Li Yuju and Chen Zhichao: Giving Better Play to the Strategic Guiding Role of National Development Planning on the Track of the Rule of Law
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Formulating medium- and long-term plans to guide economic and social development is an important method for our Party to govern the country." National development plans are a vital channel for transforming the Party's propositions into the will of the state and turning strategic visions into the collective action of the entire society; moreover, they are a concentrated expression of the institutional advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The deliberation and adoption of the National Development Planning Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "National Development Planning Law") by the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress is a major event in the political life of the Party and the state. It holds significant milestone importance for better leveraging the strategic guidance role of national development planning and promoting high-quality development. In this critical period for consolidating the foundation and launching comprehensive efforts to basically realize socialist modernization, and in the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the formulation and promulgation of the National Development Planning Law clarifies the guiding ideology, principles, and concepts that national development planning work must adhere to. By making comprehensive and systematic provisions for specific procedures such as the compilation, review, approval, implementation, and supervision of national development plans, it will use the stability of the law to counter the uncertainty of the external environment. This provides a powerful institutional guarantee for the scientific formulation and effective implementation of national development plans on the track of the rule of law, and for the continuous struggle to achieve the grand goal of comprehensively building a great modern socialist country.
The Formulation and Promulgation of the National Development Planning Law is an Urgent Requirement for the Modernization of National Governance
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "With the development of the times and the advancement of reform, the modernization of national governance has an increasingly urgent requirement for a scientific and complete system of legal norms." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has adhered to comprehensively governing the country according to law, bringing economic and social development fully onto the track of the rule of law, and the development of the rule of law in various economic and social fields has proceeded at a rapid and steady pace [1]. The formulation and promulgation of the National Development Planning Law provides a more refined institutional guarantee for promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, and holds profound significance for consolidating the legal foundation of Chinese-path modernization.
An important manifestation of the construction of a Rule of Law China. General Secretary Xi Jinping has noted: "The rule of law is an important reliance for the national governance system and governance capacity." Since the New Era, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, we have codified the Civil Code, amended the Legislation Law, formulated and implemented the Yangtze River Protection Law, and introduced the Private Economy Promotion Law, among others. Breakthrough progress and historic achievements have been made in the construction of a Rule of Law China, and the protective role of the rule of law in consolidating foundations, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting the long term has become increasingly prominent. The formulation and promulgation of the National Development Planning Law is a summary and refinement of successful experiences in national development planning work over a long period, especially since the New Era. It establishes practices that have been effective for many years as legal and institutional norms, providing a strong legal guarantee for better playing the strategic guidance role of national development planning, and is conducive to enhancing the overall efficiency of the national planning system under new circumstances. This marks the entry of national development planning work into a new stage of legalization. It not only improves the system of socialist laws with Chinese characteristics but also fully demonstrates our Party's firm determination to govern the country and exercise power in accordance with the law.
An objective need for improving the socialist market economy system. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "The socialist market economy is, in essence, an economy under the rule of law." Properly handling the relationship between the government and the market is the core issue of economic structural reform. Against the backdrop of the accelerated evolution of changes unseen in a century [2], continuously rising geopolitical risks, and frequent fluctuations in the world economy, what market entities desire most is stable expectations. Based on the Constitution, the National Development Planning Law regulates the formulation and guarantees the implementation of national development plans, endowing national strategic intent with legal authority, solemnity, and certainty. It can effectively avoid frequent policy changes and provide market entities with a fair, transparent, and predictable policy environment. The National Development Planning Law clearly defines the boundaries of the rights and responsibilities of the government in the formulation and implementation of plans; in essence, this draws a "red line" for public power and leaves sufficient space for the market to allocate resources. This is both a legal safeguard for an effective market and a legal regulation for a promising government. It plays an irreplaceable role as a "ballast stone" for stabilizing the macro-economic landscape, stimulating the vitality of market entities, and stabilizing the expectations of the whole society.
An inevitable requirement for enhancing macroeconomic governance capability. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Improve the macroeconomic governance system and leverage the strategic guidance role of national development planning." Institutional advantage is a country's greatest advantage, and institutional competition is the most fundamental competition between nations. To a large extent, institutional competition is manifested as competition in strategic planning capabilities. The National Development Planning Law provides important legal support for better transforming the institutional advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics into governance efficacy. From the perspective of legal logic, the National Development Planning Law, through rigorous legal norms, promotes the formation of a national planning system with accurate positioning, clear boundaries, complementary functions, and unified integration. This ensures that the deployment and implementation of national strategic goals are not diminished by administrative levels, distorted by local interest maneuvering, or subject to arbitrary changes and "back-and-forth tossing" [3]. From the perspective of governance efficacy, the National Development Planning Law incorporates the will of the state throughout the entire process of economic and social development through statutory procedures, improves the macroeconomic governance system, and promotes high-efficiency coordination among various policies such as fiscal, monetary, industrial, and regional policies. This high-efficiency governance based on the rule of law will greatly enhance the state's strategic capability to mobilize various resources and respond to risks and challenges, providing solid legal support for China to take the initiative in fierce international competition.
Deeply Grasping the Basic Spirit of the National Development Planning Law
The formulation of the National Development Planning Law has consistently adhered to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implemented Xi Jinping’s economic thought and his thought on the rule of law, and thoroughly carried out the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and the various plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee. The key to deeply understanding and grasping the basic spirit, content, and requirements of this law lies in understanding how it ensures the "taking root" of the Party's propositions and national strategic intent through statutory procedures.
Stressing the adherence to the Party’s overall leadership. At the opening of a study session for provincial and ministerial-level leading officials on implementing the spirit of the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping systematically summarized the rich experience created and accumulated by our Party in the long-term practice of formulating and implementing Five-Year Plans, the first of which is adhering to the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee. From the first Five-Year Plan for the development of the national economy to the 15th Five-Year Plan, every single one has been formulated, implemented, and completed under the leadership of the Party Central Committee. It is precisely because of consistently adhering to the Party's leadership that China has been able to maintain strategic resolve and continuous struggle over several decades, creating the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. The "General Provisions" of the National Development Planning Law state: "National development planning work adheres to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, adheres to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and fully implements the Party's basic line, principles, and policies, as well as the decision-making deployments of the Party Central Committee." This general requirement is not an abstract political slogan but is embedded in specific legal requirements. National development plans are organized and compiled by the State Council based on the Proposals and decision-making deployments of the Party Central Committee regarding the formulation of the Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development; the draft national development plan is submitted to the Party Central Committee and the State Council for review according to prescribed procedures, and then submitted by the State Council to the National People's Congress for review and approval according to statutory procedures. This legally smooths out the logic of transforming the Party's propositions into the will of the state, fully demonstrates the Party's core leadership role in overseeing the overall situation and coordinating all parties, ensures that planning work always advances in the correct political direction, and achieves the organic unity of the Party's leadership, the people being masters of the country, and governing the country according to law.
Establishing the overarching status of national development plans. Addressing problems such as the excessive variety and blurred positioning that existed in the planning system in the past, the National Development Planning Law establishes the overarching status of national development plans and optimizes the national planning system, which is a major highlight. This law clarifies that the state shall establish and improve a national planning system led by national development plans, based on territorial spatial planning, supported by sectoral and regional plans, and composed of both national and local plans. This contains profound systems theory thinking. Within this, the national development plan solves the strategic goals and orientation of "what to do and when to do it," playing the role of the "master baton"; territorial spatial planning solves the spatial layout issue of "where to do it," providing guidance based on local conditions; sectoral and regional plans solve the specific path issue of "how to do it," playing the role of classified implementation. Regarding local levels, the law requires that the draft outlines of the five-year plans for national economic and social development of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government should be aligned with the national development plan. This ensures the implementation of national strategies while preventing the planning content from being "the same thickness at the top and bottom" [4], encouraging localities to combine their own comparative advantages and find their characteristic positioning within the overall national strategic "chessboard."
Clarifying important principles for the scientific compilation of plans. The key to planning lies in being scientific, and authority stems from the rule of law. The National Development Planning Law clarifies strict "hard constraints" regarding the principles and procedures of plan compilation, stipulating that they should follow natural laws, economic laws, and social development laws, and adhere to the integration of domestic and international considerations, the combination of goal-orientation and problem-orientation, the linkage of medium- to long-term goals with short-term goals, the coordination of comprehensive planning with highlighting key points, and the unity of strategic focus with operational feasibility. This law adheres to the concept of whole-process people's democracy, establishing public participation, expert demonstration, and the auxiliary support of think tanks as statutory procedures. It requires conducting preliminary research, strengthening multi-angle demonstration and the comparison of multiple schemes, and soliciting opinions and suggestions from society through the internet and other channels, truly achieving "compiling plans with open doors" and unifying top-level design with soliciting advice from the people. In specific plan compilation, to prevent "head-patting" [5] decision-making and "vanity projects," the compilation of national development plans should comprehensively consider factor support conditions, resource and environmental carrying capacity, fiscal affordability, and the prevention of major risks. According to the requirements, the setting of any planning target must be based on rigorous fiscal assessment and risk judgment; that is, it must well answer a series of major realistic questions such as "is the development foundation sufficient?", "are the conditions met?", "where will the money come from?", and "how will risks be controlled?". These provisions mark a more institutionalized and standardized approach to national development planning, helping to ensure that major goals and indicators, major strategic tasks, major policy measures, and major engineering projects for economic and social development can all withstand the tests of practice, the people, and history.
Strengthening the review and approval of development plans and the supervision of their implementation. The National Development Planning Law constructs a comprehensive, whole-process, and multi-level review and supervision system. In terms of review and approval, it strengthens the review power of the National People's Congress and further details the review procedures, clarifying the preliminary review by the Financial and Economic Committee of the National People's Congress and the review by various delegations. Regarding plan adjustments, it "tightens the cage" of the system, clearly stipulating that "after a national development plan is published, it shall not be adjusted without going through statutory procedures," and strictly limiting the conditions and approval procedures for adjustments. In terms of supervising plan implementation, it clarifies a "combination of punches" [6] including oversight by the People's Congress and supervision by supervisory and auditing organs according to law, ensuring that every link of the plan—from compilation and implementation to evaluation—is based on law and follows established rules. These arrangements are conducive to promoting the transformation of planning blueprints into actual development results without compromise.
Practical Requirements for Implementing the National Development Planning Law
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "The vitality of the law lies in its implementation, and the authority of the law also lies in its implementation." In the process of promoting Chinese-path modernization, implementing the National Development Planning Law must adhere to a systems perspective. Based on the provisions of the law, we must improve implementation mechanisms, strengthen policy coordination, and build a full-chain legalized implementation system—from goal decomposition, policy support, and factor guarantee to monitoring and assessment—transforming institutional advantages into governance efficacy.
Strengthening the effective alignment of annual social development plans and other various plans at all levels with the national development plan. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." To carry out and implement the National Development Planning Law, we must first make the alignment between the annual plan for national economic and social development and the national development plan substantive and detailed. At the same time, we must ensure that other various plans at all levels refine and implement the key tasks of the national development plan, ensuring that specific deployments in various fields work in the same direction as the overall national strategy. Regarding the binding indicators determined by the national development plan, they must be decomposed annually according to law, defining annual progress baselines and incorporating them into the task lists of various regions and departments, ensuring we not only "calculate the total bill" but also "calculate the detailed bill" and "calculate the progress bill." As a short-term regulation tool, the annual plan for national economic and social development must serve the medium- and long-term cross-cycle design. When formulating annual investment plans and major project lists, priority should be given to the major engineering projects determined by the national development plan, transforming the medium- and long-term "blueprint" into an operational "construction map," and ensuring that China's strategic development goals "accumulate small victories into a large victory."
Enhance the consistency of macro-policy orientation. Forming a synergy among macro-policies is a vital guarantee for the implementation and grounding of planning. Improving the mechanisms for coordination between national development planning and macro-policies, as well as operational synergy, is an important safeguard for elevating the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. It is necessary to establish and improve a macro-policy coordination mechanism led by national development planning, treating such planning as the fundamental basis for formulating macro-policies. Through legal procedures, we must ensure that the "intensity" of fiscal policy, the "precision" of monetary policy, and the "orientation" of industrial policy resonate at the same frequency under the baton of national development planning. Before the introduction of important policies regarding finance, currency, industry, pricing, employment, as well as regional development, land, and environmental protection, a compliance and consistency review must be conducted against the strategic goals of the national development planning. Furthermore, non-economic policies such as safety, environmental protection, and social regulation should be included in consistency evaluations to prevent "compositional fallacies" in macro-policy caused by departmental departmentalism [7] or the "layering of burdens" [8] (céngcéng jiāmǎ).
Construct a resource element guarantee mechanism for planning implementation. The grounding and implementation of planning are inseparable from the support and guarantee of factor resources. Based on legal provisions, we must break the traditional inertia of resource allocation and insist that projects follow the planning, while elements follow the projects. The law explicitly states that "central fiscal funds shall be prioritially invested in major strategic tasks, major policy measures, and major engineering projects determined by national development planning." This requires strengthening the dynamic matching between medium- and long-term fiscal planning and national development planning to ensure that national strategic tasks have long-term, stable funding channels. Financial capital, land indicators, and data resources should be guided to cluster preferentially in fields such as technological innovation, green transformation, and people's livelihoods. Projects that do not conform to the orientation of national development planning shall not be granted approval, land supply, or loans, thereby preventing blind startups or "rushing headlong into action" [9] (yīhòng’érshàng).
Strengthen the alignment between local development planning and national development planning. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "When planning economic and social development for the '15th Five-Year Plan' period, all regions must accurately position themselves within the overall national context and strengthen the alignment of planning." The "Opinions on Unifying the Planning System and Better Playing the Strategic Leading Role of National Development Planning," issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in 2018, made institutional arrangements for streamlining planning relationships and improving planning management. Implementing the National Development Planning Law focuses on maintaining the authority of the national planning system, ensuring "the whole country acts as a single chessboard" [10] (quánguó yīpánqí), and adhering to the principles that subordinate plans follow superior plans, lower-level plans serve higher-level plans, and plans at the same level coordinate with each other. When formulating local development plans, all regions must strengthen their awareness of "benchmarking and aligning" [11] (duìbiāo duìbiǎo) and establish strict systems for planning record-filing and compliance review. In terms of goal setting, spatial layout, and industrial selection, local development planning must submit to the major function-oriented zone strategy and the layout of major productive forces determined by the national development planning. Regarding national-level prohibited development zones and ecological red-line areas, not a single step across the line [12] (yuèléichíbànbù) is permitted; for national tasks concerning overcapacity reduction and structural adjustment, no "flexible workarounds" (biàntōng) may be employed. At the same time, it is necessary to prevent local protectionism and market fragmentation while avoiding mechanical execution. Localities are encouraged to find differentiated positioning based on their own comparative advantages, but they must never engage in low-level repetitive construction or disordered, vicious competition that runs counter to the overall national strategy.
Improve the full-cycle monitoring, evaluation, assessment, and accountability systems. The guarantee of execution lies in supervision. The National Development Planning Law incorporates the implementation of planning into the scope of rule-of-law supervision, treating supervision, evaluation, and assessment as "hard benchmarks" for ensuring implementation. Provisions regarding mid-term and final evaluations must be implemented, utilizing modern information technology to enhance the scientific nature of such assessments. After the mid-term evaluation report is approved by the CPC Central Committee, it shall be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation; after the final evaluation report is approved by the CPC Central Committee, it shall be submitted to the National People's Congress along with the draft of the national development plan for the next planning period. For problems discovered during evaluation, a "problem list" and "rectification ledger" should be established to promote the effective grounding of the plan. A clear assessment and accountability mechanism must be established, using the implementation of national development planning as an important reference for measuring how well various regions and departments perform their duties in accordance with the law. Legal responsibility will be pursued for acts such as engaging in formalism or "superficial window-dressing" [13] (zuò biǎomiàn wénzhāng), or for illegal approvals, blind borrowing, and "vanity projects" [14] (zhèngjì gōngchéng) during plan implementation. We must persist in the principle that "with power comes responsibility, responsibility demands accountability, and failure to fulfill responsibility must be prosecuted," ensuring that national development planning takes root and is effectively implemented.
(Unit: Xi Jinping Economic Thought Research Center) Source: People’s Daily (March 17, 2026) Editor: Huihui