The "Suggestions of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" proposes to overcome difficulties, combat risks, and meet challenges with a spirit of historical initiative, concentrate efforts on managing our own affairs well, continue to write a new chapter in the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability, and strive to create a new situation in China's modernization. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, my country's development environment faces profound and complex changes, and is in a period of coexistence of strategic opportunities and risks, with increasing uncertainties and unpredictable factors. To seize the window of opportunity in the next five years, gain strategic initiative in fierce international competition, and continue to write a new chapter in the "two miracles," it is necessary to vigorously promote the great spirit of historical initiative and lay a more solid foundation for the basic realization of socialist modernization.
The spirit of historical initiative is
The key to creating "two miracles"
The path of history is not always smooth. The creation of the two unprecedented miracles stems from the strong support of the great historical initiative.
The creation of these "two miracles" stems from the proactive historical spirit that unifies conformity to laws and purpose. Miracles don't fall from the sky; their creation requires proactive action while adhering to objective laws. The "two miracles" created by the Communist Party of China leading the Chinese people have neither transcended or violated objective laws in a one-sided pursuit of value-based goals, nor neglected or abandoned lofty values in the name of adhering to objective laws. Through arduous exploration and hard work, they have combined acting in accordance with the trend with proactive action, achieving an organic unity between conformity to laws and purpose.
The creation of these "two miracles" stems from the support of a proactive historical spirit that unifies theoretical innovation with practical development. This proactive historical spirit is never an abstract theoretical concept, but rather a spiritual crystallization constantly refined through arduous practice. It is both the theoretical character of Marxism and the practical essence of a Marxist political party. Economic development and social stability, as two important subsystems of the regional development system, are in a dynamic evolution of mutual interaction. The dynamic changes in the development foundation, stage, and conditions inherently require a dynamically adaptable proactive historical spirit to guide them. That is, the theoretical connotation of this proactive historical spirit is continuously expanded and enriched in practical development, better promoting practical progress. In leading the Chinese people to promptly respond to the questions posed by China, the world, the people, and the times, the Communist Party of China, based on concrete practice, continuously enriches and develops Marxism. By promoting the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, it continuously strengthens the ideological banner and political soul of this proactive historical spirit, thus providing a powerful spiritual driving force for creating the "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability through step-by-step, continuous progress.
The creation of these "two miracles" stems from the historical initiative supported by the unity of the people's subjectivity and the Party's people-centered nature. The core of this historical initiative lies in the word "initiative"—initiating the assessment of the situation, proactive planning, proactive reform and innovation, and proactive response to challenges. The main actor in this initiative is the people, and the fundamental driving force originates from their needs for a better life and their modernization progress in terms of needs, capabilities, and rights. The Communist Party of China, representing the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people, has always adhered to the principle of putting the people first, firmly coordinating the relationship between reform, development, and stability. It takes relying on the people and working for the people as its fundamental stance and value orientation in promoting this great historical initiative, thus building an indestructible "Great Wall of the People" for rapid economic development and long-term social stability, creating one remarkable miracle after another from the inexhaustible power of the people.
The "two miracles" are
A concentrated embodiment of the spirit of historical initiative
my country's modernization process is an epic of struggle that continuously promotes the spirit of historical initiative, and the "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability created by the Party leading the people are the concentrated manifestation of this spirit of historical initiative.
The "two miracles" vividly demonstrate the Chinese path embodied in the spirit of historical initiative. The "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability did not fall from the sky, but were achieved through the continuous development of this spirit of historical initiative. A developing country with over 1.4 billion people has completed the industrialization process that took developed countries centuries in just a few decades, leaping from a "latecomer to modernization" to a "growth pole of world modernization" and providing the world with a completely new model of modernization. This is unprecedented in human history, fully demonstrating the unique advantages of the Chinese path to modernization. This path deepens the understanding of the laws governing the Communist Party's rule, socialist construction, and the development of human society from a new perspective. It is a product of combining the general laws of world modernization with my country's specific national conditions; it is a correct path rooted in Chinese soil, reflecting the will of the people, and adapting to the requirements of China's and the times' development and progress. The successful opening and vigorous advancement of the Chinese path to modernization fully embodies the organic unity of the historical initiative's adherence to laws and its purpose.
The "two miracles" vividly demonstrate the Chinese governance model embodied in the spirit of historical initiative. Economic development is the foundation of social stability, while social stability provides a guarantee for economic development. Inevitably, contradictions and conflicts will arise between the two at different stages of development. How to minimize the negative correlation between economic development and social stability in the process of modernization is a major issue that developing countries must address. The Communist Party of China, flexibly applying the standpoint, viewpoint, and method of historical materialism, has promoted the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity with a great spirit of historical initiative. It has proactively recognized, responded to, and sought change, turning the "impossible" into the possible and solving seemingly unsolvable problems, creating the "two miracles" of rapid economic development and long-term social stability. This has powerfully refuted unfounded Western arguments, provided a Chinese model for developing countries to coordinate economic development and social stability, and vividly illustrated the Chinese governance model embodied in the spirit of historical initiative.
The "two miracles" embody the Chinese principles inherent in the spirit of historical initiative. Practice has repeatedly shown us that the reason the Communist Party of China is capable and why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good ultimately lies in the effectiveness of Marxism—specifically, the effectiveness of Marxism adapted to the Chinese context and the times. Since the new era, the Communist Party of China, with Comrade Xi Jinping as its main representative, has adhered to combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific realities and with China's excellent traditional culture. With immense theoretical courage, a high degree of theoretical awareness, a completely new theoretical vision, and profound theoretical insights, it has promoted theoretical innovation based on practice, creating Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This has guided the continued creation of the "two miracles" and the writing of new chapters in their history, propelling the cause of the Party and the country to achieve historic achievements and undergo historic changes, demonstrating immense power of truth and unique ideological charm in the significant achievements of practical development. The Communist Party of China integrates the spirit of historical initiative into its theoretical awareness and confidence in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, propelling Chinese-style modernization to take new and solid steps, and embodying the organic unity of the theoretical innovation and practical development of the spirit of historical initiative.
Continuing to write a new chapter in the "two miracles"
We must vigorously promote the spirit of historical initiative.
The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a crucial period for laying a solid foundation and making all-out efforts to basically realize socialist modernization. It holds an important position in the process of basically realizing socialist modernization, and we need to write a new chapter of the "two miracles" with a strong sense of historical initiative.
We have adhered to the principle of taking economic development as the central task and achieved remarkable results in promoting high-quality development. As the world's largest developing country, without a solid material and technological foundation, it would be impossible for my country to achieve its goal of basically realizing socialist modernization. On the new journey of Chinese-style modernization, facing the rapidly evolving development environment of the world's once-in-a-century changes, we must always focus on economic development as the central task and high-quality development as the primary mission. We must fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, coordinate the relationship between improving quality and expanding quantity, and unify the effective improvement of quality and reasonable growth of quantity throughout the entire process of high-quality development. We must accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, consolidate and strengthen the foundation of the real economy, lead the development and expansion of new productive forces with high-level scientific and technological self-reliance, deepen the construction of a unified national market, enhance the endogenous driving force and reliability of the domestic economic cycle, accelerate the construction of a high-level socialist market economy system, expand high-level opening up with a focus on independent opening up, solidly promote the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas, and strive to enhance the coordination of regional development.
We must adhere to the principle of closely integrating investment in things and investment in people to continuously improve the quality of life for the people. The essence of modernization is the modernization of people. The irreconcilable contradiction between capitalist private ownership of the means of production and large-scale socialized production will ultimately backfire on Western-style modernization itself due to the alienation of people. Chinese-style modernization prioritizes people's livelihood, always taking improving people's lives and fulfilling their aspirations for a better life as the value orientation and benchmark for properly handling the relationship between reform, development, and stability. Therefore, during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we must always adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, closely integrating high-quality population development with a high-quality life for the people. We must focus on coordinating investment in things and investment in people from the perspective of the overall, fundamental, and long-term interests of the people, ensuring that the service efficiency of "things" is deeply aligned with the development needs of "people," creating a synergistic advantage of population potential, structural dividends, and quality capital conducive to development. We must expand new development space by better meeting the needs of people's livelihoods in education, employment, healthcare, and elderly care, making "investment in people" a powerful support for high-quality development, and ensuring that the fruits of modernization benefit all the people more extensively and equitably.
Coordinating development and security is crucial for strengthening the national security barrier. National security is a vital foundation for the steady and long-term progress of China's modernization. Only by ensuring security while developing and promoting development while maintaining security can we provide fundamental support for writing a new chapter in the "two miracles" (China's economic and social development). Currently, my country's development is in a period of coexistence of strategic opportunities and risks and challenges, with increasing uncertainties and unpredictable factors. Under the intertwined effects of profound adjustments in international power and the accelerated resolution of domestic structural contradictions, the security risks to economic and social development face the possibility of overlapping, accumulating, and amplifying. The complexity and difficulty of national security issues have significantly increased. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we must adhere to bottom-line thinking and extreme thinking, unswervingly implement the overall national security concept, follow the path of socialist social governance with Chinese characteristics, accelerate the modernization of the national security system and capabilities, effectively prevent and resolve risks in key areas, improve the level of public security governance, ensure a vibrant yet orderly society, proactively shape an external security environment favorable to us, and build a higher-level peaceful China, using a new security pattern to safeguard the new development pattern.
We must deepen the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party and continuously improve its ability and level of leadership in economic and social development. The key to my country's ability to create the "two miracles" that have astonished the world, and to successfully write a new chapter in these miracles, lies in the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, which possesses a strong sense of historical initiative. To continue writing a new chapter in these "two miracles," we must unswervingly uphold and strengthen the Party's overall leadership and the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, persist in leading social revolution through the Party's self-revolution, persistently advance the comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, further improve the comprehensive and strict governance system of the Party that is complete in its elements, functions, is scientifically sound, and operates efficiently, continuously enhance the Party's political leadership, ideological guidance, mass mobilization, and social appeal, and continuously improve its ability and level of leadership in economic and social development, thus gathering tremendous strength to strive to create a new situation in China's modernization.
(The author is Chen Yunping, Party Secretary of the Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences )
