Huang Yibing：Deeply Comprehend and Embrace the Six Key Principles

Deeply Comprehend and Embrace the Six Key Principles*

By Huang Yibing

Vice President of the Institute of Party History and Literature of

the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization (hereinafter referred to as the “Resolution”). This marks yet another full mobilization and comprehensive deployment to comprehensively deepen reform both in breadth and depth at a new historical starting point. The Resolution systematically elucidates the key principles that must be followed to further deepen reform comprehensively:

n  Upholding the Party’s overall leadership.

n  Adhering to a people-centered approach.

n  Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground.

n  Strengthening institutional building as our main task.

n  Staying committed to law-based governance on all fronts.

n  Applying systems thinking.

These six principles are a dialectical unity—a closely connected, mutually reinforcing organic whole. They represent a scientific review of the invaluable experiences gained from reform and opening up, especially in the New Era, and are a significant achievement of our Party’s deepened understanding of the laws of reform and opening up. These principles must be cherished, upheld for the long term, and continuously enriched and developed in practice.

Upholding the Party’s Overall Leadership: The Fundamental Guarantee

The key to successfully managing China’s affairs lies with the Party. The defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the greatest strength of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and the Party is the highest force for political leadership. The Resolution emphasizes that it is vital to “firmly uphold the Party Central Committee’s authority and its centralized, unified leadership and ensure that the Party fulfills its core role of exercising overall leadership and coordinating the efforts of all sides. We must ensure that Party leadership is exercised in every aspect and throughout the entire process of reform so that it always advances in the correct political direction.”

The leadership of the Party is the foundation and lifeblood of both the Party and the country; it is tied to the interests and destiny of the Chinese people. Reflecting on historical experience, General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly pointed out: “Adherence to the Party’s leadership and strict self-governance of the Party are the key and fundamental reasons for the success of reform and opening up.” Our Party` is a political organization that not only possesses lofty ideals and firm convictions but also extraordinary strategic resolve and execution capability. In the course of uniting and leading the people in the struggle for reform and opening up, it has always remained true to its original aspiration and mission, consistently aligning its grand ideals with its current objectives, scientifically drawing up a grand blueprint for reform and opening up, and formulating and implementing the correct lines, principles, and policies. Once a goal is set, the Party maintains unwavering determination and continuously opens up new horizons for the development of its cause. Looking around the world, no other country or political party possesses such political courage and historical responsibility to engage in such bold self-reform, nor can any other country or political party, within such a short time frame, drive such a wide-ranging, large-scale, and forceful reform.

The Communist Party of China serves as the core leadership of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, occupying a position that allows it to exercise overall leadership and coordinate the efforts of all sides. Each step of reform and opening up has not been achieved easily; every step has faced various risks and challenges, sometimes even encountering unimaginable storms and waves. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: “We must resolutely uphold the Party Central Committee’s authority and its centralized, unified leadership and see that Party leadership is exercised in all aspects and every stage of the endeavors of the Party and the country. This will ensure that our Party always remains the pillar that the Chinese people can lean on in times of difficulty, that our socialist modernization advances along the right path, and that we have the political cohesion and confidence in our development to inspire the people to strive in unity. It will see us forming a mighty force to overcome all difficulties with one heart and one mind.”

Throughout the process of reform and opening up, our Party has steadfastly integrated and reflected its leadership in all areas, including reform, development, and stability; domestic affairs, foreign relations, and national defense; as well as in the self-governance of the Party and the governance of the nation, and the military. The Party has further exercise overall leadership and coordinated the efforts of all sides by adhering to scientific governance, democratic governance, and law-based governance. It has continually refined its methods of leadership and governance, thereby enhancing its political leadership, theoretical influence, organizational strength among the people, and social appeal. By correctly handling various complex contradictions, courageously overcoming numerous difficulties and obstacles, and firmly grasping the initiative in its work, the Party has ensured that the ship of reform and opening up continues to sail steadily along the correct course through the waves.

Experience has shown that the more demanding the tasks of reform and opening up become, the more we must strengthen and improve the Party’s leadership, ensuring that the Party remains the strong core leadership in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In the face of profound changes in the domestic and international environment, we must deeply comprehend the decisive significance of the Two Affirmations, and more resolutely ensure the Two Upholds. We must continuously enhance the Party’s governance capability and leadership level, strengthening the Party’s ability and resolve to chart our course, craft overall plans, design policy, and promote reform. We must always maintain the high level of self-awareness required to lead the social revolution with the Party’s self-reform, pursue Party self-supervision and self-governance with a spirit of reform, and ensure that the further deepening of comprehensive reform continues to achieve new heights and breakthroughs.

Adhering to a People-Centered Approach: A Core Value

The people are the source of our Party’s strength, and standing with the people is our Party’s fundamental position. The Resolution emphasizes, “Adhering to a people-centered approach. We must respect the principal position and pioneering spirit of the people and make our reform measures highly responsive to the call of the people, so as to ensure that reform is for the people and by the people and that its fruits are shared among the people.”

Reform only has value if it serves the people. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out, “Working for the people’s wellbeing was the original aspiration of the CPC. We must always stay true to this aspiration and consistently regard as our goal the people’s aspirations to live a better life.” The history of reform and opening up is essentially a history of the Party’s commitment to its original aspiration and mission. To ensure that the people could live better lives, our Party resolutely embarked on the path of reform and opening up, making the historic transformation of raising the living standards of its people from bare subsistence to an overall level of moderate prosperity, and then ultimately to moderate prosperity in all respects.

Entering the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized, “The development we pursue is development that benefits the people, and the prosperity we seek is common prosperity for all.” The comprehensive deepening of reform in the New Era has consistently taken the enhancement of the people’s wellbeing as both the starting point and the ultimate goal. Every reform idea has been conceived, and every reform measure has been implemented with the people’s interests in mind. We have built a moderately prosperous society in all respects, achieved the First Centenary Goal, and witnessed a tremendous transformation: the Chinese nation has stood up, grown rich, and is becoming strong.

Reform draws its strength from the people. The people are the true heroes. By respecting the people’s principal role and pioneering spirit, and by maximizing their creative enthusiasm, reform and opening up can gain the broadest support and possess powerful vitality. When it comes to planning development, no one understands the actual situation better than the people. When it comes to driving reform, the greatest source of strength is also the people. The grassroots is the largest classroom, and the people are the best teachers. Life is the most profound, and the people are the wisest. Every breakthrough in understanding and practice during the reform and opening up, every new development, and every experience gained in the process, all stem from the practice and wisdom of hundreds of millions of people. A crucial lesson from the ongoing success of reform and opening up is that we have always regarded the people as the source of wisdom and strength, and have rooted the growth of political wisdom and the enhancement of governance capabilities deeply in the people’s creative practices.

The ultimate criterion for judging the success of reform and development is whether the people have collectively enjoyed the fruits of these efforts. Since the introduction of the reform and opening up policy, our Party has firmly focused on economic development as the central task, driving sustained and healthy economic growth, and making “the pie” bigger to lay a solid material foundation for ensuring social fairness and justice. As the times progress and society advances, the people’s longing for a better life has grown stronger, and their demands for democracy, rule of law, fairness, justice, safety, and the environment have become increasingly pronounced.

General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized, “The fundamental purpose of our Party in advancing comprehensive reform is to promote social fairness and justice, so that the achievements of reform and development can benefit all people more equitably.” To further deepen reform, we must start from the overall, fundamental, and long-term interests of the people. This involves continuously optimizing institutional arrangements and integrating the concerns of the public—such as employment, education, healthcare, elder care, childcare, housing, and the environment—into the country’s top-level planning. By doing so, we can ensure that the fruits of reform and opening up are shared more equitably by all, transforming these outcomes into a greater sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security for the people.

Upholding Fundamental Principles and Breaking New Ground:

An Essential Requirement

The cause of reform and opening up is an unprecedented endeavor. Upholding fundamental principles ensures that we don’t lose our direction or make catastrophic errors, while breaking new ground allows us to grasp and lead the times. The Resolution underscores the importance of “upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground. Staying committed to socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must keep pace with the times, adapt to the evolution of practice, and take a problem-oriented approach, so that from a new starting point, we can promote innovations in theory and practice, in our institutions and culture, and in all other aspects.”

The question of “the ideals and convictions of the Party” is a fundamental issue that determines the future of a country and a nation. Deng Xiaoping clearly stated that reform must stay socialist. General Secretary Xi Jinping has further emphasized that the world is developing, society is progressing, and without reform and opening up, there is no path forward; similarly, pursuing “reform and opening up” that negates socialism is also a dead end. Reform and opening up have always faced complex and profound international and domestic environments, as well as the clash of various ideas and interests. To ascertain the pulse of reform within an array of complexities and write a good prescription for reform in the face of divided opinion, we must maintain strong political resolve and a clear sense of direction.

The goal of advancing reform is to continuously improve and develop our socialist system, infusing it with new vitality. At the core of this process is the need to uphold and enhance the Party’s leadership and to maintain and refine the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Straying from this path would lead to a fundamental misdirection. To further deepen reform and keep the destiny of China’s development firmly in our own hands, we must remain unwavering in our commitment to our goals and principles. What to reform and how to reform must be assessed against the overall goal of improving and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and modernizing our system and capacity for governance. We must reform what should be reformed and can be reformed; we must not reform what should not be reformed and cannot be reformed.

Innovation is the lifeblood of reform and opening up. Only those who reform will advance, only those who innovate will become strong, and only those who embrace both reform and innovation will succeed. Reform and opening up are groundbreaking endeavors with no established experience to draw from and no ready-made models to imitate. As the famous Chinese writer Lu Xun once said, “What is a road? It is trampled on from a place where there is no road, opened from a place where there are only thorns.” The Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was epoch-making, as it launched a new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization. Similarly, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee was also epoch-making, as it initiated a new journey of comprehensive deepening of reform with systematic and holistic design, opening up a new chapter in China’s reform and opening up.

Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, with General Secretary Xi Jinping at its core, significant institutional and systemic obstacles have been resolutely overcome, marking a shift in reform from localized explorations and initial breakthroughs to comprehensive integration and deepening across the board. Foundational institutional frameworks in various fields have been largely established, and many areas have undergone historic transformations, systemic reconfigurations, and overall restructuring. To further deepen reform, we must align with the developments in practice, take a problem-oriented approach, boldly experiment, and courageously implement changes. From this new starting point, we should advance theoretical, practical, institutional, cultural, and other forms of innovation, making reform and opening up the most distinctive feature and grandest spectacle of contemporary China.

Strengthening Institutional Building as a Main Task: A Distinctive Feature

Shrewd people of petty mind attend to trivial matters, while people with vision attend to the governance of institutions. Institutions are fundamental, overarching, stable, and long-term issues that affect the development of the Party and the country. The Resolution emphasizes the importance of “strengthening institutional building as our main task. We must strengthen top-level design and overall planning, always establishing new systems before abolishing old ones while attaching equal importance to efforts in both respects. We must consolidate foundational systems, refine basic systems, and innovate important systems.”

The self-improvement and development of the socialist system are intrinsic requirements of China’s reform. Reform and opening up are both processes of improving and developing the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and of showcasing the unique advantages of this system. Deng Xiaoping once stated, “Reform is part of the self-perfecting process of the socialist system, and in certain areas and to a certain extent it is also a revolutionary change.” General Secretary Xi Jinping has further pointed out, “We are comprehensively deepening reform not because socialism with Chinese characteristics is inferior, but rather to make it better. When we say we should have complete confidence in this system, we do not mean that we will rest on our laurels and keep the system just as it is; rather, we mean we should eliminate defects in our institutions and mechanisms in order to make our system more mature and ensure that it endures the test of time.”

The comprehensive deepening of reform in the New Era firmly grasps the main axis of adhering to and improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, while promoting the modernization of the national governance system and capacity. It places greater emphasis on institutional development and governance capacity-building, continuously deepening reforms in various institutional mechanisms. This approach greatly influences the maturation and establishment of various systems, and more importantly, it transforms the advantages of our system into effective governance, thereby having a profound and far-reaching impact on national governance.

Reform and opening up involve the overall work of the Party and the country, encompassing all areas of economic and social development and addressing numerous significant theoretical and practical issues. It is a complex and systematic project. As reforms continue to deepen, the interconnectivity and interaction between different areas and aspects of reform have become increasingly evident. Each reform affects others, and each reform also requires the coordination and support of others. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized, “Reform now aims to solve deep-seated problems of our systems and mechanisms, and this sets higher requirements for top-level design. It becomes more imperative to pursue reform in a systematic, holistic, and coordinated way, and to establish frameworks of systems and institutions.” To further deepen reform comprehensively, we must, after determining the main reform measures, thoroughly study the interrelations between reforms in different fields and the coupling of various reform measures. We must carefully assess the feasibility of these reforms, skillfully manage the major relationships in comprehensive reform, ensure that reform measures complement each other in policy orientation, mutually reinforce one another during implementation, and collectively enhance the overall effectiveness.

The success of China’s governance relies on the strength of China’s system. “In reform, some things must be dismantled while others must be established. If done correctly, the results will be twice as effective with half the effort; if done incorrectly, the results may be half as effective or even counterproductive.” Dismantling does not mean a complete overhaul, and establishing does not mean starting from scratch. In reform and opening up, it is crucial to understand the dialectic of dismantling and establishing. We must be clear about what to dismantle and what to establish, and how to approach both tasks. The approach should be to undertake dismantling and establishing simultaneously, but with a preference for establishing first, ensuring that reform achieves maximum effectiveness by “getting it right.”

Anchoring on the main thread of institutional development, the further comprehensive deepening of reform should focus on solidifying foundations, amplifying strengths, addressing weaknesses, and reinforcing areas that are lacking. For institutional frameworks that have already been established, we should continue to consolidate, improve, and promote efficient operation, forming long-term mechanisms. For areas still under exploration, we should strive for breakthroughs in institution building. For areas yet to be planned or launched, we should align them with the overall strategy, uphold fundamental principles and break new ground, and meticulously plan their implementation. We must accelerate the formation of a rational, fully functional system and governance framework, and use the transformative power of dismantling and establishing to clear obstacles and ensure stable and long-term progress in China’s governance.

Staying Committed to Law-Based Governance on All Fronts:

A Critical Pathway

Reform and the rule of law are like the two wings of a bird or the two wheels of a cart. We must promote reform under the rule of law and improve the rule of law in the process of reform. The Resolution emphasizes the importance of “staying committed to law-based governance on all fronts. We must deepen reform and advance Chinese modernization under the rule of law and ensure unity between reform and the rule of law, seeing that all major reforms have a solid legal basis and that reform achievements are elevated to law in a timely manner.”

Reform and the rule of law are mutually reinforcing and inseparable. Over the past 40-plus years of reform and opening up, we have moved from proposing that “laws must be established, enforced, and violations must be prosecuted,” to establishing “scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, impartial judiciary, and universal compliance with the law,” and then to incorporating “adherence to comprehensive law-based governance” into the basic strategies for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. Practice has shown that reform and opening up have generated an urgent need for socialist rule of law, forming a powerful driving force for its advancement. Similarly, the rule of law has provided institutional norms and legal guarantees for the ongoing deepening of reform and opening up, ensuring that these processes continue on the right path. The history of reform and opening up is, in fact, a history of the continuous deepening of the rule of law and the gradual maturation of building a law-based China.

The way in which reform is advanced—what kind of thinking and on what track—directly determines whether reform is carried out correctly, accurately, and in an orderly and coordinated manner. The simultaneous advancement and mutual promotion of reform and the rule of law is not a historical coincidence but an inevitable outcome of development. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized, “We must align and coordinate decisions on legislation with those on reform, to ensure legislation meets the needs of reform and plays a positive role in leading, promoting, standardizing, and safeguarding it, while also ensuring that reforms have a legal basis and advance in step with the rule of law such that their effectiveness is increased.” Going forward, further comprehensively deepening reform requires maximizing the use of the rule of law to build consensus, improve decision-making, regulate reform actions, push forward the reform process, and solidify reform outcomes, ensuring that reform is always advanced and deepened comprehensively within the framework of the rule of law.

Reform requires legal safeguards, and the rule of law needs reform to advance. Law must evolve with the times; as the economy and society develop, legislation must keep pace. The process of reform and development is inherently intertwined with the progress of the rule of law. Since the beginning of the New Era, our Party has actively adapted to the needs of reform, opening up, and economic and social development, working on the establishment, revision, repeal, interpretation, and compilation of laws related to reform. This has facilitated a comprehensive upgrade from a legal system to a rule-of-law system that encompasses all aspects of legislation, enforcement, judiciary, and compliance, marking a transition from mere regulation to governance.

To further deepen reform comprehensively, it is essential to ensure the integration of reform and the rule of law. When researching reform plans and measures, the legislative implications should be considered simultaneously, with timely proposals for legislative needs and suggestions. What have proven effective in practice should be promptly elevated into law. For what that is not yet mature for practice and require experimental efforts, authorization should be granted according to legal procedures. Laws and regulations that do not meet the requirements of reform should be revised or repealed in a timely manner. Additionally, the work of legal interpretation should be strengthened to clarify the meanings of legal provisions and the basis for their application.

Applying Systems Thinking: A Fundamental Methodology

Systems thinking is a key category in the Marxist theory of knowledge and methodology, serving as a foundational thinking and working method for Marxist parties. The Resolution emphasizes the importance of “applying systems thinking. We must properly handle the major relationships between the economy and society, between the government and the market, between efficiency and fairness, between vitality and order, and between development and security, thus pursuing reform in a more systematic, holistic, and coordinated manner.”

Comprehensively deepening reform is a complex, systematic endeavor. Faced with profound changes of a kind unseen in the world in a century and deep-seated structural contradictions in development, General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out, “This is a very ambitious project that cannot be achieved by making piecemeal adjustments or cobbling together fragmentary reforms. Rather, reform must be carried out comprehensively and systematically so that reforms and improvements in all fields are linked and integrated.... Making sure reform is systematic, integrated and coordinated is an intrinsic requirement of reform as well as an important means for continued progress.”

From laying the groundwork and building the framework to comprehensively advancing reform and accumulating momentum, and then to strengthening systematic integration and coordinated efficiency, the process of deepening reform has been marked by rapid, steady progress. It has effectively resolved structural obstacles, institutional bottlenecks, and policy innovation challenges across various fields in an orderly way, with clear direction, strategic deployment, and efficient methods. This process has achieved a historic transition from localized explorations and initial breakthroughs to systematic coordination and comprehensive deepening.

Reform and opening up, especially comprehensively deepening reform, touches on deep-seated social relationships and adjustments of interests, making consensus building more challenging and balancing various interests a daunting task. Our Party adheres to dialectical materialism, accurately grasping the pulse of reform amidst complex phenomena and continuously exploring the inherent laws of reform. It emphasizes the importance of managing and balancing various major relationships effectively.

In the relationship between the economy and society, we uphold the principle that “promoting reform and development ultimately aims to improve people’s lives,” ensuring that economic structural reforms and social reforms reinforce each other and produce complementary effects. Regarding the relationship between government and market, we insist on allowing the market to play a decisive role in resource allocation while enabling the government to function better, ensuring both flexibility and effective regulation, and maximizing the strengths of both sides. In terms of efficiency and fairness, we maintain that “reform should both drive new momentum for development and advance social fairness and justice.” While striving to make the “pie” bigger, we also work to distribute it more equitably. Concerning the relationship between vitality and order, we emphasize achieving a “dynamic balance where vitality does not lead to disorder and activity is well-organized,” driving comprehensive deepening of reform toward this dynamic equilibrium. As for the relationship between development and security, we stress the need to balance development and security, enhance our awareness of potential dangers, remain vigilant even in times of peace, and achieve positive interaction between high-quality development and high-level security.

Reform and opening up is a profound and comprehensive social transformation. Each reform influences other reforms significantly, and each reform requires coordination with others. As practice deepens, the interconnectivity and interactivity of reform and opening up continue to strengthen. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized, “We need to coordinate all aspects and levels of our work to deepen reform, and take care to carry out all reforms so that they give impetus to each other, interplay positively between themselves, and are coordinated.”

To further deepen reform comprehensively, we must adhere to an overall advancement strategy, strengthening the coordination and alignment of reforms across different periods and sectors. We must avoid spreading our efforts too thinly or advancing in lockstep, instead focusing on the primary contradictions and their main aspects, key areas, and critical links. The goal is to achieve a balance between the overall situation and specific areas, combining fundamental solutions with immediate measures, and aligning gradual advances with breakthroughs. By doing so, we can unify overall progress with targeted breakthroughs and transform the strategic deployment of further comprehensive reform into a powerful force for advancing Chinese modernization.

* Guangming Daily, August 14, 2024, p. 6.