The Significance of Utilizing Economic Reform to Advance Reforms in All Areas

Utilizing the leading role of economic reform accords with the fundamental tenets of Marxism

The essence of reform is the adjustment and optimization of production relations and the superstructure to achieve greater productivity, thereby liberating and developing the productive forces and boosting social vitality. To continue comprehensive reform involves the economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological spheres. Economic reform has an important bearing and transmissive influence on reforms in other areas, with progress in major economic reforms affecting progress in reforms in many other areas. For economic development to remain at the center of Chinese modernization, economic reform must be our focal point and driving force. This will ensure reforms in other areas advance in a coordinated and concerted manner.

Utilizing the leading role of economic reform has facilitated China’s historic achievements in reform and opening up

The third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), convened in 1978, shifted the focus of our Party’s work to economic development, initiating wide-ranging and thorough reforms first in rural areas and then in cities to invigorate the country internally and open it up to the outside world.

The third plenary sessions of the 14th CPC Central Committee and 16th CPC Central Committee, in 1993 and 2003, respectively, issued decisions on the establishment and improvement of the socialist market economy and more in-depth economic reform.

The third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee held in 2013 adopted the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform, which stated that economic structural reform would be the priority in driving deeper reform. It also noted that a pivotal issue was to balance the relationship between the government and the market, and proposed, for the first time, the intentions of getting the market to play a decisive role in the allocation of resources and better utilizing the role of government.

The fourth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in 2019 proposed giving full rein to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources and better utilizing the government’s role. The CPC Central Committee has remained committed to reforms to develop the socialist market economy, with constant improvements to China’s market economy, thereby providing institutional safeguards for achieving the two miracles of rapid economic growth and enduring social stability.

If China is to write a new chapter in the chronicle of the two miracles in the new era, we must continue to utilize the leading role of economic reform to advance in-depth reform and high-standard opening.

Utilizing the leading role of economic reform is required to achieve high-quality development

Economic development is a central task of the CPC, and high-quality development is a primary task of building a modern socialist country.

We face extremely challenging reform and development tasks to realize our objectives of basically achieving socialist modernization and putting our per capita GDP on par with mid-level developed countries by 2035 as well as developing China into a great modern socialist country by the middle of this century.

On the new journey in the new era, in order to promote high-quality development, we must use the important instruments of reform and opening up to upgrade the economy and expand output and lay a solid material and technological foundation. This will enable our country of more than 1.4 billion people to catch up gradually with the development level and standard of living of developed countries.

Editor: Li Xiaoqiong