CPC Leadership Group of the National Development and Reform Commission: Deeply Grasp the Practical Requirements of Six Major Relationships to Promote Chinese Modernization with High-Quality Development
Summarizing and elaborating on the theory of Chinese-path modernization was a major theoretical innovation of the 20th CPC National Congress and represents the latest significant achievement of scientific socialism. On February 7, 2023, at the opening ceremony of a study session for newly elected members and alternate members of the Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a comprehensive, systematic, and in-depth exposition on a series of major theoretical and practical issues regarding Chinese-path modernization. He emphasized that advancing Chinese-path modernization is a systemic undertaking that requires holistic planning, systematic design, and integrated advancement. It necessitates the correct handling of a series of major relationships: top-level design versus practical exploration, strategy versus tactics, upholding the fundamentals versus breaking new ground, efficiency versus equity, vitality versus order, and self-reliance versus opening up to the outside world. We must study and comprehend these deeply, grasp them fully and accurately, and conscientiously ensure their implementation.
I. Implementing the Requirement to Correctly Handle the Relationship Between Top-Level Design and Practical Exploration
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that Chinese-path modernization proceeds in stages and across distinct fields; achieving the development goals of each stage and implementing the development strategies of each field likewise requires top-level design. At the same time, advancing Chinese-path modernization is an explorative endeavor with many uncharted territories, requiring us to engage in bold exploration in practice. Top-level design and practical exploration constitute a dialectical unity. An important experience of our Party in promoting economic and social development has been to focus on the overall situation when laying out the master plan, while simultaneously exploring adventurously in practice, unleashing the pioneering spirit of the masses, and achieving a virtuous interaction and organic integration between top-level design and practical exploration.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has gained deep insight into the general trends of world development, accurately grasped the common aspirations of the people, and deeply explored the laws of economic and social development. It has conducted systematic planning and top-level design for important fields concerning the overall development situation, while encouraging and supporting local authorities to break new ground in practice, thereby driving the cause of the Party and the country toward historical achievements and historical transformations. Currently, the systemic nature and complexity of economic and social operations are rising across the board. Political, economic, diplomatic, and ecological dimensions are closely intertwined and mutually influential. The introduction and implementation of policies affect all aspects of society and require coordination between urban and rural areas, regions, and industries. This requires us to excel in top-level design so that the plans and policies we formulate reflect the characteristics of the era, grasp the underlying laws, and are rich in creativity. Simultaneously, we must combine this with concrete realities, striving to break through difficulties, bottlenecks, and "stuck points" [1], and ensuring that policies are implemented thoroughly, meticulously, and effectively.
On the new journey of advancing Chinese-path modernization, we must, on the one hand, strengthen the planning and design of the policy system. We should better leverage the strategic guiding role of national medium- and long-term development plans. By comprehensively considering domestic and international development trends along with China’s development conditions, we must make holistic plans and specific arrangements for economic and social development in a comprehensive, systematic, and targeted manner, striving to integrate the short-term with the long-term, connect the higher and lower levels, and coordinate content. Centering on the complete, accurate, and comprehensive implementation of the new development philosophy, the acceleration of the construction of a new development pattern, the vigorous promotion of high-quality development, and the solid advancement of common prosperity, we must continuously refine top-level designs and supporting measures. We must constantly optimize policy frameworks and implementation steps so that primary-level units, enterprises, and the masses truly feel the impact and reap the benefits. Simultaneously, we must strengthen the assessment of consistency in macro-policy orientation and deeply analyze the potential impacts of newly introduced policies. We must avoid "treating the head when the head aches and the feet when the feet ache" [2] while also preventing "compositional fallacies." We must master the timing, intensity, and effectiveness of policies to form a policy synergy for promoting high-quality development. On the other hand, we must be bold in exploration and dare to be the first. We should strive to eliminate inertial thinking, break through mental silos, and move away from path dependency. We must broaden our work perspectives, dare to "gnaw on hard bones," [3] and be adept at "sailing against the wind" [4] to resolve deep-seated contradictions and problems, seeking ideas and methods to effectively solve new conflicts and issues. We should strengthen explorative practice through pilot demonstrations, prevent and resolve risks through interim and ex-post supervision, and enhance policy effectiveness through performance evaluation. We must focus on exerting force at key points and making breakthroughs in critical areas—tightening one link after another, striking one hammer blow after another—accumulating small victories to achieve a great victory, and "accumulating small steps to reach a thousand miles." [5]
II. Implementing the Requirement to Correctly Handle the Relationship Between Strategy and Tactics
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the correct application of strategy and tactics is the secret to our Party's success in creating a glorious history, achieving a legacy for the ages, overcoming various risks and challenges, and moving from victory to victory. In advancing Chinese-path modernization, we must inherit, apply, and develop this secret well. Strategic issues are fundamental issues for a political party and a country. To advance Chinese-path modernization, we must keep the "top priorities of the nation" [6] in mind, focusing on solving major problems that concern the success or failure of the cause of the Party and the state and that "affect the whole by pulling a single hair" [7]. We must enhance the foresight, comprehensiveness, and stability of strategic planning. Tactics, under the guidance of strategy, serve the strategy and provide scientific methods for its implementation. They are the "bridge or boat" [8] for completing strategic goals and the roadmap for implementing strategic steps. Correct strategies require correct tactics for implementation. We must both observe the general trend and plan for the long term, while also emphasizing methods and ensuring implementation—adapting to local conditions, following the trends of the times, and being adept at acting and succeeding—so as to firmly grasp the initiative in advancing Chinese-path modernization.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has conducted systematic planning and strategic deployment for issues concerning the overall situation and long-term interests. It has implemented a series of major development strategies, such as major regional strategies, rural revitalization, and new-type urbanization, which have had a profound impact on the transformation of China's economic development and provided solid support for the successful promotion and expansion of Chinese-path modernization. Specifically, the balance and coordination of regional development in China have been further enhanced. The coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has achieved remarkable results, and the construction of the Xiong'an New Area has attained major periodic outcomes. The ecological environment protection of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has undergone a transformative change, achieving a win-win situation for both ecological protection and economic-social development. The construction of the International Innovation and Technology Hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has progressed steadily, and major cooperation platforms such as Hengqin, Qianhai, Nansha, and Hetao have reached new heights. The integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta has moved forward in depth, and its position as a powerful and active growth pole for the country has been further consolidated. The ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin have made positive progress, with accelerated construction of major projects in areas such as ecological restoration and water resource conservation. Rural revitalization has been advanced across the board, the achievements of poverty alleviation have been continuously consolidated, and rural construction actions have been carried out solidly. The strategy of new-type urbanization has been deeply implemented, the urbanization of the agricultural transfer population has continued to advance, and the layout and construction of a group of city clusters and metropolitan areas have been accelerated.
On the new journey of advancing Chinese-path modernization, we must, on the one hand, enhance our capacity for strategic thinking. We must raise our political standing, cultivate a global vision, and strengthen our sense of the overall situation. By connecting history, reality, and the future, we must strategically coordinate work in economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological spheres—not only laying out the strategic plan well but also placing the "chess pieces" [9] effectively in key areas. Specifically in economic work, we must "calculate the comprehensive account," [10] integrating the new development philosophy into the entire process and all fields of economic and social development; "calculate the total account," maximizing overall interests through coordination; "calculate the balance account," ensuring aggregate, structural, and dynamic balance; and "calculate the long-term account," overcoming thoughts of quick success and instant benefits, and avoiding practices like "draining the pond to catch the fish" [11] or "drinking poison to quench thirst," [12] so as to truly plan for the long term and seek practical results. On the other hand, we must organically combine the principled nature of strategy with the flexibility of tactics. Based on an accurate judgment and grasp of changes in domestic and international situations, we must flexibly apply tactical methods, find the right entry points for our work, and refine implementation measures so that they closely align with, powerfully support, and efficiently implement the strategy. In economic work, we must adhere to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, implement macro-regulation accurately and powerfully, and strengthen the coordination and forward-looking reserves of macro-policies. On a stable foundation, we must be proactive, cultivating and expanding new economic growth points and growth poles, and promoting the economy to achieve effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth. We must adhere to a systems perspective, strengthening the coordination of multiple objectives and the synergy of multiple policies to achieve a unification of development quality, structure, scale, speed, benefit, and security. We must combine goal-orientation with problem-orientation. Taking goals as the starting point, we should refine and substantiate annual economic and social development targets around the overall goal of comprehensively building a modern socialist country. Taking problems as the focus, we should continue to exert effort in patching up shortcomings and strengthening weak links, and grasp implementation with the "spirit of driving a nail," [13] ensuring that the master plan is carried out to the end.
III. Implementing the Requirement to Correctly Handle the Relationship Between Upholding the Fundamentals and Breaking New Ground
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the cause we are engaged in is a great undertaking without precedent. Only by upholding the fundamentals can we avoid losing our way or making catastrophic errors; only by breaking new ground can we grasp the era and lead the era. The exploration of Chinese-path modernization is a historical process of developing through inheritance and breaking new ground while upholding the fundamentals. Upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground complement each other. Adhering to this principle upholds and develops the Marxist view of development, embodying the dialectical unity of change and permanence, inheritance and development, and principle and creativity. Only by upholding the fundamentals on a basis of innovation can we avoid being stuck in our ways and instead advance with the times and bring forth the new; only by innovating on a basis of upholding the fundamentals can we ensure we do not drift off course and instead allow our efforts to take deep root and flourish.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has been clear-cut and unequivocal on fundamental issues such as stance, direction, principle, and path. It has focused on "rectifying the source," [14] ensuring that the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics does not change its path or its resolve. At the same time, facing the changes unseen in a century and new situations, tasks, and requirements in domestic economic and social development, the Party has actively identified, responded to, and sought changes. With great courage and determination, it has promoted theoretical innovation, practical innovation, institutional innovation, cultural innovation, and innovation in all other aspects, greatly enhancing the vitality of the Party and the state and significantly promoting the innovative development of economy and society. Specifically in the construction of an innovative country, results have been prolific and effective. We have emphasized both basic theoretical innovation and technological innovation, continuously refined the systems and mechanisms for scientific and technological innovation, and vigorously cultivated a culture of innovation, making it a prevailing trend throughout society. By leveraging the advantages of the "new-type whole-nation system," [15] we have gradually improved laws and policies for sci-tech innovation and adopted new mechanisms such as "unveiling the rankings to find the leaders" [16] and "horse racing" [17] to explore new paths for solving the "two skins" problem—the separation of science and technology from the economy. The total R&D expenditure of the whole society has maintained double-digit growth for seven consecutive years, exceeding 3 trillion yuan for the first time in 2022, with its ratio to GDP increasing from 1.91% in 2012 to 2.54%. A series of major scientific and technological achievements, such as the "Chang'e" lunar exploration, "Tianwen" Mars probe, "Xihe" solar observation, and the Chinese Space Station, have continued to emerge.
On the new journey of advancing Chinese-path modernization, we must, on the one hand, focus on "consolidating the foundation and nurturing the source." [18] We must always hold high the banner of ideals and convictions, never wavering in our adherence to the basic principles of Marxism, the comprehensive leadership of the Party, and socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must guard the essence, source, root, and soul of Chinese-path modernization, unswervingly adhering to its Chinese characteristics, essential requirements, and major principles. We must persist in the Party’s basic theory, basic line, and basic strategy, along with the series of major policies since the 18th CPC National Congress, to ensure the correct direction of Chinese-path modernization. On the other hand, we must place innovation at the heart of the overall national development situation. We must accelerate the pace of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strength, win the battle for key and core technologies, strengthen national strategic scientific and technological forces, and reinforce the primary status of enterprises in technological innovation. We must accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, deeply implement projects for re-engineering the industrial foundation and tackling key major technical equipment. We must vigorously cultivate and expand strategic emerging industries, develop industries such as artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals, new materials, and new energy, and promote the high-end, intelligent, and green upgrading of traditional industries, continuously opening up new fields and "race tracks" [19] for development and shaping new drivers and advantages for growth.
IV. Implementing the Requirement to Correctly Handle the Relationship Between Efficiency and Equity
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that Chinese-path modernization must not only create higher efficiency than capitalism but also maintain social equity more effectively, better achieving the balance, mutual promotion, and unification of efficiency and equity. Efficiency is an important foundation for achieving equity, and equity is a powerful support for enhancing efficiency. Efficiency focuses on how to "make the cake bigger" by improving production efficiency and optimizing the economic structure to enhance the effectiveness of resource allocation. Equity focuses on how to "divide the cake well" from the dimensions of fair rules, fair opportunities, and fair results to ensure the value of social distribution. Common prosperity is an essential requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics and must be created through hard work and wisdom. Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people. Advancing Chinese-path modernization requires both "making the cake bigger" and "dividing the cake well." We must adhere to the principle of "building together and sharing together," encourage the accumulation of wealth through hard work and innovation, and realize the organic unity of efficiency and equity, thereby allowing the fruits of modernization to benefit all people more extensively and fairly.
Since the 18th Party Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has profoundly recognized and grasped the laws of development, continuously innovating and improving the macro-governance system. Consequently, the quality and level of economic development have steadily risen, and the people's well-being has been better secured. Our country's total economic volume has reached a new height. From 2012 to 2022, China’s economy grew at an average annual rate of 6.2%, significantly higher than the world average of 3.0%. Particularly during the three years of anti-epidemic [effort], China efficiently coordinated epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development, achieving an average annual growth of 4.5%, higher than the world average of 2.2%. Per capita Gross National Income (GNI) rose substantially from $5,910 to $12,604. Simultaneously, the people's well-being has become more equitable and inclusive. The annual real growth of per capita disposable income was 6.2%, basically synchronized with economic growth, forming the world's largest middle-income group of over 400 million people. Public services have been popularized across the board, and we have built the world's largest education system, social security system, and medical and health system. The average years of education for the working-age population reached 10.93 years, basic pension insurance covers 1.05 billion people, and the participation rate in basic medical insurance has remained stable at over 95%. The people’s sense of gain, happiness, and security has been continuously strengthened.
On the new journey of advancing Chinese-path modernization, we must, on the one hand, pay greater attention to enhancing efficiency. We must uphold and improve the basic socialist economic system, unswervingly consolidate and develop the public sector, and unswervingly encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public sector. We must allow the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation and better play the role of the government. We will improve the macro-economic governance system, taking fiscal and monetary policies as the primary means, while strengthening the close coordination of policies regarding employment, industry, investment, consumption, environmental protection, regional development, and prices. We will improve precision regulation, opportunistic regulation [20], targeted regulation, and counter-cyclical adjustment. We will continue to optimize the allocation of productive factors such as labor, capital, land, and resources, focusing on improving total factor productivity to promote steady, healthy, and sustainable economic development. On the other hand, we must pay greater attention to promoting equity. We must adhere to the people-centered philosophy of development, doing our utmost while acting within our means, to resolve the urgent anxieties and neglected concerns [21] of the people. We will implement the employment-first strategy, strengthen employment assistance for key groups such as college graduates and migrant workers, and improve the quality of employment. We will uphold the distribution system in which distribution according to work is the mainstay while multiple forms of distribution coexist, increasing the income of low-income earners and expanding the middle-income group. We will build a solid social security net, improve the public service system, and raise the level of equalization of basic public services. We will enhance balance and accessibility, maintaining continuous efforts to ensure that children have nursery care, students are taught, workers are remunerated, the sick are treated, the elderly are cared for, residents have housing, and the weak are supported, making solid progress toward common prosperity.
V. Implement the Requirements for Correctly Handling the Relationship Between Vitality and Order
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that Chinese-path modernization should and can achieve a dynamic balance of "vitality without chaos, and activity with order." A good social order is an important prerequisite for stimulating the vitality of social development, while a society brimming with vigor and vitality will further consolidate social order. Fully mobilizing the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the masses, maintaining a stable and secure social environment, and ensuring that the people live and work in peace while the country enjoys long-term stability are the important reasons why we have overcome one difficult pass after another and created one human miracle after another. To advance Chinese-path modernization, we must embed vitality within order and build order upon vitality, fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of all sectors to promote high-quality development, releasing economic development potential, and stimulating social creative vitality.
Since the 18th Party Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has continuously deepened the reform of systems and mechanisms in all fields, allowing the vitality of innovation and creation to flow fully and burst forth. By implementing the Comprehensive National Security Outlook, coordinating development and security, and enhancing the capacity to safeguard national security, we have achieved the unification and coordination of social vitality and orderly social operation. This has promoted steady and healthy economic and social development, consolidating the foundation for long-term development through stability and order. The vitality of economic and social development has been continuously enhanced, the efficiency of resource allocation has steadily improved, and the functional positioning, layout, and adjustment mechanisms of the state-owned economy have become clearer. The private economy has continued to grow, and the property rights of private enterprises and the rights and interests of entrepreneurs have been better protected. The building of a unified national market has accelerated, and a comprehensive negative list system for market access has been established. The foundation for secure development has been further consolidated; food security guarantees have been strengthened, strict assessments of the responsibility system for arable land protection and food security have been implemented, and "storing grain in the land and in technology" [22] has been reinforced. We have strictly guarded the red line of 1.8 billion mu of arable land [23], and comprehensive agricultural production capacity has steadily improved. Energy supply has remained stable, promoting the construction of a multi-pillar energy supply guarantee system driven by coal, oil, gas, nuclear, and renewable energy, further fortifying the foundation of energy security. The resilience of industrial and supply chains has been continuously enhanced; we have pressed ahead with breakthroughs in key core technologies, strengthened the iterative application of major innovative achievements, and steadily improved the level of self-control over key industrial chains. Construction of data security capacity has continuously progressed, and the standardization system for data security has become increasingly perfected.
On the new journey of advancing Chinese-path modernization, we must, on the one hand, promote the better integration of an effective market and a capable government. We will accelerate the construction of a unified national market, deepen the market-based reform of factors [of production], promote the construction of a high-standard market system, and create a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized. We will improve the basic institutions of the market economy, strengthening institutional building and supervision in areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, and social credit, while intensifying anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition efforts. We will optimize the environment for the development of private enterprises, speed up the implementation of policies and measures to promote the growth of the private economy, protect the rights and interests of foreign investment in accordance with the law, and remove legal, regulatory, and hidden barriers that affect fair competition and the common development of enterprises under all types of ownership. We will continue to deepen the reform of state-owned capital and state-owned enterprises (SOEs), accelerating the optimization of the layout and structural adjustment of the state-owned economy, and promoting state-owned capital and SOEs to become stronger, better, and larger. On the other hand, we must safeguard the New Development Pattern [24] with a New Security Pattern. We will strengthen the stable production and supply of grain and important agricultural products, improve the system for grain production, procurement, storage, processing, and sales, and implement a new round of action to increase grain production capacity by 100 billion catties. We will solidly promote the construction of high-standard farmland, expand the implementation of black soil protection, and carry out in-depth actions to revitalize the seed industry. We will strengthen capacity building for energy and resource security, promote the construction of supportive and regulative power sources such as coal-fired power, and accelerate the development and utilization of important mineral resources such as iron ore. We will promote the industrial and supply chains to supplement, extend, upgrade, and build new links, enhancing their resilience and security levels. We will accelerate the development and utilization of data resources, strengthen the security protection of critical information infrastructure, and reinforce the protection capacity of national key data resources.
VI. Implement the Requirements for Correctly Handling the Relationship Between Self-Reliance and Opening Up
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that to advance Chinese-path modernization, we must persist in independence, self-reliance, and self-strengthening; we must persist in placing the development of the country and the nation on the basis of our own strength; and we must persist in keeping the fate of China’s development and progress firmly in our own hands. Our Party has always persisted in opening up its own path forward through independence and self-reliance. For over a century, our Party has adhered to self-reliance and self-strengthening, overcoming countless difficulties and challenges to achieve brilliant achievements that have attracted worldwide attention. Persisting in self-reliance does not mean self-isolation. Our Party insists on rationally drawing on all the outstanding achievements of human civilization, adopting the strengths of others and incorporating them into our own. Chinese-path modernization possesses the common characteristics of the modernization of all countries, but more importantly, it has Chinese characteristics based on our own national conditions. It is a modernization that pursues autonomy and presents the image of the Chinese nation as confident and self-reliant to the world, but it is also a modernization that faces the world and maintains deep connections and cooperation with all countries. Only by expanding opening up under the premise of self-reliance and self-strengthening, and by absorbing and drawing on all the beneficial achievements of human civilization, can we promote the steady and long-term progress of Chinese-path modernization.
Since the 18th Party Congress, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, China has better coordinated the domestic and international "two general situations" [25], persisting in the effective use of "two markets and two resources." We have firmly implemented the strategy of expanding domestic demand; the fundamental role of consumption has been continuously strengthened, with new forms and models of consumption developing rapidly, and the proportion of final consumption expenditure in GDP has remained above 50% with an upward fluctuating trend. The key role of investment has been better utilized, with the average contribution rate of capital formation to economic growth exceeding 40%, significantly supporting steady and healthy economic development. We have comprehensively raised the level of opening up, signing 19 free trade agreements with 26 countries and regions, deploying 21 Free Trade Pilot Zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port, and signing over 200 cooperation documents on the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" with 152 countries and 32 international organizations. The total value of imports and exports of goods exceeded 40 trillion yuan in 2022, ranking first in the world for several consecutive years, and China has become a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions. Over the past 10 years, the cumulative utilization of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Outward Direct Investment (ODI) reached $1.4 trillion and $1.2 trillion respectively. Currently, the "changes of the world, changes of the times, and changes of history" [26] are unfolding in unprecedented ways. China’s development has entered a period where strategic opportunities and risks/challenges coexist, and where uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing. To advance Chinese-path modernization, we must handle the relationship between self-reliance and opening up well, and accelerate the construction of a New Development Pattern with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and the domestic and international dual circulation promoting each other.
On the new journey of advancing Chinese-path modernization, we must, on the one hand, enhance the endogenous momentum and reliability of the domestic cycle. We should better coordinate the expansion of domestic demand with the deepening of supply-side structural reform, resolutely implement the strategic planning outline for expanding domestic demand and the "14th Five-Year" implementation plan, and accelerate the formation of a complete domestic demand system. We will give full play to the fundamental role of consumption in economic growth and further strengthen the key role of investment in optimizing the supply structure. We will continue to deepen supply-side structural reform, breaking through bottlenecks, choke points, and vulnerable spots in supply constraints. We will continuously improve the quality and level of the supply system, using self-controlled, high-quality supply to adapt to and satisfy existing demand while creating and leading new demand. On the other hand, we must improve the quality and level of the international cycle. We will promote the construction of a new system for a higher-level open economy, steadily expand institutional opening up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards, and promote the construction of new international economic, trade, and investment rules that are fair, reasonable, and mutually beneficial. We will comprehensively upgrade the capacity of opening-up platforms and build a system of institutions and policies for the Free Trade Port with Chinese characteristics. We will promote the high-quality development of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road," consolidate the foundation for connectivity cooperation, and expand new spaces for international cooperation.
Network Editor: Xiaotian Source: Qiushi, 2023, Issue No. 19