The new quality of productive forces shapes the new momentum of Chinese modernization

　　Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has made a major judgment on the strategic overall situation of the great changes in the world unseen in a century and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the historical process of promoting Chinese-style modernization, and emphasized the development of new quality productive forces and the formation of new production relations as the driving force. The major assertions of "two overall situations" and "two new" have pointed out the way forward for us to explore new momentum for Chinese-style modernization.

　　Chinese modernization calls for new momentum

　　In the face of the unprecedented changes in the world in a century and the strategic situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the Communist Party of China has led the Chinese people to continuously promote and expand Chinese-style modernization. Nowadays, as Chinese-style modernization breaks through the waves and enters a very critical stage, how to understand the call of the times for new momentum of Chinese-style modernization?

　　First, this is the call of the times to accelerate the construction of a new development pattern and promote high-quality development. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has paid great attention to the characteristics and trends of China's economic development, put forward a major issue of the times for China's economy to transform from high-speed growth to high-quality development, and put forward a new development concept with "innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing" as the main content. The new development pattern of domestic and international dual circulation, which promotes each other, takes the initiative and security of development into its own hands, and achieves a high level of self-reliance and self-reliance. All these are calls for new momentum for Chinese-style modernization.

　　Second, this is the call of the times to build a modern socialist country and promote a new form of human civilization. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has led the people of the whole country to continuously promote the great cause of Chinese-style modernization, and decided to take two steps after building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035, and building the mainland into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful modern socialist country by the middle of this century. At the same time, it puts forward the development strategies of manufacturing power, quality power, aerospace power, transportation power, network power, agricultural power, marine power, education power, science and technology power, talent power, cultural power, sports power, financial power, as well as digital China, healthy China, beautiful China, rule of law China, and safe China. To achieve these goals of becoming a strong country, we need new momentum and new impetus.

　　Third, this is the call of the times to solve the main contradictions in society in the new era and meet the needs of the people for a better life. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has led the people of the whole country to re-understand the main contradiction in mainland society in the process of exploring Chinese-style modernization, and proposed that the main contradiction in mainland society is the contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. Then, to continuously satisfy the people's yearning for a better life and constantly pursue a higher quality of life, we must solve the main contradictions in society in the new era, and we must pay more attention to development issues, especially economic and social development issues. If we grasp this issue well, we will also have a good grasp of the people-centered development thinking, and it will also embody the original aspiration and mission of the Communist Party of China.

　　Fourth, this is the call of the times to promote world peace and development and build a community with a shared future for mankind. We have carried out friendly cooperation with more countries and people in the world to achieve win-win results, common growth and common progress through cooperation, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. We also realize that we need to be strong in striking iron, and only with real efforts can we better promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, build a more just and reasonable international order in global economic and trade cooperation, promote the development of economic globalization, and build an open world economy.

　　The triple logic of "two new" synergistic efforts

　　Building a modern socialist country and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream of the Chinese people in modern times and the highest and fundamental interests of the Chinese nation. To promote Chinese-style modernization under the leadership of the party, it is necessary to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces and form a new type of production relationship that is compatible with them, so that the "two new" can work together to promote economic and social development with higher quality. We must grasp the theoretical, historical, and practical logic that will shape the new momentum of Chinese-style modernization.

　　First, shaping the new momentum of Chinese-style modernization requires the theoretical logic of the "two new" synergistic efforts. In Marx's important works, the productive forces and the relations of production are a pair of important concepts, and they can even be said to be core concepts. Marxism holds that the productive forces are the ability of human beings to transform nature, the driving force that determines social development, and also an important force for social change. However, the relations of production have a counter-effect on the productive forces, and the development of the productive forces requires the continuous improvement of the relations of production. From the perspective of history, the productive forces are different in different historical periods and stages, and a process of continuous development and progress is formed from low to high. If the productive forces are compatible with the relations of production, they will be able to promote faster economic and social development, and otherwise, they will hinder the development of the productive forces. Therefore, how to continuously emancipate and develop the productive forces and how to continuously improve the relations of production are major theoretical and practical issues that Marx paid great attention to. The new quality of productive forces and new production relations proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping are not only based on the basic principles of Marxism, but also based on the theoretical contributions of China's practice in the new era, forming an innovative development of the Marxist theory of productive forces.

　　Second, shaping the new momentum of Chinese-style modernization requires the historical logic of the "two new" to work together. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the establishment of the socialist system has truly opened the way forward for Chinese-style modernization. The Chinese Communists, represented by Comrade Mao Zedong, are constantly exploring and developing the productive forces, and at the same time, they are also constantly improving the relations of production. After reform and opening up, the Chinese Communists, represented by Comrade Deng Xiaoping, emphasized that science and technology are the primary productive forces, and that the essence of socialism is to emancipate and develop the productive forces. After many years of reform, exploration, and practice, the mainland has established a socialist market economic system, which has opened up a broader channel for the development of productive forces. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to giving full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources and giving better play to the role of the government, emphasizing the promotion of a better combination of an effective market and a promising government. Therefore, it should be said that the proposition of new quality productive forces and new production relations is in the same line as the thinking of the Chinese communists, and at the same time it has made new development and progress.

　　Third, shaping the new momentum of Chinese-style modernization requires the realistic logic of the "two new" to work together. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland has made historic achievements and changes in its economic and social development, but there are still some problems of unbalanced and inadequate development that need to be resolved. For example, in the process of promoting high-quality development, there are many "stuck points" and "bottlenecks" in the mainland, the ability of independent innovation is not strong enough, there are many weak links in food, energy, industrial and supply chain security and systemic risk prevention, there are still many hard bones to gnaw on in the reform of important areas, the gap between urban and rural development and income distribution is still large, and the task of ecological and environmental protection is still arduous. The 2023 Central Economic Work Conference clearly pointed out some difficulties and challenges that need to be overcome in the mainland to promote the economic recovery, including insufficient effective demand, overcapacity in some industries, weak social expectations, still many risks and hidden dangers, there are blockages in the domestic cycle, and the complexity, severity and uncertainty of the external environment are rising, requiring us to enhance our sense of distress and effectively respond to and solve these problems. These problems are both challenges and opportunities, and they all put forward realistic requirements for shaping the new momentum of Chinese-style modernization.

　　Some key points to shape the new momentum

　　To shape the new momentum of Chinese-style modernization, we must deepen the understanding of the regularity of doing a good job in economic work in the new era, we must adhere to high-quality development as the last word in the new era, take the promotion of Chinese-style modernization as the biggest politics, focus on the central task of economic construction and the primary task of high-quality development, accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, form new production relations, and turn the grand blueprint of Chinese-style modernization into a beautiful reality step by step.

　　First, understanding must be in place. Chinese modernization calls for new kinetic energy, new quality of productive forces and new types of production relations, and it should be said that it is closely linked to a major sense of historical crisis and a major sense of practical responsibility. This is not only a profound summary of the painful lessons of China's passive beating due to backwardness in science and technology in modern times, but also a sober understanding of the new situation, new trends, and new trends of today's global science and technology competition. Therefore, we must uphold the sense of adversity and bottom-line thinking, and on the basis of emancipating our minds, we should enhance our historical consciousness and the consciousness of the times, and be more soberly aware of the special significance of the "two new" put forward in this era.

　　Second, innovation is the hallmark. The salient feature of the new quality productivity is innovation, which includes innovation at the level of technology and business model, as well as innovation at the level of management and system. We must do a good job in innovating and accelerating the development of new quality productive forces. First of all, we must vigorously promote scientific and technological innovation. Scientific and technological innovation can give birth to new industries, new models and new kinetic energy, and is the core element of the development of new quality productive forces. To promote scientific and technological innovation, especially original and disruptive scientific and technological innovation, and to achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance, it is necessary to strengthen the national strategic scientific and technological strength on the basis of adhering to the "four aspects", give full play to the advantages of the new national system, and do a good job in tackling key core technologies, so that original and disruptive scientific and technological innovation achievements can emerge one after another. Second, it is necessary to transform scientific and technological achievements into real productive forces. Promote industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation, promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, develop and expand strategic emerging industries, lay out and build future industries, and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system. Finally, efforts should be made to promote innovation in the mode of development. Green development is the background color of high-quality development, and new quality productivity itself is green productivity. We need to implement the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, solidly promote the construction of ecological civilization, and accelerate the construction of a beautiful China.

　　Third, reform should be deepened. The development of new quality productivity is a problem that every scientist needs to face when engaging in scientific research, technological invention and innovation, and also needs many supporting conditions, so as to better transform scientific and technological achievements into real productive forces. Therefore, it is necessary to better adjust and improve the relations of production and make them compatible with the requirements of the development of the productive forces. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed that to develop new quality productive forces, it is necessary to further deepen reform in an all-round way and form a new type of production relationship that is compatible with it. This requires deepening the reform of the economic system, the scientific and technological system, the education system, and the talent system, daring to break the blockages, pain points, and difficulties that restrict the development of new quality productive forces, innovating the allocation of production factors, and allowing all kinds of advanced and high-quality production factors to flow smoothly to the development of new quality productive forces. In addition, the establishment of a new type of production relations is a complex systems engineering, so it is necessary to further expand high-level opening up, better integrate economic globalization with high-level opening up, actively allocate advanced production factors on a global scale, and create a good international environment for the development of new quality productive forces.

　　(The author is a professor and director of the Center for Chinese Modernization at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (National Academy of Administration))

Source: "China Social Science Daily" April 17, 2024 Issue 2874 Author: Zhang Zhanbin