Shi Taifeng: Speech at the Seminar on Studying the "Outline for Studying Xi Jinping's Economic Thought" (June 27, 2022)
The Outline for the Study of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy comprehensively reflects the original contributions of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy, systematically explaining its fundamental spirit, core content, and basic requirements. It serves as an important auxiliary reading for the in-depth study and understanding of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy. Just now, ten comrades exchanged their learning experiences in light of their respective research fields and practical work. The discussions were very profound, and I found them quite rewarding and inspiring.
In-depth and systematic study and research of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy, and a comprehensive and accurate grasp of its essence, are of great significance for successfully carrying out economic work in the New Era and promoting high-quality development in our country. Here, I would like to share three points from my own study experience to exchange with you.
I. Deeply Understand the Great Significance of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has coordinated the overall strategy for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the world’s profound changes unseen in a century [1]. Scientifically grasping the profound and complex changes in China’s development environment, the Committee has proposed a series of original new concepts, new thoughts, and new strategies. These have guided China’s economic development toward achieving historic successes and undergoing historic transformations, leading to the formation and development of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy through practice.
Xi Jinping Thought on Economy is a systematic theoretical generalization of economic development practice in the New Era, applying the basic principles of Marxism. It represents the latest theoretical achievement of Marxist political economy in contemporary China and the 21st-century world. As socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core focused on strengthening strategic planning and unified leadership over economic work. The Committee has persisted in the people-centered development philosophy, adhered to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, and maintained and improved the basic socialist economic system. Grounded in the new development stage, it has implemented the new development philosophy, constructed a new development pattern, and promoted high-quality development. It has coordinated development and security, comprehensively deepened reform and opening up, and promoted common prosperity for all people. Through unremitting exploration of the path of socialist economic development, a series of theoretical achievements have been formed that suit contemporary China’s national conditions and possess distinct characteristics of the times. These original and major theoretical achievements profoundly answer many significant theoretical and practical questions that classical Marxist writers did not address, that our predecessors never encountered, and that Western economic theories have consistently failed to solve. They have opened up new horizons for political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Xi Jinping Thought on Economy is the concentrated expression of the practice-oriented and theoretical innovations in the economic sphere by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in its governance of the country. It serves as the ideological weapon and action guide for promoting high-quality development and building a modern socialist country in all respects. General Secretary Xi Jinping has accurately grasped the historical coordinates of China’s economic development. By combining theory with practice, he has systematically answered fundamental questions such as "how to view" and "how to conduct" China’s economic development in the New Era. He has fully elucidated the fundamental guarantee, fundamental position, historical coordinates, guiding principles, path choices, distinct themes, institutional foundations, strategic measures, primary driving forces, main focus points, important magic weapons [2], important safeguards, and work methods of our economic development. This marks a new height in our Party’s understanding of the laws governing socialist economic construction with Chinese characteristics, pointing the way and providing the fundamental compliance for economic work in the New Era.
The brilliant achievements of China’s economic construction in the New Era fully prove that Xi Jinping Thought on Economy is a scientific theory rooted in national conditions, globally oriented, and future-leading. It is an invaluable spiritual asset for the Party and the country that must be unswervingly upheld and continuously enriched and developed in coordination with the new practices of economic construction.
II. Comprehensively Grasp the Core Essence and Practical Requirements of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy
Xi Jinping Thought on Economy is an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It is rich in connotation, broad and profound, and constitutes a scientific, complete, and logically rigorous theoretical system. The Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2017 summarized and expounded upon Xi Jinping Thought on Socialist Economy with Chinese Characteristics for the first time, emphasizing the "Seven Persistent Managements." The Party’s Third Historical Resolution [3], building upon the report of the 19th National Congress, further summarized the core content of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era using the "Ten Clarifications." Among these, the newly added seventh "clarification" summarizes the core essence and basic content of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy.
Presently, China has entered a new development stage. To implement Xi Jinping Thought on Economy, perform economic work in the New Era, promote high-quality development, and effectively prevent and resolve major risks, we must deeply study and thoroughly understand the core essence of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy and accurately grasp its practical requirements.
We must profoundly understand and consciously uphold the Party’s overall leadership over economic work. Adhering to the Party’s centralized and unified leadership over economic work is the fundamental guarantee for the continuous and healthy development of our economy. Among the Party, the government, the military, the people, and the students; in the east, west, south, north, and center—it is the Party that leads everything. Economic work is the central task of the Party, and the Party’s leadership must be fully reflected in this central task. We must persist in and improve the systems and mechanisms of the Party’s leadership over economic work, resolutely uphold the authority of the Party Central Committee and its centralized and unified leadership, and comprehensively improve the scientific, law-based, and professional capacity of the Party’s leadership over economic work. We must continuously transform the institutional advantages of the Party’s leadership into governance efficacy.
We must persist in the people-centered development philosophy. This is the fundamental position of China’s economic development. The people are the creators of history. Only by adhering to a people-centered development philosophy and taking the people's aspirations for a better life as our goal can we fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the people and mobilize the majestic power to realize the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We must take improving people’s well-being, promoting the well-rounded development of the individual, and steadily advancing toward common prosperity as the starting point and goal of economic development. We must ensure and improve people’s livelihoods through development, and continuously realize, safeguard, and develop the fundamental interests of the broadest possible range of people, ensuring that development is for the people, relies on the people, and its fruits are shared by the people.
We must persist in the direction of socialist market economy reform and maintain and improve our basic economic system. This is the institutional foundation of China’s economic development. We develop a market economy under the prerequisite of the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system. We must maintain and improve the basic socialist economic systems, including the mainstay status of public ownership alongside the joint development of multiple forms of ownership, the mainstay status of distribution according to work alongside the coexistence of multiple distribution modes, and the socialist market economy system. We must unwaveringly promote socialist market economy reforms, correctly handle the relationship between the government and the market, and allow the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation while better utilizing the role of the government.
We must profoundly understand the new development stage. This is the historical coordinate of China’s economic development. Correctly recognizing the historical location and development stage of the cause of the Party and the people is the fundamental basis for our Party to define the central tasks of a specific period and to formulate lines, principles, and policies. It is also an important experience through which our Party has achieved victories in revolution, construction, and reform. The new development stage is a stage within the primary stage of socialism, but it is also a stage that stands at a new starting point after decades of accumulation. It is the stage of building a modern socialist country in all respects and marching toward the Second Centenary Goal. It is a stage where "high quality" is the theme of development and "common prosperity" and "well-rounded development" are the primary orientations.
We must implement the new development philosophy completely, accurately, and comprehensively. The new development philosophy of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing is the guiding principle of China’s economic development. It answers a series of major questions regarding the purpose, driving force, method, path, and main thread of development. It is the strategic guide for China as it enters the new development stage and constructs the new development pattern. We must persist in innovative development to solve the problem of development momentum; persist in coordinated development to solve the problem of imbalanced development; persist in green development to solve the problem of harmony between man and nature; persist in open development to solve the problem of internal and external synergy; and persist in shared development to solve the problem of social equity and justice.
We must accelerate the construction of a new development pattern. This is a major decision made according to changes in China’s development stage, environment, and conditions—especially changes in our comparative advantages. It is a major measure for implementing the new development philosophy in the new development stage and a strategic choice for improving the level of China’s economic development. We must persist in the strategic basis of expanding domestic demand, fully utilize and leverage the advantages of our super-scale domestic market, smoothen the national economic cycle, improve the quality and allocation level of production factors, build a new system for a higher-level open economy, and accelerate the construction of a new development pattern in which the domestic cycle is the mainstay and the domestic and international dual cycles promote each other.
We must unwaveringly promote high-quality development and deepen supply-side structural reform. Promoting high-quality development is an inevitable requirement for building a modern socialist country in all respects and is the distinct theme of China’s economic development. We must persist in taking the promotion of supply-side structural reform as the main thread, accelerate the transformation of the economic development mode, and promote change in the quality, efficiency, and driving forces of economic development. We must accelerate industrial transformation and upgrading, accelerate the transition from old to new kinetic energy, and accelerate the construction of a modern economic system. This will ensure the supply system better adapts to changes in demand structure, achieving a leap from a low-level balance of supply and demand to a high-level balance.
We must persist in the basic national policy of opening up. Opening up is an important magic weapon for China’s economic development and a vital driving force for social and economic progress. We must coordinate the two domestic and international situations from a strategic height, build a new system for a higher-level open economy, and construct an open economic system characterized by mutual benefit, win-win results, diverse balance, security, and efficiency. We must promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, actively participate in global economic governance, and push economic globalization toward a direction that is more open, inclusive, balanced, and beneficial for all.
We must coordinate development and security. Security is the prerequisite for development, and development is the guarantee of security. We must place equal emphasis on development and security, construct a new security pattern that corresponds with the new development pattern, and achieve a virtuous interaction and dynamic balance between high-quality development and high-level security. We must persist in viewing development as the greatest security, stabilize the overall economic situation, enhance comprehensive national strength, and achieve proactive and dynamic security.
We must persist in major national development strategies. These are the strategic measures for economic development. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has made systematic plans and strategic deployments for issues concerning the overall situation and long-term interests, implementing a series of major strategies such as rural revitalization, coordinated regional development, new-type urbanization, and innovation-driven development. We must comprehensively consider domestic and international development trends and China’s development conditions in the coming period, focus closely on the changes in the principal contradiction in Chinese society, and achieve strategic breakthroughs while solving prominent problems, advancing all work by grasping the overall strategic situation.
We must persist in correct work strategies and methods. We must adhere to the worldview and methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, stay true to the basic principles and methodology of Marxist political economy, uphold the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, persist in systemic thinking, combine target-orientation with problem-orientation, focus on running our own affairs well, and implement tasks with the "nail-driving spirit" [4].
III. Earnestly Implement Xi Jinping Thought on Economy Across All Fields and the Entire Process of Research Work
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached great importance to the theoretical innovation of political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He has delivered a series of important discourses and issued numerous important instructions, clearly requesting the continuous opening of new horizons for political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This is the concrete manifestation of Xi Jinping Thought on Economy in the field of philosophy and social sciences. We must raise our political standing and resolutely implement these requirements.
To continuously open new horizons for political economy of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must first learn, understand, and put into practice Xi Jinping Thought on Economy. We must persist in reading the original works, studying the original texts, and grasping the underlying principles. We should study and comprehend its essence systematically by placing Xi Jinping Thought on Economy within the scientific system of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, within the historical process of the Party leading the people in socialist modernization construction, and within the great practice of promoting high-quality development in the New Era. We must deeply understand and master the Marxist stand, viewpoints, and methods running through it, and continuously improve our ability and level of using it to guide research on political economy with Chinese characteristics. We must comprehensively, deeply, and systematically research and interpret Xi Jinping Thought on Economy, making profound academic elucidations regarding its theoretical themes, systemic framework, logical structure, and conceptual categories, striving to produce holistic, systematic, and academic research results.
The key to continuously opening new frontiers for political economy with Chinese characteristics lies in strengthening the construction of the "three major systems" [5] of political economy with Chinese characteristics and constructing an autonomous Chinese knowledge system. We must strive to solidify the disciplinary foundation. By profoundly grasping the disciplinary characteristics, laws of development, and internal requirements for researching political economy with Chinese characteristics, we must continuously optimize and adjust the disciplinary layout. We must build advantageous disciplines that reflect the development trends of the times, support the disciplinary system of political economy with Chinese characteristics, represent the mainstream of disciplinary evolution, and possess deep foundations. This will lay a solid disciplinary basis for further answering the major questions involved in promoting high-quality development. We must strive to enhance our capacity for academic originality. Originality is the core competitiveness of the philosophy and social sciences, and it is the key point and focus for strengthening political economy with Chinese characteristics. The questions of the era are the driving force for theoretical innovation, and the rich practices of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization in the New Era constitute a "rich mine" [6] for theoretical and policy research. Rooted in our national conditions and developmental practices, we must conduct in-depth research into the new situations and problems facing the world economy and our own economy, reveal new characteristics and laws, refine and summarize the law-based achievements of our economic development practices, and elevate practical experience into systematized economic doctrines. This ensures that theoretical and policy innovations conform to Chinese reality and possess Chinese characteristics. We must adhere to the philosophy of "doing scholarship for the people," conducting in-depth investigations to observe actual conditions, propose practical solutions, and seek tangible results. We must fully reflect actual conditions, refine and sublimate the experiences created by the masses, and continuously generate research results capable of withstanding the test of practice, the people, and history. We must strive to elevate our international academic influence. In just several decades, our country has completed the developmental trajectory that took developed countries several centuries to traverse, creating a miracle in the history of world economic development. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the guidance of Xi Jinping’s economic thought, our country’s economic construction has achieved new historical accomplishments, the comprehensive deepening of reform and opening up has achieved new major breakthroughs, and substantive progress has been made toward common prosperity for all people. This fully demonstrates the vigor and powerful vitality of Xi Jinping’s economic thought. We must establish an international perspective, exploring the common issues facing humanity through the lens of the interaction between China and the world. We must create new concepts, categories, and expressions that are easily understood and accepted by the international community, tell the story of China’s promotion of high-quality development well, and continuously promote the international dissemination and internationalization of Xi Jinping’s economic thought, contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to the construction of a community with a shared future for humanity.