The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China will be held in Beijing from July 15 to 18 at a time when the country has reached a critical juncture in its journey toward becoming a high-level socialist market economy.
Reform and opening-up have shaped the destiny of contemporary China. And further deepening reform and expanding opening-up to pursue Chinese modernization is essential to cope with the complex global and domestic situations, adapt to new technological and industrial changes, and meet the rising expectations of the people. They are also essential to remove deep-rooted institutional barriers to development, boost socioeconomic vitality, and use China's institutional advantages to improve national governance.
Economic system reform is crucial
Reforming the economic system is at the heart of the comprehensive deepening of reform. In this context, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee is expected to emphasize the importance of allowing the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation, removing the visible and invisible barriers to market access for enterprises, and transforming China's economic advantages into a powerful impetus for development.
The third plenary session is also expected to take measures to improve the macroeconomic governance system and the modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics, improve the institutional mechanism to promote high-quality development, and enhance the vitality of market players. While a large number of competitive State-owned enterprises will continue to emerge, efforts are expected to be made to build a climate favorable for private enterprises, which will help expand the private sector.
With the implementation of these measures, China will continue to strengthen the socialist market economy, and move toward a more prosperous, stable and empowered future.
High-level opening-up a world opportunity
Opening-up, in fact, is part of overall reform, for it promotes development. Hence, in the next stage, China is expected to push forward high-level, all-round systemic opening-up in terms of rules, regulations, management and standards, and continue to cultivate a high-quality business environment that is market-oriented, rule-based and global in nature.
However, China's economic development faces more uncertainties due to the intensification of the "great power game", the rise of unilateralism and protectionism, the frequent occurrence of natural disasters triggered by climate change, and a new round of scientific, technological and industrial revolutions in the making.
Promoting high-level opening-up will help China better adapt to the new global competitive environment, maintain open and inclusive global and value chains, and counter the West's efforts to contain China through "de-globalization", "decoupling" or "de-risking" measures, so as to strike the right balance between security and development.
And by getting more countries to participate in the global value chains, China can help other countries to share the dividends of China's economic development and lay a solid material and technological foundation to achieve Chinese-style modernization.
Boosting total factor productivity
As China enters a new stage of economic development, rising factor costs and the aging population have become major challenges as have the restrictions imposed by advanced economies on the transfer of some core technologies to China. Hence, if China fails to significantly improve total factor productivity, its economic growth rate may further decline. Given these facts, the central government has stressed that cultivating new quality productive forces is necessary for promoting high-quality development.
New quality productive forces are fuelled by revolutionary breakthroughs in technology, novel allocations of factors of production, and transformation and upgrading of industries, with a significant increase in total factor productivity being its signature pursuit.
The ongoing technological revolution typified by green energy, AI and big data has created both opportunities and challenges. In the process of upgrading the Chinese economy, therefore, it is imperative to ensure the development of new quality productive forces.
China can be expected to take full advantage of its vast size, large population and dynamic market to promote zero-toone innovations while expediting the one-to-ten application of new technological breakthroughs, accelerating the pace of technological upgrading, and raising the production and innovation capacity in critical industries.
People-centered development
People-centric development is one of the basic principles driving Chinese modernization. The Party has made it clear that reforms should be people-centric and serve the people. At the third plenary session, a series of major policy reforms aimed at enhancing social equity, and improving the healthcare and social security systems and rural development programs are expected to be introduced, underscoring the Party's commitment to deliver social justice and maintain harmony, and to ensure the fruits of modernization and development are equitably distributed. This people-centric principle not only enhances social stability but also mobilizes public support for reform.
The world today faces many serious challenges including climate change and regional conflicts that can be effectively addressed only by improving global governance. As a rising global power, China has taken measures to reform the global economic governance system. By promoting multilateralism and offering ways to overcome the challenges, China's agenda for global governance aims to help build a fairer and harmonious international order.
Promoting new quality productive forces is necessary to pursue sustainable development, original and disruptive technological innovations are needed to drive new quality productive forces, while education remains the cornerstone of technological innovation.
So governments and educational departments at all levels should take steps to attract more talents, improve the curriculums, prioritize STEM(science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education, cultivate talents with interdisciplinary knowledge and an international outlook, and form a virtuous cycle of education, science, technology and talents, providing solid support for the development of the new quality productive forces.
The third plenary session will be the right moment to consolidate the achievements already made by China thanks to reform and opening-up, and to plan for future development.
Under the strong leadership of the Party, China is expected to build a high-level socialist market economy by 2035, with the socialist system with Chinese characteristics becoming even more prominent.
The author is president of the University of International Business and Economics. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
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