Chengdu,capital city of Southwest China's Sichuan Province. Photo:VCG

Editor's Note:

When the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China met with Chinese and foreign journalists in Beijing on October 23 last year, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, emphasized that "On the journey ahead, we shall always act for the people and rely on them in everything we do." It once again demonstrated Xi's deep feelings for the people. Adhering to "putting people first" has been vividly reflected in the practice of governing the country in the new era for 10 years. In this series, the Global Times selected the opinions from several experts and scholars to conduct in-depth discussions from multiple perspectives of this topic. This is the fourth article of this series. 

On March 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting that the CPC will continue to pursue high-quality development and promote global growth and prosperity. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress stressed that high-quality development is the first and foremost task in building a modern socialist country in all respects. At the just-concluded two sessions, legislators and advisors reached consensus on how to understand and advance high-quality development with high anticipation to the blueprint.

During the two sessions, Xi stressed the importance of promoting high-quality development. When attending the deliberation of Jiangsu delegation, he stressed that we must fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts. A better balance must be maintained between effective rise in quality and reasonable growth in quantity. We must stay committed to deepening reform and opening-up, and further transform the growth model. Our ultimate goal is to meet people's increasing expectation for a better life. A series of speeches provide a fundamental guideline and scientific guidance for China's high-quality development and further clarify the value pursuit of high-quality development.

Strategic choice for second centenary goal

Throughout the process of human history, a country will go through a critical period at certain level of economic growth, during which it will upgrade to a high-income country on the premise of low input, high output and high efficiency. For example, South Korea and Singapore made the leap during this period, while on the other hand some Latin American countries have fallen into the middle-income trap. One of the decisive factors is the optimal allocation of total factors of production.

In terms of China, the 19th CPC National Congress, based on the major changes in the stage of development and main contradictions in society, put forward that China's economy has been transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development, and called for raising total factor productivity. In October 2020, the fifth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee pointed out that China had shifted to a stage of high-quality development, and the "The 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035" approved at the meeting stated that economic and social development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period should take pursuing high-quality development as the main theme. Moreover, in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress in October last year, it was further emphasized that "To build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must, first and foremost, pursue high-quality development," which also involves raising total factor productivity.

It is thus clear that advancing high-quality development is not a temporary or expedient measure, but a strategic choice based on China's economic and social situation, aiming to build China into a modern socialist country in all respects and achieve the second centenary goal. To this end, there are three regards that require a comprehensive discussion:

First, high-quality development is not just a requirement for the economy, but a general requirement for economic and social development as a whole. While focusing on economic growth, it also highlights the balance between society, environment and people's livelihoods, as well as the new demands of the people regarding ecology, education, environment, fairness, justice, equality and common prosperity.

Second, high-quality development is not simply a requirement for economically developed regions, but a general requirement that must be implemented in all regions. At the two sessions in 2021, Xi said that in light of the actual situation, all regions should adapt to local conditions, build on their strengths and make up for their weaknesses, and blaze a path of high-quality development suited to their actual conditions. This means that each region should implement the innovation-driven development according to its own resources and advantages, so that alleviate disparities among different regions, between city and village, and in people's income through coordinated development with its own characteristics.

Third, high-quality development is not a one-time, but a long-term requirement. The happiness and well-being of the people is the fundamental value orientation of socialist modernization and the ultimate goal of high-quality development. Therefore, high-quality development will be the first and foremost task of the whole Party and the whole country in the long run.

Deep reflection of people-centered principle

The report to the 20th CPC National Congress clearly includes "applying a people-centered development philosophy" as one of the five major principles. Specifically, the concept, path, value and the ultimate goal of high-quality development all reflect the people-centered principle. 

The principal contradiction facing Chinese society today has evolved into a contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life. Satisfying the people's ever-growing needs for a better life become the starting point and goal of high-quality development of the country.

This demand for a better life is different from having a bicycle, watch, TV, refrigerator and washing machine that people longed to get in the last century. Today, it is difficult to measure people's demand for a better life with a specific object. 

Instead, the comprehensive demand for employment, education, housing, social security, medical care, and pension affects people's sense of gain, happiness and security. Adhering to the people-centered approach, solving problems and meeting the people's needs in these areas is precisely the focus of high-quality development. Such problem-oriented and demand-oriented development will also be a strong guide to the optimization and upgrading of the supply system and industrial structure.

An important way to achieve high-quality development is to increase total factor productivity, in which the human element remains the dominant position among land, labor, capital, technology and other factors.

Therefore, high-quality development should adhere to the people-oriented principle, and further stimulate people's enthusiasm and creativity through institutional reform and management level improvement, so as to improve the total factor productivity.

Besides, innovation is the primary driving force for high-quality development. People-centered high-quality development will greatly unleash the vitality of innovation by giving full play to the principal role of the people in scientific and technological undertakings and respecting the initiative of the people. It will also provide a driving force for scientific and technological innovation by taking the improvement of people's livelihood as an important direction of scientific and technological innovation.

Promoting global development, connectivity

It is worth emphasizing that people-centered high-quality development will further strengthen the integration of internal and external circulation, better facilitate global connectivity and push forward the cause of global development.

On the one hand, with the change in the international situation and the development of reform and opening-up for more than 40 years, the opening-up composed of commodities and factors can no longer meet China's current needs. The most efficient way of achieving the optimal allocation of production factors with the least input and the best benefits is to promote institutional opening-up of rules, regulations, management and standards to the Chinese modernization.

On the other hand, high-quality development featuring institutional opening-up will continue to benefit other countries from China's development while meeting the growing demands of Chinese people for a better life and raising total factor productivity, attracting wide global attention.

Against the backdrop of constant headwinds of globalization, China, with its advantages in a large market, will continue to play a key role in promoting global connectivity. No matter how the international situation changes, China will always be an important driver of global economic development, and China's high-quality development will continue to enhance the appeal of the Global Development Initiatives put forward by China.

All in all, a China that takes bold steps along the path of high-quality development will help the Chinese economy sail through the wind and waves, and add more stability and positive energy to world peace and development.

The author is the vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchange and former vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn