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Advancing New Quality Productive Forces Is Essential and a Key Priority for Fostering
High-Quality Development 

XI JINPING

Today, we are holding the 11th group study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee on promoting high-quality development. The purpose is, on the basis of studying and implementing the guiding principles from the 20th CPC National Congress and the Central Economic Work Conference, to take stock of achievements we have made in pursuing high-quality development in the new era, analyze prominent issues and problems, and explore ways for improvement, so as to make new gains and breakthroughs in pursuing high-quality development.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, we have fully applied the new development philosophy while deepening our understanding of the underlying features of our country’s economic development at different stages and the factors that have driven such development, and we have focused more on the need to pursue high-quality development. The report to the 19th CPC National Congress states that China’s economy has been transitioning from a stage of rapid growth to one of high-quality development. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress emphasizes that high-quality development is our top priority in building a modern socialist country in all respects. In the new era, the Central Committee has made a series of major decisions and plans, and promoting high-quality development has become the broad consensus and conscious action of the whole Party and society, with high-quality development as the underlying trend. In recent years, China has made major advances in scientific and technological innovation, and innovation-driven development has delivered increasing gains. Development between urban and rural areas and between regions is significantly better coordinated and more balanced. Reform and opening up have been deepened across the board, and the momentum and vitality of development have been unleashed. Marked progress has been made in the green and low-carbon transition, and the transformation of China’s development model has been accelerated. All this has led to notable advances in high-quality development.

President Xi Jinping takes part in a deliberation with fellow deputies from the delegation of Jiangsu Province at the second session of the 14th National People’s Congress, March 5, 2024. PHOTO BY XINHUA REPORTER JU PENG

However, many constraints still remain. Externally, sweeping and profound changes not seen in a century are accelerating across the world. Internally, there is as yet no fundamental change in China’s dependence on others for core technologies in key fields; gaps in development and income distribution between urban and rural areas and between regions remain wide; and all these are major obstacles to high-quality economic and social development. A review of our work shows that some leading officials lack a clear understanding of the need to pursue high-quality development and tend to revert to the beaten path of pursuing inefficient expansion and development with poor returns as soon as they encounter difficulties and problems. Some leading officials still cling to obsolete thinking and just pay lip service to the pursuit of high-quality development, acting like pouring old wine into new wineskins, as the saying goes. Some others are incompetent and do not know how to promote high-quality development in the face of new environments and challenges both at home and abroad. And I could give more examples. We should take these problems seriously and take measures to solve them. We must bear in mind that high-quality development is of paramount importance in the new era, and we must fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy. We should carry out strategic tasks such as speeding up the development of a modernized economy, building up our self-reliance and strength in science and technology, moving faster to foster a new development dynamic, advancing both deeper reform and higher-standard opening up, and pursuing high-quality development while ensuring high-standard security. We should improve our systems for evaluating the pursuit of high-quality development so as to lay a solid foundation for promoting it.

President Xi Jinping observes fully automated container terminal operations at Rizhao Port, Shandong Province, afternoon of May 22, 2024. He toured Shandong from May 22 to 24. PHOTO BY XINHUA REPORTER JU PENG

Advancing new quality productive forces is essential and a key priority for fostering high-quality development. Here, I would like to stress several key points.

During my visits since last July to Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, and Guangxi to learn about local development, I called for integrating science, technology, and innovation resources to steer the development of strategic emerging industries and industries of the future and to accelerate the creation of new quality productive forces. At the Central Economic Work Conference in mid-December, I also called for promoting industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation. In particular, we should foster new industries, models, and growth drivers through developing disruptive and cutting-edge technologies, so as to boost new quality productive forces. The reason why I put forward the concept of new quality productive forces and set the task of developing them is that productive forces are what fundamentally drive the development of human society and are the final cause of all social and political changes. High-quality development should be guided by new theories of productive forces, and new quality productive forces have emerged in practice and have given strong impetus and support to high-quality development. We need to conceptualize new quality productive forces and develop theoretical models to guide new development initiatives.

What are new quality productive forces and how should we develop them? I have given a lot of thought to this question, and I have also taken note of academic research on this issue. In short, new quality productive forces, in which innovation plays a leading role, are productivity in an advanced form that has superseded the traditional economic growth pattern and productivity development path. New quality productive forces are characterized by high technology, high performance, and high quality, and they are consistent with our new development philosophy. They have emerged thanks to revolutionary breakthroughs in technology, innovative allocation of production factors, and profound transformation and upgrading of industries. It is to upgrade laborers, means of labor, subjects of labor, and the optimal combination of these elements and to significantly increase total factor productivity. With innovation as a distinctive feature and high quality as the key, new quality productive forces are in essence advanced productive forces.

Innovation, an essential feature of new quality productive forces, means bringing change not only to technology and business forms, but also to management and systems. Hence, we must continue to promote innovation as an overarching initiative, thereby accelerating the development of new quality productive forces.

First, we should vigorously boost innovation in science and technology

Revolutionary breakthroughs in technology will hasten the birth of new quality productive forces. Scientific and technological innovation, which will give rise to new industries, new business models, and new growth drivers, is the core element for developing new quality productive forces. This means we should strengthen scientific and technological innovation, especially those that are original and disruptive, so as to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology at a faster pace. We should fully implement the strategy for invigorating China through science and education, the strategy of developing a quality workforce, and the innovation-driven development strategy. We should set our sights on the global frontiers of science and technology, national economic development, the major needs of the country, and the health and safety of the people. In order to bolster our national strength in strategic science and technology, we should promote strategy-oriented original and basic research in a well-organized manner. Focusing on the practical needs of implementing national strategies and promoting economic and social development, we should seek breakthroughs in the research of key generic technologies, cutting-edge technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technologies. We should fully leverage the strengths of our new system for mobilizing resources nationwide to secure progress in our research on core technologies in key fields. All this will lead to an explosion of original and disruptive innovations in science and technology and will help to foster new drivers for new quality productive forces.

Second, we should spur industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation

Turning scientific and technological achievements into actual productive forces will lead to the birth of new industries and the profound transformation and upgrading of other industries. Therefore, we should promptly apply advances in science and technology to industries and industrial chains to transform and upgrade traditional industries, create and boost emerging industries, and make plans for developing future industries. Ultimately, the modern industrial system will be improved. To develop new quality productive forces, we should improve the layout of industrial chains by shoring up the chains of weak industries, extending the chains of competitive industries, upgrading the chains of traditional industries, and building up the chains of emerging industries. Moreover, we should enhance the resilience and security of our industrial and supply chains, so as to ensure that the industrial system is self-developed, controllable, secure, and reliable. To advance new industrialization and complete the strategic task of moving faster to boost China’s strength in manufacturing, product quality, cyberspace, and digital development, we should carry out well-conceived planning for scientific and technological innovation as well as industrial innovation. We should vigorously develop the digital economy, promote the full integration of the digital and real economies, and build internationally competitive digital industry clusters. To build up China’s strength in agriculture, we should intensify efforts to promote innovation in seed technology and agricultural machinery and application of new research advances, thus spurring the development of modern agriculture with scientific and technological innovation and safeguarding China’s food security.

Third, we should develop a new model of development

Green development is the defining feature of high-quality development, and new quality productive forces are green in nature. We must accelerate the transition to a model of green development, which will contribute to reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. We should stay true to the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets and resolutely follow the path of green development that puts the environment first. We should step up efforts to make innovations in green technologies and apply advanced green technologies, make the green manufacturing sector stronger, develop green services, promote the development of green energy industries, and boost green and low-carbon industries and supply chains, so as to build an economic structure that facilitates green, low-carbon, and circular development. We should continue to improve the economic policy toolbox that supports green and low-carbon development, fully leverage the leading role of green finance, and build high-performing, eco-friendly, and green industrial clusters. At the same time, we should vigorously advocate green and healthy ways of life throughout society.

Fourth, we should take solid steps to make institutional innovations

The relations of production must be in keeping with the development of the productive forces. To develop new quality productive forces, we must further deepen reform in an all-around way and create a new type of relations of production that are compatible with them. Creating new quality productive forces requires not only far-sighted planning, guidance, and sound policy support from the government, but also the regulation of market mechanisms and continuous innovation by enterprises and other micro entities. It is the joint efforts of the “visible hand” of the government and the “invisible hand” of the market that foster new quality productive forces. Therefore, we should deepen structural reform in the economy as well as in science and technology, remove bottlenecks and blockages that constrain the development of new quality productive forces, and establish a high-standard market system. We should develop new ways to allocate production factors, thus enabling the smooth flow of all kinds of advanced and high-quality production factors for the development of new quality productive forces. Meanwhile, we should pursue higher-standard opening up and create an international environment favorable for the development of new quality productive forces.

Fifth, we should introduce new mechanisms for talent management

In accordance with the requirement of developing new quality productive forces, we should ensure sound interactions between education, science and technology, and talent and improve the working mechanisms for the training, recruitment, use, and unimpeded flow of talent. Following the new trends of scientific and technological development, we should improve the configuration of disciplines and the approaches to talent training in institutions of higher learning, so as to foster urgently needed talents for developing new quality productive forces and advancing high-quality development. We should focus on cultivating science strategists, top-notch scientists and innovation teams, high-performing engineers, and master craftsmen, strengthen skills training of workers, and continue to improve the competence of all types of personnel. We should improve the mechanisms for incorporating factors of production in income distribution, stimulate the vitality of production factors such as labor, knowledge, technology, management, capital, and data, see that the market value of knowledge, technology, and talent is realized, and foster a good atmosphere that encourages innovation and tolerates failure.

These remarks were delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the 11th group study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee, January 31, 2024.

(Originally appeared in Qiushi Journal, Chinese edition, No. 11, 2024)