Xiao Bin: Keeping the "Greatness of the Nation" in Mind while Systematically Planning Economic and Social Development
General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly noted: “The Party leads the people in governing the country; the most important aspect is to handle various complex political relations well and always maintain the correct political direction for the development of the Party and the country's cause.” Economic work is the central task of the Party’s governance. Economic activities, economic policies, and economic reforms under the Party's leadership all contain political attributes. Placing greater importance on conducting economic work from the high level of "giving prominence to politics" [1] and being adept at observing and analyzing socio-economic issues through a political lens is not only an inherent requirement for establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance [2] at present, but-even more importantly-it concerns whether we can firmly grasp the strategic initiative in advancing Chinese-path modernization.
Currently, as the changes unseen in a century accelerate their evolution, China’s development has entered a period where strategic opportunities coexist with risks and challenges, and where uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing. Structural contradictions and cyclical fluctuations in the economic domain are easily transmitted to the social and political domains. Party members and cadres must grasp the political significance and practical requirements of "the country's most fundamental interests" [3], persist in observing major trends and planning the overall situation from a political height, be adept at seeing the political essence within economic phenomena and predicting political impacts from development trends, and continuously enhance their political ability to navigate complex situations.
For example, food security is a matter of paramount importance and an eternal subject concerning national survival and development. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “The food issue cannot be viewed only from an economic perspective; it must be viewed from a political perspective. Ensuring national food security is an important foundation for achieving economic development, social stability, and national security.” “The rice bowls of the Chinese people must be held firmly in our own hands at all times.” Food is not only a commodity but also a strategic resource. Food security is not just an economic issue but also an important foundation for national security. Therefore, we must view food issues from a political height and maintain the deep implementation of the strategies of "storing grain in the ground" and "storing grain in technology." [4] We must not only strengthen the resilience of the food supply chain, enhance the construction of agricultural infrastructure, material equipment, and scientific and technological support capabilities, and improve the elasticity of the food supply system, but also hold the bottom line of farmland protection and strategic reserves, grasping the guarantee of food security as a major political responsibility.
As another example, making key core technologies autonomous and controllable is the hard support for seizing the initiative in national development. In the international division of labor system, developed countries not only obtain high profits through technological monopolies but also implement "long-arm jurisdiction" and political coercion through technological blockades and supply chain decoupling. When a country is highly dependent on others for "chokepoint" [5] technologies, poor economic circulation easily transforms into political strategic passivity. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Key core technologies cannot be asked for, bought, or begged for. Only by grasping key core technologies in our own hands can we fundamentally guarantee national economic security, national defense security, and other forms of security.” Therefore, we cannot always count on relying on the technological achievements of others to improve our own level of science and technology, and even less can we become the technological vassals of other countries. We must focus on the direction of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, strengthen original innovation and breakthroughs in key core technologies, promote the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, and ensure that industrial and supply chains are autonomous and controllable, using the "hard power" of technology to firmly grasp the initiative in development.
Furthermore, ecological and environmental protection is a major political issue related to the Party's mission and purpose, and a major social issue related to the people's livelihood. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed: “We cannot treat the strengthening of ecological civilization construction, the strengthening of ecological and environmental protection, and the promotion of green and low-carbon lifestyles merely as economic issues.” Precisely because environmental issues are both major economic issues and major social and political issues, the people’s need for a beautiful ecological environment has become an important aspect of the principal contradiction in society [6]. Our Party has always maintained an attitude of high responsibility toward the people and future generations, tightly grasping the construction of ecological civilization as a major practical matter for the people's livelihood.
Practice has proven that deciding whether to undertake an economic activity and evaluating whether an economic policy is scientific cannot only look at local efficiency and short-term gains, but must also see whether it is conducive to promoting high-quality development and achieving common prosperity, and whether it is conducive to maintaining national economic security and social stability.
Economic and social development is a systemic project. In carrying out work, we must comprehensively consider various factors such as politics and economy, reality and history, matter and culture, development and livelihood, resources and ecology, and domestic and international factors, avoiding simplification at all costs. The further we enter the stage of high-quality development, the higher the requirements placed on economic governance capabilities. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “We must establish a systems thinking, grasp the general trend with a correct view of history and the overall situation, coordinate all factors, and grasp the initiative.” Systems thinking is the concentrated expression of Marxist dialectical materialism at the methodological level. Leading cadres must keep "the country’s most fundamental interests" in mind while systemically planning economic and social development, continuously improving their professional ability to lead economic work, particularly by making efforts in the following areas:
Enhancing global awareness. Break the fixed mindset of "discussing the economy for the economy's sake" and consider macro-economic governance within the coordinate system of "the country's most fundamental interests." When analyzing and handling economic issues, one cannot only calculate the "economic account" and the "immediate account"; one must calculate the "political account" and the "long-term account." One must not stop at local growth and short-term performance but must bridge economic operations with national strategy, institutional security, social stability, and the interests of the people. It is necessary to continuously improve political judgment, political understanding, and political execution, transforming the traditional thinking of "judging heroes solely by GDP," and achieving the unity of law-conforming nature and goal-conforming nature on the basis of accurately grasping the laws of contradictions in social development.
Applying dialectical methods. Economic operation is a complex system of multiple intertwined contradictions and dynamic evolution. In applying dialectical methods, the key lies in discarding "black-or-white" and "linear" thinking characterized by isolated advances. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “In any work, we must persist in both the 'two-point theory' and the 'priority theory.' [7] If there is no primary or secondary, no distinction, and we 'grab the eyebrows and the beard all at once,' we cannot do the work well.” Observing and handling economic problems cannot be detached from specific historical conditions and developmental stages to make abstract judgments. While grasping the universality of contradictions, one must specifically analyze their stage-specific characteristics and the relationship between principal and secondary aspects. Especially in the process of promoting high-quality development, we must see both the importance of total growth and the urgency of structural optimization, kinetic energy conversion, and risk prevention. We must base ourselves on the present to solve prominent contradictions while looking to the long term to consolidate the foundation of development. We must seize key links to apply precision force while focusing on the coordination of policies and measures in all aspects. Only by persisting in the specific analysis of specific problems, grasping key points in overall coordination, calibrating direction in systemic linkage, and promoting development in dynamic balance can we continuously improve the ability to navigate complex economic situations.
Adhering to bottom-line thinking. Base ourselves on the risk points, weak points, and key points of macro-economic operations, estimate difficulties more fully, judge risks more deeply, and prepare plans more thoroughly, thereby firmly grasping the initiative in development. In the allocation of the macro-policy "toolbox," sufficient strategic depth and policy buffer space must be reserved. At the practical level, food security, energy and resource security, autonomy and controllability of industrial and supply chain core technologies, and the prevention and resolution of systemic financial risks must be placed in a more prominent strategic position. Only by resolutely discarding fluke mindsets, using "high-probability thinking" to deal with "low-probability events," and building economic development on an unbreakable foundation of security, can we further enhance the resilience of the national economic circulation system, make the "basic plate" more solid, and ensure the smooth advancement of China’s modernization process.