Dong Biao: The Conceptual Foundations and Practical Requirements of a Correct Outlook on Political Achievements
In the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan" [1], the Party Central Committee's decision to launch a campaign within the entire Party to study, establish, and practice a correct perspective on performance (政绩观) [2] is a major measure for practicing the Party's original aspiration and founding mission, maintaining the Party's glorious image, and consolidating the Party’s long-term foundations for governance in the New Era and on the new journey. It holds important forward-looking and strategic significance for ensuring that our country basically achieves socialist modernization by 2035. The correct perspective on performance deeply answers the questions of what constitutes correct performance, why it must be advocated, and how it should be created. Only by scientifically grasping its conceptual foundations and practical requirements can the study and education campaign move toward greater depth and concrete implementation.
Conceptual Foundations
"The issue of the perspective on performance is a fundamental one." While the perspective on performance centrally reflects the understanding and attitudes of Party members and cadres toward fulfilling their duties and pursuing achievements, it also profoundly reflects their Party spirit (党性) [3], consciousness of the Party’s purpose, and ideal pursuits. Therefore, establishing a correct perspective on performance must not remain at the level of "technique" (术) [4]—regarding how to improve professional levels and management performance—but must rise to the level of "the Way" (道) [5] by establishing a correct "perspective on power," "perspective on undertakings," and "perspective on development."
The process of creating performance is, in a certain sense, the process of exercising power; only by using power correctly can performance be created reasonably. Establishing a correct perspective on performance objectively requires establishing a correct perspective on power: deeply recognizing that power originates from the people, that the exercise of power must serve the people and accept their supervision, and truly regarding the creation of well-being for the people as the greatest performance.
The saying "it is not easy to be an official" (为官不易) lies in the fact that it is not easy to truly use the power entrusted by the Party and the people well, nor is it easy to create a performance that can withstand the test of practice, the people, and history. Conversely, being high and mighty, detached from the masses, exercising power capriciously, putting on airs, flaunting official authority, and seeking privileges are typical manifestations of bureaucratism and a distorted perspective on power. These undoubtedly cause great harm to the Party’s image and undertakings and must be resolutely stopped.
The individual performance achieved through the efforts of Party members and cadres within their scope of responsibility must be placed within the overall situation and long-term goals of the development of the Party and people’s cause to more fully manifest its value and gain a steady stream of strength. A correct perspective on performance is inseparable from the support of a correct perspective on undertakings. This requires that Party members and cadres possess the ambition to do things and the responsibility to dare to act, opening up new horizons for the development of the cause with a spirit of proactive enterprise, vigorous action, and the courage to struggle. They must not be "muddled officials" who are politically numb and confused, "lazy officials" who eat their fill and do nothing [6], or "mediocre officials" who shirk responsibility and lack initiative. Furthermore, they must have the ability to handle affairs and the tenacity to see things through, adhering to the principle of respecting laws, reality, and the masses. They must ensure that the ideas conceived, the plans designed, and the measures implemented conform to the trends of the times, serve the overall interests of the cause, and meet the fundamental interests of the people. This prevents the phenomenon where "new methods cannot be used, old methods do not work, hard methods dare not be used, and soft methods are ineffective."
Development is the Party’s top priority in governing and rejuvenating the country and the key to solving all our country’s problems. The perspective on development concerns fundamental understandings of development's trajectory, direction, momentum, and structure. Only when the perspective on development is correct will the perspective on performance be correct. First, we must maintain the unity of being "people-centered" and "economic construction-centered." We must rely on the people to promote modernization and ensure that the fruits of modernization benefit all people, so that the creation of performance focuses on both material "things" and "human beings." Second, we must adhere to the New Development Philosophy [7] of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing, focusing on resolving the contradiction of unbalanced and inadequate development in our country and promoting changes in the quality, efficiency, and momentum of development. Finally, we must persist in high-quality development, ensuring that the economy achieves both an effective improvement in quality and a reasonable growth in quantity, and ensuring that high-quality development in the economic field and all other fields can coordinate and advance together.
Handling Several Pairs of Relationships
"The systemic concept (系统观念) is a foundational ideological and working method." Only by adhering to the systemic concept and correctly handling the relationships between public and private, near and far, and "latent" (潜) and "manifest" (显) can Party members and cadres effectively practice a correct perspective on performance in the journey of modernization.
The fundamental yardstick for measuring the strength of one’s Party spirit is the two words: "public" (公) and "private" (私). To establish and practice a correct perspective on performance, we must exercise the decisive role of Party spirit and correctly handle the relationship between the public and the private. Our Party has always represented the fundamental interests of the broadest possible masses; it does not have any special interests of its own, nor does it represent any interest group, power clique, or privileged stratum. While individual Party members and cadres possess legal rights and interests granted by the Party Constitution and the law, this does not mean indulging selfishness, private interests, or private desires, let alone placing the interests of individuals or small cliques above the Party’s cause and the people’s fundamental interests. Only by keeping the "top priorities of the nation" [8] (国之大者) in mind, adhering to serving the people whole-heartedly, and achieving selflessness, a clear distinction between public and private, and the prioritization of the public over the private, can Party members and cadres ensure the performance they create stands the test of the people, practice, and history.
Realizing socialist modernization is a historical process of step-by-step progression and continuous development, requiring unremitting effort and successive struggles. To establish a correct perspective on performance, one must strengthen awareness of the overall situation and strategy, being adept at calculating "big accounts," "total accounts," and "long-term accounts," rather than just "local accounts," "departmental accounts," and "immediate accounts." One must not damage the overall interest for the sake of partial interest, nor damage fundamental and long-term interests for the sake of temporary interest. One must adhere to moving only after a plan is set, planning scientifically and progressing steadily, accumulating small victories into great successes through persisting over the long term, and preventing short-sightedness, rash advancement, greed for the big and fast, and blind competition. Simultaneously, in the process of promoting development, we must effectively realize, maintain, and develop the interests of the masses, focusing on the fundamental and long-term interests of the people while effectively solving the most direct and realistic problems of greatest concern to them.
Performance includes "latent achievements" (潜绩), which have long cycles, slow results, and are difficult to perceive or quantify, as well as "manifest achievements" (显绩), which have short cycles, fast results, and are easy to quantify and perceive. Establishing a correct perspective on performance requires a deep understanding and correct handling of the relationship between the latent and the manifest.
The "latent" is the foundation of the "manifest," and the "manifest" is the result of the "latent." Existing visible and tangible achievements are the result of long-term efforts and silent accumulation, while the current silent, "moistening-things-softly" [9] foundational work will be transformed into substantial and tangible achievements in the future. Party members and cadres must deeply grasp the dialectical relationship between the "latent" and the "manifest," doing more "people's heart projects" (民心工程) and "foundation-strengthening projects" (固本工程) that lay the groundwork and benefit the long term. They must avoid "image projects" (形象工程) and "performance projects" (政绩工程) [10] that waste manpower and money, and instead deliver a report card that satisfies the Party and the people while solidly promoting high-quality development.
Improving Institutional Guarantees
Establishing and practicing a correct perspective on performance relies not only on the ideological awareness of Party members and cadres but even more so on scientific and complete institutional guarantees. Institutions are fundamental, comprehensive, stable, and long-term; they are the rigid constraints that guide and regulate performance-related behavior. To improve institutional guarantees: First, we must improve the performance appraisal and evaluation system. We must adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, implement the New Development Philosophy completely, accurately, and comprehensively, highlight the orientation toward high-quality development, and construct a mechanism for evaluating personnel that organically combines routine appraisals, categorized appraisals, and "close-range" appraisals. This will ensure that appraisal indicators reflect national strategic requirements while fitting the reality of local development, making the judgment of performance regularized and evidence-based. Second, we must improve the application of results and the incentive-restraint mechanism. The results of appraisals and evaluations should be used as an important basis for the reward, punishment, and appointment of cadres, effectively forming a clear orientation where "the capable rise, the excellent are rewarded, the mediocre step down, and the inferior are eliminated," providing both positive incentives and negative pressure for establishing a correct perspective on performance. Third, by constructing a comprehensive, scientific, standardized, and effective institutional system, we can use institutional power to solidify the foundation of a correct perspective on performance, guiding Party members and cadres to achieve substantial results that stand the test of practice, the people, and history. Fourth, we must promote the Party's self-revolution through a scientific, complete, and efficient system of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. We must ensure that wherever the cause of the Party and state expands, Party building covers it, so that power is exercised correctly and functions in an orderly manner, ensuring the cause of the Party and the people braves the wind and waves and achieves steady and long-term progress.