The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held the second group study session on accelerating the establishment of a new pattern of development on the afternoon of January 31. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the session and stressed that accelerating the establishment of such a pattern is a strategic decision to realize the Second Centenary Goal and ensure both development and security, as well as a strategic plan to seize the initiative of future development. Only by accelerating the establishment of a new development pattern will China be able to consolidate the foundation for its economy and strengthen the security and stability of its development. And only by doing so will China be able to better survive, compete, develop and sustain its progress amid all sorts of predictable and unpredictable storms and high winds, so as to ensure that the process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will not be delayed or interrupted, and the goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects will be realized.
During the session, members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee conducted self-study and shared work experiences with each other. Yin Li, Liu Guozhong, He Lifeng, Zhang Guoqing, Chen Jining and Huang Kunming made speeches about their work in the fields and regions they are in charge of and shared their views with each other.
Xi Jinping delivered an important speech. He pointed out that in recent years, some achievements have been made through arduous efforts in establishing a new development pattern, with ideological consensus being consolidated, work foundation being cemented, and policies and mechanisms being improved. However, there is still a long way to go to have the new development pattern established in an all-round way. We must adopt a problem-oriented approach and apply systems thinking, work hard to resolve the major problems that constrain the building of a new pattern of development, comprehensively deepen reform, promote practical and institutional innovation, and constantly carry on strengths and make up deficiencies.
Xi noted that, efforts must be made to coordinate the expansion of domestic demand and deepening of supply-side structural reform, to create a dynamic balance at a higher level, in which demand drives supply and supply creates demand, and achieve a virtuous cycle of the national economy. We must resolutely implement the outline of the strategic plan for expanding domestic demand, form a complete domestic demand system as soon as possible, and strive to expand consumption demand supported by income, investment demand with reasonable returns, and financial demand with principal and debt constraints. We must establish and improve a long-term mechanism for expanding residents’ consumption, so that residents can consume with a stable income, dare to consume without worries, and are willing to consume due to the excellent consumption environment and strong sense of gain. We must improve and enlarge the investment mechanism, expand the space for effective investment, appropriately deploy new infrastructure construction in advance, increase investment in high-tech industries and strategic emerging industries, and continue to stimulate the vitality of private investment. We must continue to deepen supply-side structural reform, promote scientific and technological innovation and institutional innovation, break through blockages, stuck points, and vulnerabilities in supply-side constraints, and promote the competitiveness and security of the industrial chain and supply chain, meet existing demand with independent, controllable and high-quality supply, and create and guide new demand.
Xi noted that it is imperative to move faster toward self-reliance in science and technology so as to relieve the stranglehold some countries have tightened on China’s development of core technologies. We must improve our new system for mobilizing resources nationwide, build up China’s strategic scientific and technological strengths and ensure better allocation of innovation-related resources to make our country a global pacesetter in major sci-tech areas and pioneer in advanced interdisciplinary fields, and ensure that China will become a major world hub for science and innovation as soon as possible. We must ensure an effective coordination of the strategy for invigorating China through science and education with the workforce development strategy and the innovation-driven development strategy, and promote the integration of the development of education, sci-tech innovation and personnel training to form a virtuous cycle. We must adhere to the unified design of original innovation, integrated innovation and open innovation to ensure that they are well coordinated. We must also realize the unified deployment of innovation, industrial and talent chains so that they can be deeply integrated.
Xi stressed that a modernized industrial system is the foundation of the new pattern of development, as orderly links between industries are a prerequisite for smooth economic circulation. In pursuing economic growth, we must continue to place emphasis on the development of the real economy, take solid steps to advance new industrialization and move faster to boost China’s strengths in manufacturing, product quality, cyberspace and digital development, so as to build internationally competitive digital industry clusters. To keep with the general trend of industrial development, we should encourage industries with weak links to make up the deficiency, industries with strong advantages to further develop, traditional industries to upgrade, and emerging industries to build industrial chains, so as to make industrial development more sustainable and competitive, he said. We should improve the distribution of productive capacity, promote the orderly transfer of key industries at home and abroad, and support enterprises’ deep involvement in the global industrial division of labor and cooperation. We should also promote deeper integration of domestic and foreign industries, and build a modern industrial system that is independent, controllable, safe, reliable, and highly competitive.
Xi pointed out that coordinated development between urban and rural areas and between regions should be promoted to increase the coverage of domestic circulation. We should give full play to rural areas as a consumer market and factors market and comprehensively promote rural revitalization. We should also promote urbanization with county towns as a pivot, promote integrated urban and rural development, strengthen economic ties between urban and rural areas, and smooth economic circulation between urban and rural areas. The local self-circulation and regional barriers should be prevented and eliminated to form a real national unified market, he said. We should promote deeper integration of the strategies for coordinated regional development, major regional strategies, and functional zoning strategies, optimize the distribution of major productive capacity, and promote the proper flow and efficient aggregation of various factors of production to boost the domestic circulation of the economy.
Xi stressed the need to further reform and opening up, increase the driving force and vitality of the domestic circulation and its interaction with the international market. We should advance reforms for the market-based allocation of production factors, put in place a high-standard market system, and to accelerate the building of a unified national market. It is also imperative to refine the systems underpinning the market economy, such as those for property rights protection, market access, fair competition, and social credit, take stronger action against monopolies and unfair competition, and conduct law-based regulation and guidance to promote the healthy development of capital, so as to create a favorable environment for all types of business entities to invest and start their own businesses, and stimulate their vitality, Xi said. He also noted the need to promote high-level opening up and steadily push for institutional opening up regarding rules, regulations, management and standards, so as to strengthen China’s voice in the global economic circulation. We will promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, actively participate in the negotiation on international economic and trade rules, promote the formation of an open, pluralistic and stable world economic order, and create conditions for realizing the linkage and circulation between the resources in domestic and international markets.
