Song Youwen: Adhering to High-Quality Development Must Become a Key Component of Leading Officials' Performance Evaluation Standards
Development is our Party’s top priority in governing and rejuvenating the country; it is the foundation and key to resolving all of China’s problems. High-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in all respects. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “Upholding high-quality development must become an important component of the performance outlook of leading officials.” High-quality development is a profound transformation concerning the overall development situation, and it is also an important requirement for establishing and practicing a correct performance outlook. We must deeply study General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on establishing and practicing a correct performance outlook, and earnestly foster a work orientation and favorable atmosphere for promoting high-quality development.
Only by taking high-quality development as an important component of the performance outlook of leading officials can we ensure the steady and long-term progress of Chinese-path modernization.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Since the 18th National Congress, I have repeatedly emphasized the need to fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy and focus on promoting high-quality development. To implement this requirement at every level, it is impossible without a correct performance outlook.” Only by taking high-quality development as a core component of leading officials' performance outlook can we guide officials to seek truth from facts, act according to objective laws, make scientific decisions, and perform practical work. This will help them avoid the pursuit of quick successes [1], blind and reckless actions, and ensure that Chinese-path modernization advances steadily and far.
At present, our country’s development is in a period where strategic opportunities and risky challenges coexist, and uncertain, unpredictable factors are increasing. To face various uncertainties and respond to all kinds of risks and major tests, we must continuously enhance the certainty and sustainability of our country’s development by promoting high-quality development. High-quality development is not merely an economic requirement; it is a general requirement for all aspects of economic and social development. It is not an requirement only for economically developed regions, but one that must be implemented in the development of all regions. It is not a requirement for a single moment or event, but a requirement that must be persisted in over the long term. High-quality development is the "hard truth" of the New Era. Various regions and departments have conducted many active and beneficial explorations in following a path of high-quality development suited to their own realities, but some problems persist. For example, from the perspective of work progress, some leading officials have an insufficient depth of understanding regarding high-quality development. When encountering contradictions and difficulties in practical work, they habitually revert to the old path of scale expansion and extensive, inefficient development. Others have pursued the green and low-carbon transition in a simplistic and crude manner, even engaging for a time in "carbon charges" [2] and campaign-style "carbon reduction" [3], which disturbed the normal order of production and life. These problems expose the insufficient competence and weak ability of some leading officials to promote high-quality development; however, the deeper cause is the deviation and misalignment of their performance outlooks. It can be said that without a correct performance outlook, the requirements for promoting high-quality development cannot be effectively implemented.
Upholding high-quality development is a long-term, systemic task that necessarily requires unremitting efforts to establish and practice a correct performance outlook. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: “Establishing and practicing a correct performance outlook has been discussed and addressed for many years, achieving some results. However, looking at inspections, supervisions, and the investigation of cases, many prominent problems regarding the performance outlook remain, which need to be addressed continuously over the long term.” The "15th Five-Year Plan" period (2026–2030) will be a critical period for consolidating the foundation and fully exerting strength to basically achieve socialist modernization; it will also be a key stage where the tough tasks of high-quality development become more heavy and arduous. There is an urgent need to guide leading officials through study and education to firmly establish a correct performance outlook and promote the implementation and effectiveness of high-quality development. We must internalize General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on establishing and practicing a correct performance outlook into our hearts and externalize them into our actions. We must conscientiously and solidly improve ideological understanding, rectify prominent problems, and establish sound systems and rules, transforming the results of study and education into actual effectiveness in promoting high-quality development.
Fully, accurately, and comprehensively implementing the new development philosophy is the prerequisite for making high-quality development an important part of leading officials' performance outlook.
Thought is the precursor to action. Development philosophy is the concentrated expression of the direction, ideas, and measures of development; it is strategic, programmatic, and long-term, playing a powerful leading role in economic and social development. The new development philosophy represents a rational recognition of the proactive shift in the mode of economic development, as well as a profound insight into the internal laws of socialist modernization. To make high-quality development a key part of the performance outlook of leading officials, we must implement the new development philosophy fully, accurately, and comprehensively.
Whether a development philosophy is scientific and correct fundamentally determines the actual results and final success or failure of development. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “Since the 18th National Congress, we have proposed many major theories and concepts regarding economic and social development, among which the new development philosophy is the most important and primary.” The new development philosophy—comprising innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing—was formed on the basis of profoundly summarizing the important experiences and internal laws of our country’s development since the reform and opening up, especially the new changes in the environment, conditions, tasks, and requirements of China’s economic development since the New Era. it offers scientific answers to a series of major theoretical and practical questions concerning the purpose, motivation, mode, and path of development. It profoundly elucidates major issues regarding our Party’s political stance, value standards, development paradigm, and development path. The new development philosophy is a systematic theoretical framework; its connotations and requirements must be grasped as a whole. The five concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing are interrelated, integrated, and mutually reinforcing, constituting an inseparable and unified whole. This requires us to implement the new development philosophy fully, accurately, and comprehensively, integrating it into the entire process and all fields of economic and social development so that these concepts work in synergy and form a joint force. We must not attend to one thing while losing sight of another [4], nor should we mistake a part for the whole.
Implementing the new development philosophy fully, accurately, and comprehensively involves the iterative updating of knowledge regarding development philosophy and the enhancement of the ability to govern development. In making high-quality development a core part of their performance outlook, leading officials should deepen their study of the new development philosophy. They should study it in the context of history, through repeated comparison, and in connection with reality, thereby establishing recognition and a conscious commitment to the new development philosophy from deep within. They must profoundly recognize the new changes in China’s development process, environment, and conditions, and consciously discard the metaphysical view of development that equates economic development merely with numerical increases or simple repetition. They must comprehensively understand the relationship between sustained, healthy development and GDP growth, preventing the simplification of development into merely increasing GDP or blindly competing for rankings based on GDP growth rates. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Our emphasis on not simply judging 'heroes' based on GDP growth rates [5] does not mean we no longer want development; rather, it is to reverse the mindset of ignoring all other undertakings for the sake of economic growth, and to reverse the practice of disregarding everything and all consequences for the sake of economic growth figures, which ultimately results in losses outweighing gains.” We must correctly understand the dialectical relationship between the speed of development and its quality and efficiency. What we pursue is growth that is substantial and without "water" [6]; growth that can increase people’s well-being and promote high-quality, full employment; growth characterized by a steady rise in labor productivity, a continuous strengthening of the internal drivers of economic development, and effective optimization of industrial structures; and growth where the quality and efficiency of economic development are improved while also accounting for intergenerational equity. Implementing the new development philosophy fully, accurately, and comprehensively ultimately means grasping the objective laws of economic and social development and putting the various decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee into practice. When formulating, issuing, or revising major policies, comprehensive evaluation and scientific judgment should be conducted; one must not engage in "rushed scripts" [7] or "one-size-fits-all" [8] approaches. In implementing policy measures, one must seek truth from facts, strengthen the sense of responsibility, focus on practical work and actual results, and strive to correct formalism and bureaucratism.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Whether one can persist in implementing the new development philosophy is an important yardstick for testing whether leading officials at all levels have strengthened the 'Four Consciousnesses' [9], firmed up the 'Four Confidences' [10], and achieved the 'Two Upholds'.” To implement the new development philosophy fully, accurately, and comprehensively is both a work guideline for economic and social development and a vital political criterion. Only when the political stance is elevated will the understanding of the Party Central Committee’s major principles and decisions become more profound, and only then can various tasks be carried out with greater consciousness, initiative, and foresight. We must continuously improve our capacity for political judgment, political understanding, and political execution, reflecting the implementation of the Spirit of the Party Central Committee in the practice of planning strategies, researching policies, deploying tasks, and advancing work. We must frequently "align with the benchmark" [11] and correct deviations in a timely manner; we must not discount policies, engage in "adaptive workarounds" [12], or allow measures to become distorted through "layer-by-layer pressure" [13]. Implementing the new development philosophy fully, accurately, and comprehensively requires a conscious adherence to a systems perspective. One must not only focus on the key tasks related to the new development philosophy within one's own region or department based on one's duties but also comprehensively consider the role and impact of that work on the entire Party and country’s implementation of the philosophy. One cannot simply stare at one's own "one mu and three fen of land" [14]. Based on one's own conditions and possibilities, one must holistically consider factors such as economy and politics, matter and culture, development and people's livelihoods, resources and ecology, as well as history and reality. While comprehensively implementing the new development philosophy, one must also focus on tackling weak links. One must not act stubbornly regardless of conditions or reality, and even more so, one must not act recklessly against objective laws just to produce "performance achievements." Only by fully, accurately, and comprehensively implementing the new development philosophy can the requirements for promoting high-quality development be put into practice.
Deeply transforming the mode of development is the key to making high-quality development an important part of leading officials' performance outlook.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “Party committees and governments at all levels must closely grasp the new development philosophy to promote development, focusing attention on solving various problems of unbalanced and inadequate development. They must never return to the old path of simply judging 'heroes' by GDP growth rates, never return to the practice of pursuing so-called development at the cost of environmental destruction, and even more so, never return to the model of extensive development.” The type of development mode in place will give rise to a corresponding pursuit of performance achievements. In reality, some officials persist in the inertia of old paths, old routines, and old thinking, habitually following the old road of extensive expansion, from which incorrect performance outlooks emerge. Without transforming the mode of development, it is difficult to eradicate the root of an incorrect performance outlook. Only by deeply transforming the mode of development can we truly establish and practice a correct performance outlook that meets the requirements of high-quality development.
Deeply transforming the mode of development is a strategic choice made by following the general trend and basing it on long-term interests, following the shift in China's economy from a high-speed growth stage to the background of "gear-shifting" in growth rates, the "labor pains" of structural adjustment, and the digestion of earlier stimulus policies. The mode of development refers to the means, measures, and specific practices adopted to achieve development, mainly including what production factors are relied upon to drive economic growth and what economic structures are used to promote economic development. As China's economy shifts from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage, the extensive development mode—which relies primarily on increasing the input of production factors to support growth—is unsustainable. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The extensive economic development mode once played a significant role in our country... but to continue according to that old extensive mode now is not supported by either domestic or international conditions; it is unsustainable. If we do not seize the moment to transform, we will one day hit a dead end.” How do we move away from the old path? We must shift from factor-driven to innovation-driven growth, from extensive growth to intensive development, from sacrificing the environment to green development, and from a singular focus on growth rates to equal emphasis on quality and efficiency. Leading officials must break away from the outdated thinking of "GDP as the sole hero," prioritizing speed over quality, scale over efficiency, and the short-term over the long-term. They must discard the extensive old path of trading resource depletion, "spreading the stall" [15], and launching "mega-projects" for growth. Instead, they should take the effectiveness of transformation, the results of innovation, and the state of the ecology as important measures of performance, reflecting a correct performance outlook through the actual achievements of the transformation in the mode of development.
Developing new quality productive forces is an inevitable requirement for deeply transforming the mode of development; it is also an internal requirement and an important focal point for promoting high-quality development. Promoting high-quality development must ultimately be manifested in the liberation and development of productive forces. The development of productive forces is the fundamental driving force of human social progress and the ultimate cause of all social change and political transformation. High-quality development cannot proceed without a new theory of productive forces as a scientific guide. New quality productive forces have gradually taken shape in practice and have begun to show results, providing powerful momentum and solid support for high-quality development. The core hallmark of new quality productive forces is a significant increase in total factor productivity. It highlights the leading role of innovation and emphasizes revolutionary technological breakthroughs, the innovative allocation of production factors, and the deep transformation and upgrading of industries. The proposal of new quality productive forces conforms to the objective needs of deeply transforming the mode of development and promoting high-quality development.
Regarding the development of new quality productive forces, General Secretary Xi Jinping particularly emphasized the need to persist in "adapting to local conditions." We must persist in starting from reality, carrying out work scientifically, rationally, and by seeking truth from facts. Based on resource endowments, industrial foundations, and scientific research conditions, we should selectively promote the development of new industries, new models, and new growth drivers. Developing new quality productive forces does not mean ignoring or abandoning traditional industries. We must use new technologies to transform and upgrade traditional industries, actively promoting the move toward intelligence, greening, and integration. General Secretary Xi Jinping recently issued an important instruction pointing out:
"Small commodities in Yiwu have broken into a great market and grown into a major industry, forming the 'Yiwu development experience.' This is a successful practice of developing county-level economies by adapting to local conditions." For years, Yiwu has based its efforts on its own strengths, anchoring itself to the development of small commodity trade. It has persisted in making a "great contribution" out of small commodities and, through institutional innovation and technical empowerment, has turned them into a "major industry." For instance, intelligent warehousing and logistics, digital-human livestreaming sales, and artificial intelligence-empowered precision supply chain forecasting have all breathed new life into the traditional industry of small commodity trade. This fully demonstrates the practical power of the methodology of adapting to local conditions. Adapting to local conditions does not mean being confined by the objective conditions of local development; whether developing new industries or upgrading traditional ones, one must use a strong proactive spirit to find a breakthrough development path.
Innovation is the hallmark of new quality productive forces. Today, the intervals between scientific and technological revolutions and industrial transformations are becoming shorter, and new scientific achievements can be rapidly transformed into new industries, new business forms, and new models. We must promptly apply scientific and technological innovation achievements to specific industries and industrial chains to promote the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation. Development conditions vary across regions; accordingly, the paths of innovation will differ, which tests the decision-making level of local leading officials. During the 24th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Leading officials at all levels must strengthen their learning of frontier scientific and technological knowledge and strive to be tech-literate, industry-savvy, and adept at decision-making." This provides scientific and concrete guidance for making the persistence in high-quality development an important component of the performance outlook of leading officials. Only by being tech-literate can one's understanding of industry move beyond the superficial level of "parroting others" [16], truly grasping the laws of industrial development to make scientific and precise decisions. Only by being industry-savvy can technological innovation be integrated into industrial planning, releasing the actual productive forces of technology through scientific decision-making. Leading officials must deeply understand the main directions of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, grasp the underlying logic of technological iteration, and establish correct judgments regarding which technologies will trigger industrial change and which require time to cultivate. They must combine this with the actual industrial development of their region to find the correct direction for industrial growth. They must never "take whatever comes to hand" [17], or engage in blind competition and "rushing headlong into action" [18], doing things that violate the laws of technological and industrial development.
Making the persistence in high-quality development an important component of the performance outlook of leading officials: the value orientation is to continuously meet the people's needs for a better life
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must always keep the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people in mind, unswervingly enhance the well-being of the people, and closely integrate high-quality development with meeting the people's needs for a better life. We should promote the organic integration and mutual reinforcement of prioritizing ecology, promoting high-quality development, and creating high-quality life." High-quality development is development that can effectively meet the people's ever-growing needs for a better life, which is inherently consistent with the correct performance outlook that takes benefiting the people as the fundamental value orientation. This requires leading officials to persist in proceeding from reality, act according to objective laws, and create achievements recognized by the masses through scientific decision-making and hard, solid work.
Promoting high-quality development must be unified with improving the quality of the people's lives. In general, high-quality development is development that shifts from "whether there is something" to "how good it is," representing the organic combination and mutual reinforcement of development and people's livelihoods. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "In planning for economic and social development during the '15th Five-Year Plan' period, we must not forget our original aspiration, must take benefiting the people as our fundamental value orientation, persist in ensuring and improving people's livelihoods during the process of development, and steadily promote common prosperity." A correct performance outlook is reflected both in grasping development and in benefiting the people's livelihoods. To improve the quality of people's lives, we must strengthen the construction of inclusive, basic, and bottom-line-guaranteeing livelihoods, solve the urgent, difficult, and anxious problems that concern the masses, and enhance the level of equalization and accessibility of basic public services. Continuously improving livelihoods and effectively implementing the strategy of expanding domestic demand are important supports for promoting high-quality development and constructing the dual circulation development pattern. Efforts should be made to promote employment, improve social security, optimize the income distribution structure, develop and expand the middle-income group, and solidly promote common prosperity for all people. Promoting high-quality and full employment should be a priority goal of economic and social development, making the process of high-quality development a process of upgrading and expanding employment. It should be seen that high-quality development and the expansion of the middle-income group are two sides of the same developmental process. Our country's economy moving from extensive growth to high-quality development essentially means that the development mode is breaking away from path dependency on simple labor, incremental investment, and high consumption of resources and energy, shifting toward a greater reliance on innovation-driven development. This overall transformation process is also a process in which the middle-income group continuously grows and its social role becomes increasingly prominent. Investing in people is closely related to the cultivation and expansion of the middle-income group and is a strategic measure for promoting high-quality development and constructing the dual circulation development pattern. To meet the people's expectations for a better life, we must persist in closely combining investment in things with investment in people. Adhering to the principle of doing our best while acting within our means, we should improve a population service system that covers the entire population and the whole life cycle. We must coordinate work in key livelihood areas such as marriage, childbirth, child-rearing, education, employment, medical care, housing, and elderly care, promoting solid steps toward the well-rounded development of individuals and common prosperity for all people.
To make the persistence in high-quality development an important component of the performance outlook of leading officials, we must persist in translating development results into practical livelihood effects and discard the erroneous performance outlook of "prioritizing good-looking figures over benefits for the common people." We must not chase cold numbers, and even less should we sacrifice the vital interests of the masses for the sake of making numbers look good. Furthermore, we must take care not to commit errors of subjectivism or become detached from the needs of the masses. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "To establish a correct performance outlook, we must respect objective reality and the needs of the masses, strengthen systems thinking and scientific planning, do more practical and good deeds that benefit the people, and resolutely put an end to putting on an act, pursuing 'flower shelves' [19], and blindly expanding the scale of projects." Leading officials must use solid investigation and research to grasp the needs of the masses, perform good and practical deeds that resonate with the people's hearts, ensure the people receive real benefits, truly improve their lives, and effectively protect their rights and interests.
Promoting high-quality development must satisfy the people's need for a beautiful ecological environment. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must thoroughly change our mindset; we can no longer judge success based on GDP growth rates alone. We must place the ecological environment in a prominent position within the evaluation system for economic and social development. If the ecological environment indicators are poor, it doesn't matter how good the surface achievements of a locality or department look. While we might not call it a 'one-vote veto' [20], this vote must certainly carry great weight." Ecological environment issues are, in the final analysis, issues of development and lifestyle. High-quality development must be green development. We must discard the old extensive production methods of large-scale production, high consumption, and high emissions, ensuring the coordination and compatibility of factors such as resources, production, and consumption. This will achieve the unified coordination of economic and social development with ecological protection, and the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature.
Leading officials should profoundly realize that if they do not deeply transform the development mode, the carrying capacity of the environment will be overwhelmed, and economic development will run counter to the improvement of the people's quality of life, as well as the fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly. In making high-quality development a key part of their performance outlook, leading officials must deeply implement the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" [21]. They must persist in the integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts. They must unswervingly follow the path of high-quality development that prioritizes ecology, promotes conservation and intensive use, and is green and low-carbon. Driven by the work on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, they should coordinately promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth, consolidating the barriers for ecological security and enhancing the momentum for green development. By deepening the reform of the ecological civilization system, improving mechanisms for green and low-carbon development, and accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, we can form spatial patterns, industrial structures, production modes, and lifestyles conducive to resource conservation and environmental protection. This will enhance the diversity, stability, and sustainability of ecosystems, supporting high-quality development with a high-quality ecological environment.
Making the persistence in high-quality development an important component of the performance outlook of leading officials requires adhering to a scientific methodology
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on establishing and practicing a correct performance outlook adhere to and apply the Marxist stance, viewpoint, and method. They not only deploy the mission of "crossing the river" but also provide guidance on solving the problem of "the bridge or the boat" [22]. Making the persistence in high-quality development an important part of the performance outlook requires not only correct ideas and strategic decisions but also correct work strategies and methods. We must study and apply the scientific thinking and work methods within General Secretary Xi Jinping’s relevant expositions, paying attention to the unity of strategy and tactics, the unity of stability and progress, and the unity of "conspicuous achievements" and "latent achievements."
Focus on the unity of strategy and tactics, achieving the goal of "reaching for the grand while exhausting the minute" [23]. Strategy involves making correct judgments and scientific decisions based on the overall situation, long-term interests, and the broad trends of development. A correct performance outlook requires leading officials to continuously improve their strategic thinking skills, to be far-sighted and take control of the overall situation, and to be adept at grasping the general trends and directions of development. They must see the big in the small and perceive the first signs of change, observing, thinking about, and handling problems from the height of the strategic whole at the forefront of the times, and be skilled at grasping the essence of things and the internal laws of development through complex surface phenomena. In 2019, when discussing the importance of protecting the Sanjiangyuan [24] (the "Water Tower of China"), General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "You must think about whether GDP is more important here or lucid waters and lush mountains? As a water source conservation area, your task is to maximize ecological functions, not to decide for yourselves to build a factory or open a mine to scrape together some GDP for your own livelihood." In 2024, during an inspection in Qinghai, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must look at the overall situation of national development" and "must persist in doing some things while refraining from others." [25] These important expositions provide scientific guidance for leading officials to improve their strategic thinking skills. When thinking about problems and making decisions, leading officials must have the "matters of national importance" (国之大者) in mind, calculating the "big accounts," the "total accounts," and the "long-term accounts." They must consciously integrate the work of their regions and departments into the broader situation of the Party and the state's cause, ensuring they not only bring glory to their own area but, more importantly, add brilliance to the whole.
At the same time, we must have not only strategic planning but also tactics and methods. Tactics serve the strategy under its guidance; the two have a relation of dialectical unity. The environmental conditions for implementing a strategy may change at any time, and new situations and problems will arise every moment; this requires us to organically combine strategic firmness with tactical flexibility. For example, in laying out future industries, we must maintain the strategic resolve to do so, but also focus on the main directions of our country's future industrial development, scientifically demonstrate technological routes, and comprehensively consider the trends of world industrial development and changes in factor support conditions. We should guide development according to the situation, ensuring we adapt to local conditions and achieve differentiated development. Leading officials must grasp the wisdom of "reaching for the grand while exhausting the minute," aiming to set the direction, grasp major events, and plan for the long term, while also accurately identifying and handling the entry and focus points of work. They must hold the overall situation in view during planning and be meticulous and precise in operation, seizing the strategic initiative through adapting to local conditions, acting according to the situation, and following the trend.
Persist in the unity of stability and progress, and consciously overcome "performance impulsivity." General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the need to handle the relationship between "stability" (稳) and "progress" (进) well. The meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on April 28 emphasized "adhering to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability." Stability and progress are dialectical unities; we must persist in seeking progress while maintaining stability, seeking progress through stability, and consolidating stability through progress. This is true for economic development as it is for social development. In promoting high-quality development, we must grasp "stability" and "progress" as a whole. Persisting in seeking progress while maintaining stability requires assessing the situation and thinking deeply when advancing any work, respecting the laws of economic and social development, and opposing both passive "lying flat" [26] and lack of ambition, as well as blind, reckless action and the pursuit of quick results. In seeking progress while maintaining stability, "stability" is the keynote; we must seek progress on the premise of prioritizing stability and maintaining the stability of the overall situation. Seeking progress while maintaining stability is by no means the same as doing nothing, maintaining stability for its own sake, or rigid conservatism; rather, it means grasping the proper proportion, taking initiative, balancing relationships, and controlling the timing, so as to achieve precision in policy and a measured approach to advancing or retreating. To promote high-quality development, we must persist in moving forward steadily, coordinating the stabilization of growth with the optimization of structure and the promotion of reform. We must maintain strategic resolve and historical patience, steadily grasping various measures for further comprehensively deepening reform and coordinating the optimization and upgrading of industrial structures, while consolidating the overall stability of the economy and society through new progress in these areas. There must be no impulse for "rushing blindly into large projects," nor can there be passive "lying flat." We must suppress impetuous and irritable mindsets and carry out modernization construction in a solid, down-to-earth manner.
At present, the focus of stability should be on stabilizing economic operations, maintaining the continuity and stability of policies, enhancing flexibility and foresight, and focusing on stabilizing employment, enterprises, markets, and expectations, while vigorously boosting consumption and comprehensively organizing...
"Involutionary" [27] competition, further strengthening the domestic grand circulation and optimizing the domestic and international dual circulation. An important landmark indicator for basically achieving socialist modernization is for per capita GDP to reach the level of a moderately developed country. This requires that economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period [28] maintain an appropriate speed, stabilizing economic growth within a reasonable range. The focus of "progress" is to persist in basing development on high-quality development, being proactive while maintaining stability, accelerating the construction of a new development paradigm, firmly seizing the initiative in development, promoting the effective improvement of economic quality and reasonable growth in quantity, and advancing sustained, healthy economic development and comprehensive social progress. In handling the relationship between stability and progress, care must be taken to abandon the erroneous view of performance that "new officials do not settle old accounts," [29] and even more so to avoid leaving behind burdens and hidden risks. One must practice "looking both forward and backward" [30] to ensure the decision-making deployments of the Party Central Committee are fully implemented.
Pursue the unification of "manifest achievements" and "latent achievements," [31] enhancing the sense of historical responsibility characterized by the sentiment that "success does not have to happen during my term" and the spirit of mission that "I must contribute to the ultimate success." General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "It is necessary to firmly establish a correct outlook on performance; we must both perform practical deeds that the common people can see, touch, and benefit from, and do good deeds that lay the groundwork, build the foundation, and benefit the long term. We must perform both manifest and latent feats, disregarding personal fame and fortune, and pursuing the good reputation among the masses and the genuine evaluation that comes after historical sedimentation." Manifest achievements and latent achievements are two aspects of political performance. Manifest achievements are perceptible and accessible, yielding results in the short term; latent achievements require continuous effort and perseverance. Although the two take different forms, they are unified in the concrete practice of cadres' undertakings. Leading cadres must grasp the internal relationship between the two, promoting new results in high-quality development through the pursuit of an organic unification of manifest and latent achievements. In practical work, some people always think about producing quick results, showing a keen interest in "short-term, flat, and fast" [32] projects for manifest performance, while being unwilling to spend effort on things that lay foundations, increase future potential, and benefit the long term. Some even continue to use high-energy-consuming and high-emission projects as important means to promote economic growth, engaging in construction through excessive debt and blindly expanding their reach. This behavior of prioritizing manifest achievements over latent ones, and "face" over "lining," [33] is essentially a distortion and displacement of the outlook on performance, deviating from the internal requirements of high-quality development.
To establish and practice a correct outlook on performance adapted to high-quality development, we must insist on giving equal weight to the "manifest" and the "latent," enhancing the sense of historical responsibility that "success does not have to happen during my term" and the spirit of mission that "I must contribute to the ultimate success." We must persist with "one blueprint to the end" [34]; for existing deployments and plans, as long as they are scientific, meet the requirements of new practices, and conform to the wishes of the masses, we must persevere, working generation after generation and persisting over the long term until results are achieved. At the same time, we must improve the performance appraisal methods and systems for promoting high-quality development, looking at both development and the foundation, and at both manifest and latent achievements. We should include indicators and actual results such as the improvement of people's livelihoods, social progress, and ecological benefits as important components of the appraisal, preventing the evaluation of work performance based purely on the speed of economic growth. We must improve the system for "knowing people through their deeds" via daily, classified, and close-range appraisals, guiding cadres to establish and practice a correct outlook on performance. We should implement the "Three Distinctions," [35] stimulating the endogenous motivation of cadres to be pioneering and enterprising in their undertakings, thereby creating a thick atmosphere and a vivid situation for the in-depth promotion of high-quality development.
(The author is the Vice Dean of the Research Institute of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Renmin University of China) Source: People's Daily (May 26, 2024) Editor: Huihui