system reform "pulls one hair and moves the whole body" [13]; it requires a strong leadership system and scientific, effective mechanisms to ensure its smooth progress. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has seized the "ox's nose" [14] of economic system reform, strengthened centralized and unified leadership, improved implementation mechanisms, innovated reform methods, and pushed economic system reform toward greater depth and new breakthroughs.
Strengthening the Party's leadership over reform work. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that upholding the Party’s overall leadership is our greatest political advantage and the fundamental guarantee for the successful advancement of China's reform and opening-up. The Party's leadership must be integrated into all aspects and the entire process of reform to ensure it always moves forward in the correct political direction. The fundamental reason for the historic achievements in reform and opening-up lies in adhering to and strengthening the Party's leadership, advancing reform in an organized, step-by-step, and disciplined manner, and giving full play to our institutional advantages. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has led and advanced the comprehensive deepening of reform with unprecedented determination and intensity. A leadership body for reform was established at the Central Committee level, with General Secretary Xi Jinping personally taking the lead. Six special groups were formed, including a special group for the reform of the economic system and the ecological civilization system, responsible for coordinating the advancement, supervision, and implementation of reforms in various fields. A system for Party committees at all levels to lead reform work has been established and perfected from the top down, providing a strong organizational and leadership guarantee. We have deepened the reform of Party and state institutions at the opportune moment, improving the systems and mechanisms for Party leadership over major work in the economy, reform, finance, and science and technology. We have optimized and adjusted the setup and functional configuration of government agencies, strengthening functions such as economic regulation, market supervision, social management, public services, and ecological protection, thus providing strong institutional support and organizational guarantee for deepening economic system reform.
Strengthen the systemic integration of reform. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that we must strengthen the systemic integration, coordination, and efficiency of reform—focusing not only on the coordination of reform plans, but also on the coordination of reform implementation and, more importantly, the coordination of reform outcomes. We must ensure that various reform measures complement each other in policy orientation, stimulate each other in the implementation process, and enhance each other in their results, focusing our energy toward the general goal of comprehensively deepening reform. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have systemically planned and advanced economic structural reform. We have persisted in the general goal of comprehensively deepening reform—which is to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to modernize China’s system and capacity for governance—while integrating the implementation of reform tasks with the realization of the First Centenary Goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the goal of building a great modern socialist country in all respects, the implementation of medium- and long-term strategic plans, and the achievement of annual economic and social development targets. We have strengthened the top-level design [15] for reforms in key areas, coordinating the advancement of "four beams and eight columns" [16] reforms in areas such as finance and taxation, banking, state-owned enterprises, science and technology, agriculture and rural areas, ecological protection, and opening up to the outside world. By ensuring coordination in planning, implementation, and outcomes, we have ensured that reforms echo one another and work together as a cohesive whole.
Encourage grassroots exploration and innovation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that "crossing the river by feeling the stones" [17] is a reform methodology rich in Chinese characteristics and suited to China’s national conditions. We must keep our eyes downward and our steps downward, encouraging, guiding, and supporting the grassroots to explore more original and differentiated reforms, and promptly summarizing and promoting the good experiences and practices derived from these explorations. No matter what stage the reform reaches, the pioneering spirit of the people [18] must never be neglected. We must encourage local authorities, the grassroots, and the masses to explore boldly, promoting benign interaction and organic integration between top-level design and grassroots exploration. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have fully mobilized the initiative of local grassroots units in reform exploration. We encourage various regions to conduct differentiated exploration based on their actual conditions—under the prerequisite of maintaining the "national chess game" [19]—allowing them to give full play to their comparative advantages and ensuring that local reforms better integrate into the overall national reform and development landscape. Centering on major institutional innovations, we have deployed a series of reform pilots, establishing Free Trade Zones, National Ecological Civilization Pilot Zones, and Common Prosperity Demonstration Zones in areas with suitable conditions. We have carried out comprehensive innovation reform trials and implemented integrated reform pilots, effectively playing a leading and breakthrough role for the overall reform situation. Regarding new problems encountered in new fields and practices of economic development, we fully respect the pioneering spirit of the grassroots and the masses, encourage pioneering innovation, and continuously create and accumulate fresh experiences that can be replicated and promoted.
Implement reform with the "spirit of driving a nail" [20]. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that if we do not settle down to focus on implementation, even the best goals and blueprints will remain followed by nothing but "flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water" [21]. Leading comrades of Party and government organizations at all levels must take charge of reform personally, acting as both "commander" and "combatant." They must personally deploy important reforms, personally vet major plans, personally coordinate key links, and personally supervise implementation. We must make implementation the focus of all reform work—recognizing that "one part deployment requires nine parts implementation"—and leave "iron marks in the grip and stone prints in the step" [22]. In the New Era, the task of deepening economic structural reform is arduous and heavy. Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, we have pressed home the primary responsibility for reform, improved the mechanism for the division of labor and implementation of major reform measures, and scientifically formulated implementation plans. We have clearly defined the lead units, participating units, responsible items, forms of output, time limits, and responsible subjects for reforms. We have strengthened the responsibility of principal leading comrades of Party and government organizations at all levels to grasp implementation, motivating the broad masses of Party members and officials to forge ahead and build their careers. We have strengthened the supervision of task implementation, continuously and deeply carrying out reform inspections, and incorporating the implementation of major reforms into the scope of disciplinary inspection and inspection tours. We resolutely oppose formalism and bureaucratism, preventing and correcting phenomena such as a lack of responsibility, inaction, refusal to reform, or feigned reform. We test the success of reform through actual results and the satisfaction of the masses.
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on deepening economic structural reform constitute a scientific system that originates from practice and guides practice. We must closely integrate our study with the practice of economic and social development and our own work realities. We must deeply study the important chapters and thoughts in the first and second volumes of On Persisting in Comprehensively Deepening Reform, striving to master the positions, viewpoints, and methods running through them. We must achieve a thorough integration of learning, thinking, and application, and the unity of knowledge, belief, and action. In the process of further comprehensively deepening reform, we must better utilize the leading role of economic structural reform, and continuously open up new horizons for Chinese-path modernization with new momentum for reform and new advantages for development.
(The author is the Vice Chairperson of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Deputy Director in charge of daily operations of the Office of the Central Commission for Comprehensively Deepening Reform.)
Source: People’s Daily (September 29, 2025, Page 09) Electronic Editor: Huihui