Recently, Cai Fang, a member of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress, vice president and member of the party group of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and academic member of CIDEG, published an article in the People's Daily. He said that in the new development stage, the comprehensive construction of a socialist modern country and the march toward the second-century goal are milestones in the development process of China.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "The '14th Five-Year Plan' period is the first five years after China has fully built a moderately prosperous society and achieved the first 100-year goal when it rides on the momentum to start a new journey of comprehensively building a socialist modern country and marching toward the second 100-year goal, and China will enter a new development stage." The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee made systematic planning and strategic planning for China's development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and clearly defined the economic and social development goals for the 14th Five-Year Plan period and the visionary goals for 2035. To achieve the 14th Five-Year Plan and the 2035 vision, we must deeply understand the connotation and characteristics of the new development stage, accurately grasp the opportunities and challenges of the important strategic opportunity period in China, implement the new development concept, build a new development pattern, and achieve high-quality development.

A deep understanding of the new development stage

Since the reform and opening up, China's economic development has achieved a historic leap. According to the World Bank, China's gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices reached US$6.1 trillion in 2010, surpassing Japan's US$5.7 trillion, making it the world's second-largest economy. 2011 marked the peak of China's working-age population between the ages of 15 and 59, which then entered negative growth. This marks a more mature stage of development for our economy and society. Starting from the long cycle of economic development and the global political and economic background, General Secretary Xi Jinping made a major strategic judgment that China's economic development has entered a new normal. An important feature of the new normal of economic development is that due to the weakening of the demographic dividend and the decline of traditional growth momentum leading to a lower potential growth rate, the economic growth rate is correspondingly on a downward trend.

In the face of the new normal of economic development, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core adheres to and improves the basic socialist economic system, gives full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, and better plays the role of the government, comprehensively implements the new development concept, adheres to the main line of supply-side structural reform, accelerates the construction of a modern economic system and promotes high-quality development, and makes a series of reforms and work deployments to achieve the goal of Improving labor productivity and total factor productivity and increasing the potential GDP growth rate from the supply side with good results. The stability of China's economic growth has also been significantly enhanced, with no systemic risks or big ups and downs in growth rates. from 2010 to 2019, the average annual GDP growth rate in China reached 7.4%, which is about 2.6 times the growth rate of the world economy, 1.6 times the average growth rate of upper-middle-income countries, and 3.9 times the average growth rate of high-income countries. At the same time, the sharing nature of economic growth has been significantly enhanced, and the disposable income of urban and rural residents has grown in tandem with GDP. 2020 will see the complete eradication of poverty among the rural poor and the historic resolution of the problem of absolute poverty, with the 13th Five-Year Plan coming to a successful conclusion and the completion of a moderately prosperous society in sight.

At the time of building a moderately prosperous society, the Party Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, made a major judgment that China will enter a new stage of development in the 14th Five-Year Plan period. In the context of profound changes in the domestic and international environment, we need to continue to address the contradiction between people's growing need for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development in a more targeted manner and in accordance with higher requirements, crack the economic development challenges and constraints facing the new development stage, solve a series of structural, cyclical and institutional problems affecting high-quality development, cultivate strong and sustainable new momentum for development, and continuously realize People's aspiration for a better life. in 2019, China's GDP per capita reached US$10,276, 13.7% higher than the average level of upper-middle-income countries (US$9,040) and close to the lower level of the grouping of high-income countries (US$12,235). In terms of economic development capacity and conditions, China's economy has the hope and potential to maintain long-term stable development, and it is entirely possible to reach the current standard for high-income countries by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan and double the total economic volume or per capita income by 2035. After laying a solid foundation in the first five years of the new development stage, and after two more five-year efforts, China will basically realize socialist modernization in 2035 as scheduled, and the GDP per capita will reach the level of medium-developed countries.

In summary, in the new development stage, the comprehensive construction of a socialist modernization country and the march toward the second-century goal are milestones in the development process of China. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee established the main objectives of economic and social development in the 14th Five-Year Plan period and the vision of basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035, which are the new requirements and new arrangements made for this purpose.

Dialectical thinking on the new opportunities and challenges of the new development stage

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "entering a new stage of development, the profound changes in the domestic and international environment has brought a series of new opportunities, but also a series of new challenges, is the coexistence of crises, organic in danger, a crisis can be turned into opportunities." The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee pointed out that China's development is still in an important strategic opportunity period, but the opportunities and challenges have new developments. We should look at the new opportunities and challenges of the new development stage with dialectical thinking, accurately understand and grasp the overall situation at home and abroad, coordinate the overall situation of the great rejuvenation strategy of the Chinese nation and the world's unprecedented changes, implement the strategic plans of the Party Central Committee in the "14th Five-Year Plan" and a longer period, maintain long-term stable economic development, and focus on promoting high-quality The world is now experiencing the most unprecedented change in a century.

From 2010 to 2019, as the share of China's economy in the world increases from 9.2% to 16.4%, the share of developing countries also increases from 31.1% to 37.3%. China's GDP growth contributed 28.9% and 51.6% to the world and developing countries, respectively, and the status and role of our economy in the world economy continued to rise. The global pandemic of the new crown pneumonia epidemic drove the world to accelerate the evolution of a major change unprecedented in a century. The world economy is in deep recession, the global industrial chain and supply chain have suffered shocks, and the governance deficit, trust deficit, development deficit, and peace deficit are still expanding. Unilateralism, protectionism, and bullying practices are on the rise, and economic globalization is experiencing headwinds, exacerbating the risks and uncertainties in the world economy. China's development is facing more adverse wind and water external environment.

At the same time, China's economic development is also experiencing profound phase changes, the fundamentals of developing long-term positive, but also facing many difficulties in the future. The transformation of the main contradictions in our society is the key to understanding the new stage of development. In the new development stage, China's continued development has many advantages and conditions, but the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development is still prominent, and the people's growing needs for a better life can not be fully met. Entering the stage of high-quality development, the task of development is getting heavier and heavier, and the problems that need to be solved are becoming more and more diverse and complex. In particular, the task is arduous and urgent in promoting reform in key areas, improving innovation capacity by adapting to the requirements of high-quality development, stabilizing the basic position of agriculture, narrowing the income distribution and regional development gap, improving the ecological environment, making up for the shortcomings of people's livelihood, and coping with the aging population.

In the face of the new situation and new tasks, we must maintain our strategic determination, do our own business, give full play to the advantages of the mega market, effectively respond to the challenges posed by changes in the development environment, and more purposefully transform the various potentials of China's development into the power, vitality, and resilience of economic development. With accurate knowledge of the change, scientific response, and proactive change, we must continue to use the reform of this key move. Sailing against the current, no progress is regression. Only with good use of reform as a key move, in order to avoid being led by the nose by difficulties, in the new development stage out of the road of innovative development.

In the new development, stage to build a new development pattern, to achieve new development goals

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee pointed out that the building of a new development pattern with the domestic circulation as the main body and the domestic and international circulation promoting each other should be accelerated. The construction of a new development pattern is a requirement for entering a new development stage and a major initiative in line with the law of development. To promote high-quality development, on the one hand, we must maintain a high potential growth rate by improving labor productivity and total factor productivity; on the other hand, we must lead and create new demand with innovation-driven, high-quality supply. Building a new development pattern, making the domestic market the main source of final demand, and forming a higher level of the dynamic balance of demand pulling supply and supply creating demand, provides a strategic path to achieve the main goals of economic and social development in the 14th Five-Year Plan period and the 2035 vision.

To build a new development pattern, expanding domestic demand is the strategic base. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has started to form a national economic cycle dominated by domestic circulation by promoting structural reform on the supply side, transforming the development mode and improving the balance of the national economy, and through active adjustment after the international financial crisis. 97.9%, with the share of final consumption averaging 53.5% and the incremental share up to 59.7%, and the contribution of domestic demand to GDP growth reaching up to 100% or less. It should also be noted that the share of final consumption in GDP in China is still low in international comparisons, while the growth rate of final consumption is significantly faster than other major economies and faster than the growth rate of domestic GDP, so it still has a large potential. In recent years, government consumption accounts for about 30% of the total final consumption expenditure; urban residents account for about 78%, and rural residents for about 22% of the total consumption expenditure. It can be seen that, on the basis of maintaining the basic synchronization between the growth of residents' income and economic growth, the continuous narrowing of the urban-rural income gap, and the further expansion of the middle-income group, the potential of China's consumption demand can be further released.

To build a new development pattern, smooth the national economic cycle is the focus. The domestic and international double cycle is an organic whole, the key to the cycle. By organically combining the implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand with the deepening of supply-side structural reform, the formation of the new development pattern is born in a series of major strategic initiatives including the promotion of major regional strategies, regional coordinated development strategies, rural revitalization strategies, and national strategies to actively deal with population aging, etc., and by cultivating a complete domestic demand system, leading and creating new demand with innovation-driven, high-quality supply, it will be possible to promote consumer demand while expanding investment space and expanding investment demand. The new development pattern is not a closed domestic cycle, but an open domestic and international double cycle. To unswervingly expand openness, continue to promote the formation of a comprehensive, multi-level, diversified pattern of open cooperation, the use of domestic and international two markets and two resources. According to the characteristics of China's national conditions and unique development advantages, in the industrial chain supply chain optimization and upgrading, regional balanced development and supply-side and demand-side coordination, and other aspects of efforts, China's mega market potential into mega resource allocation and mega national economic cycle, the formation of the new situation of China's participation in international cooperation and competition new advantages.

Build a new development pattern, to deepen reform to stimulate new development vitality. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "as China enters a new stage of development, reform is also facing new tasks, we must take greater courage, more initiatives to break the deep-seated institutional mechanisms barriers". Accelerating the formation of a new development pattern is a systemic and deep-seated change that concerns the whole situation. Must adhere to the comprehensive deepening of reform, to build a new development pattern to provide a strong impetus. To implement the requirements of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, focus on breaking the deep-rooted institutional barriers, and promote the improvement of the socialist market economy system, the construction of a high-standard market system, stimulate the vitality of all types of market entities, accelerate the reform of the property rights system and the reform of the market allocation of factors, improve the fair competition system, the formation of a new system of a higher level of an open economy and other key reform initiatives to further implementation.

Reprinted from: "People's Daily" (November 25, 2020, page 07)