16. Why is it necessary to improve the social credit system and regulatory institutions?

The Resolution proposes that: “We must improve the social credit system and regulatory institutions.” The socialist market economy is a credit economy and a rule of law economy. A sound social credit system and regulatory institutions are an important cornerstone for modern economic and social development, and are of great significance for promoting the healthy development of the socialist market economy, improving social governance capacity, and enhancing national competitiveness.

In recent years, China’s social credit system has improved day by day, a system of incentives for good credit (守信) and penalties for poor credit (失信) has been basically formed, the concept of credit has gradually taken root in the hearts of the people, and the awareness of understanding credit, maintaining good credit, and using credit has been continuously enhanced. Credit has played an important role in optimizing the business environment, promoting financial services for the real economy, improving government governance and service efficiency, and promoting core socialist values. At the same time, the social credit system still has problems such as insufficient uniformity of institutional rules, insufficient sharing and openness of credit information, imperfect incentive mechanisms for good credit and penalties for poor credit, shallow marketized and socialized applications, and the need to further improve the effectiveness of credit supervision. It is necessary to further improve the social credit system and regulatory institutions, promote a culture of integrity, and improve long-term mechanisms for building integrity in order to provide basic support for high-quality economic and social development.

First, this is an objective requirement for building a high-level socialist market economic system. The credit system is the cornerstone of the market economy, and social credit is becoming an important nexus for maintaining economic relations between various entities in the market economy. Integrity and creditworthiness are the basic rules of the market economy. Good credit relations are an important foundation for stimulating economic vitality and a basic guarantee for promoting the sustained and healthy operation of the national economy. Integrity is the basic condition for the large-scale circulation and transaction of goods and services and the reduction of institutional transaction costs. The smooth flow of goods and the spread of business across the world depend on credit and reputation. The higher the level of productivity and the deeper the degree of marketization, the higher the requirements for social credit. It has become an urgent task to improve the social credit system and regulatory institutions to adapt them to a high-level socialist market economic system.

Second, this is the social foundation for comprehensively advancing the rule of law. The social credit system and the rule of law mutually complement and promote one another, and jointly promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. On the one hand, the construction of the social credit system cannot be separated from the guarantee and support provided by the rule of law. As an important part of the socialist market economic system and social governance system, the social credit system is committed to improving the integrity awareness and credit level of society as a whole. The construction and operation of this system is not possible without the continuous improvement in the level of rule of law and the use of the rule of law to safeguard credit. On the other hand, the effective implementation of the law requires corresponding support from social credit and an overall improvement in social customs and moral standards. The improvement of the social credit system and regulatory institutions will effectively enhance the integrity awareness, rule awareness, and legal awareness of society as a whole, improve the moral quality of the people as a whole, and thereby lay a solid social foundation for the comprehensive rule of law.

Third, this is an urgent need in order to continuously optimize the business environment. To optimize the business environment, we must focus on cultivating the contractual spirit of various entities, forming a conscious awareness of maintaining good credit and using credit, and building a stable, transparent, and predictable development environment. On the one hand, government agencies must maintain good credit and use credit. They must strengthen the construction of government integrity, honor and fulfill policy commitments made and various contracts concluded in accordance with the law, and enhance the credibility of the government. They must innovate the concept of credit governance, build a joint incentive mechanism for good credit and a joint punishment mechanism for poor credit, scientifically allocate regulatory resources based on credit status, standardize the market economy order, and create a fair and competitive market environment. On the other hand, business entities must maintain good credit and use credit. They must strengthen their own credit management, operate with integrity, and create a strong credit awareness and cultural atmosphere throughout the whole society.

Fourth, this is an inevitable choice to promote core socialist values. “Sincerity is the way of heaven; reflecting on sincerity is the way of man.” A good credit environment is not only relevant to the economic interests of society, but also to the long-term stability of the country. The Chinese nation has a history of civilization that stretches back thousands of years, and has always advocated that without integrity, a person cannot stand upright, a family cannot be harmonious a business cannot generate wealth, a venture cannot prosper, a government cannot be powerful, a country cannot be stable, and the world cannot be peaceful. Strengthening the construction of the social credit system represents the inheritance and development of China’s excellent traditional culture and is an inevitable requirement for practicing the core socialist values. Integrity should become the common value orientation and behavioral norm of all people throughout the country.

Comprehensive measures are needed to improve the social credit system and regulatory institutions and promote the high-quality development of the social credit system: First, we must promote the construction of social credit system laws and regulations and accelerate the process of social credit legislation. Second, we must consolidate the data foundation of the social credit system, establish and improve credit information collection and sharing mechanisms, and promote the legal and compliant circulation and transaction of credit information. Third, we must improve joint incentive mechanisms for good credit and joint punishment mechanisms for poor credit, and expand the in-depth application of credit in administrative management, social governance, financial services for the real economy, and guarantees of the people’s livelihood. Fourth, we must cultivate marketized and socialized forces in the construction of the social credit system and support the development of the credit service market. Fifth, we must strengthen propaganda and education on the culture of integrity and promote the formation of a virtuous social trend of maintaining good credit and fulfilling promises.

17.    How should we understand the development of productivity characterized by high technology, high efficiency and high quality?

The Resolution states that: “We must develop productivity characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality.” High technology, high efficiency, and high quality describe the basic characteristics of the new productive forces and clarify the new major requirements for the development of productivity in the new era and new journey. This is something we must grasp accurately. This idea can be understood by considering the following aspects.

First, the new productive forces are driven by scientific and technological (S&T) innovation and cannot be separated from high technology. Productivity is mankind’s ability to utilize and transform nature. It is the fundamental force driving economic and social development. Among all the factors in productivity, S&T is the primary productive force and has a decisive influence on the quality of productivity. Looking at the course of the Industrial Revolution, from mechanization in the 18th century, to electrification in the 19th century, to informatization in the 20th century, every major S&T innovation has brought about a great release of social productivity. At present, a new round of S&T revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating, and new-generation information technology (IT), artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technology, biotechnology, new energy, new materials, and other technologies are achieving wide penetration, driving major industrial and technological changes characterized by digitalization, intelligentization, and greenization. It is in this context that new productive forces are being generated based on major breakthroughs in basic research and the application of original and disruptive technological innovation achievements, marking another release of social productivity. In recent years, China’s S&T innovation capabilities have steadily improved. We have achieved a number of original results with international influence in basic research fields such as quantum information and brain science. The application of new technological innovation achievements in fields such as AI, photovoltaics, lithium batteries, and synthetic biology has accelerated. China has entered the ranks of innovation-oriented countries, providing strong support for the development of new productive forces.

Second, new productive forces are supported by the optimal allocation of resources and should possess high efficiency. New productive forces are based on the optimal combination and upgrading of workers, means of labor, and objects of labor. They optimize the allocation of factor inputs, improve the efficiency of factor combinations, and bring about a significant increase in total factor productivity. The history of productivity development shows us that every leap in productivity level is accompanied by continuous expansion and change in the scope of production factors and their relative importance. From labor, land, and capital to technology, knowledge, management, and data, the definition of production factors continues to expand. At the same time, the intensity of capital and technological factors continues to increase, the role of human capital, knowledge, and management has been greatly enhanced, and the multiplier effect of new production factors such as data is not very prominent. In recent years, the resource endowment conditions of China’s economic development have undergone profound changes. The driving force of economic growth is gradually shifting from relying mainly on the extensive input of resource factors to relying on the optimal combination and upgrade of production factors, bringing about an increase in total factor productivity. In the past 10 years, China’s average annual growth rate of labor productivity per capita has been higher than its economic growth rate. By 2023, labor productivity reached a new level of 162,000 RMB per person.

Third, new productive forces are characterized by the deep transformation and upgrade of industries and must be of high quality. Industry is the vehicle of productivity, and industrial transformation and upgrade is the manifestation of a change in productivity. Every major S&T innovation produced by mankind will profoundly change the industrial structure and productive organization pattern, bringing about the iterative upgrade of leading and pillar industries. This was true of steam engines, textile machines, the railway, electricity, oil, industrial chemicals, the automobile, atomic energy, computers, and aerospace technology. New productive forces also bring about major changes in industrial structure, enterprise format, and product quality. Specifically, strategic emerging industries and future industries are characterized by active innovation, technology-intensiveness, high-end value, and broad prospects. They represent important directions for industrial transformation and upgrade. In recent years, China’s strategic emerging industries have flourished. In 2023, the added value from strategic emerging industries accounted for more than 13% of national GDP. In advantageous fields such as new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products, China has seen accelerated development, and we have formed certain leading advantages in emerging fields such as the digital economy and low-altitude [translator’s note: drone/UAV] economy. We have continuously consolidated the industrial foundation for developing new quality productive forces.

As a new strategic measure, there are two points we must be attentive to in understanding and implementing the development of new productive forces: First, developing new productive forces does not mean ignoring or abandoning traditional industries. Traditional industries account for more than 80% of China’s manufacturing industry and are the foundation of the modern industrial system. Traditional industries do not represent backward productive forces. Technological revolutions can inject new vitality into traditional industries, making them an important source for developing new productive forces. Second, we must not rush into developing new productive forces or create bubbles, but proceed cautiously and step by step in accordance with local conditions. China has a vast territory and great differences in regional development. The resource endowments, industrial bases, and scientific research conditions of different regions vary, so the focus points in the development of new productive forces will also be different in different regions. All regions must accurately identify their own strategic positioning in overall national development, respect the objective laws of industrial development, give full play to the development potential and comparative advantages of their regions, play the “distinctive feature card” well, make the “first move,” and steadily develop new productive forces.

22.  What are the key points to be grasped in order to improve the resilience and security level of the production chains and supply chains?

The Resolution emphasizes “improving the system to enhance the resilience and security level of production chains and supply chains” and makes systematic and comprehensive deployments. We must deeply understand and conscientiously implement this.

A production chain is a chain-like relationship formed among various industrial links and upstream and downstream entities in the economic system on the basis of certain technical and economic connections. The resilience and security level of production chains and supply chains refers to the state where this relationship form has inherent stability, autonomy, and flexibility, and can adapt itself quickly after external shocks, maintain effective operations when subject to blockades and suppression, and ensure basic functions in extreme situations. The resilience and security level of production chains and supply chains depend on our independent controllability of key links and the integrity and stability of the industrial system. China has the most complete range of industries and the strongest industrial support capacity in the world. This not only provides strategic support for victory in the contest among major powers, but also provides a guarantee for the smooth operation of the global economy.

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “Production chains and supply chains cannot come uncoupled at critical times. This is an important characteristic that all large economies must possess.” For a long time, China’s manufacturing industry was “big but not strong, comprehensive but not refined,” and some key and core technologies were in the hands of others. At the same time, global production chains and supply chains are being restructured, and the complexity and uncertainty of the external environment of production chains and supply chains have increased. In particular, in recent years, the United States and other Western countries have escalated their containment and suppression of China’s development and forcibly “decoupled and severed links” with China. This has given greater prominence to the importance and urgency of China’s pursuit of greater resilience and security level for its production chains and supply chains. Over a period of time, China has made positive progress in pooling high-quality resources to tackle the weak links in the key manufacturing industry production chains, and in improving the independent controllability, security, and reliability of the industrial system. To improve the relevant systems, we must focus on the following key points.

First, we must improve and strengthen institutions and mechanisms for the development of key production chains. On the one hand, we must accelerate efforts to “compensate for shortcomings” in production chains, coordinate the promotion of key and core technology research projects, industrial base reconstruction projects, and major technical equipment research projects, accelerate technological breakthroughs and the application of research results, and enhance the independent controllability of key production chains and supply chains such as integrated circuits, industrial machine tools, medical equipment, instrumentation, basic software, industrial software, and advanced materials. On the other hand, we must do more to “build on our strengths” in production chains in key advantageous areas, improve institutions and mechanisms to increase our leading position in advantageous industries, carry out in-depth initiatives to improve the quality of industrial products, focus on key areas such as new-generation IT, high-end equipment, new materials, and new energy, vigorously develop new technologies, new products, and new business formats, improve the level of conversion and industrialization of S&T achievements into practical applications, and enhance the rootedness and competitiveness of production chains.

Second, we must promote technological breakthroughs and the application of results throughout the entire chain. We must give full play to the advantages of the new national system under the socialist market economy, focus on the combination of “points” and “chains,” enhance the supply of general-purpose technologies, focus on scenario-led development, strengthen policy support, and promote technological research, the application of results, and ecosystem construction throughout the entire chain so as to “string separate points together to form a chain.” We must give full play to the key role of “chain leader” [链主] enterprises, effectively utilize the massive advantages of China’s market size, drive the growth of enterprises up and down the production chain, and maintain and develop a comprehensive industrial system.

Third, we must improve collaborative mechanisms to facilitate the orderly and gradual relocation of industries within the country. We must promote the upstream and downstream alignment model of production chains and supply chains, focus on strengthening and supplementing the chains and building an industrial relocation cooperation platform. We must innovate the inter-regional industrial relocation cooperation model and encourage the areas industries leave and the areas where they arrive to establish sharing mechanisms for indicators such as output value, income, and land use. We must build a national strategic hinterland and key industry backups. We must build a “dam” for industrial relocation, guide key links of production chains to remain in the country, and carry out overseas infrastructure construction and capacity cooperation.

Fourth, we must improve the coordination and linkage system for the exploration, production, supply, storage, and sale of strategic mineral resources. We must accelerate a new round of strategic livestream for breakthroughs in mineral exploration, insist on the prioritization of urgent needs, focus on scarce strategic minerals, achieve new breakthroughs in mineral exploration, and enhance the long-term guarantee capabilities for strategic mineral resources. We must improve the production, supply, storage, and sales system for energy resources such as oil, natural gas, coal, and electricity, improve the reserve and mobilization mechanisms for important energy resources such as oil and natural gas, and promote the interconnection of oil and gas pipelines. We must promote the layout planning and construction of bulk commodity storage and transportation bases, and consolidate our ability to ensure stable production and supply of grain, energy, mineral products, and raw materials.

26. Why is it necessary to optimize the organizational mechanism for major S&T innovation?

Major S&T innovations are S&T innovation activities organized on a large scale. They can concentrate resources on S&T research and solve major problems affecting national economic and social development. They play an important role in enhancing China’s S&T strength, economic strength, and comprehensive national strength. The Resolution states that: “We must optimize the organizational mechanisms for major S&T innovations.” This is an important reform measure to improve S&T management work, which will further improve the efficacy of S&T innovation and better ensure the smooth implementation of major S&T innovations.

First, optimizing organizational mechanisms is a necessary guarantee for achieving major S&T innovations. The new round of S&T revolution and industrial transformation is advancing by leaps and bounds, scientific research paradigms have undergone profound changes, and the complexity of scientific research activities has increased significantly. Major S&T innovations are cutting-edge, leading, and disruptive, featuring large investments, high risks, and long cycles. They are a form of systematic large-scale socialized production and must have strong organizational mechanisms. At the same time, China’s S&T undertakings are developing rapidly, and S&T innovation has gradually changed from the original learning and catching-up type to racing and leading type. There is an urgent need to optimize the organizational mechanisms for major S&T innovation in order to adapt to S&T development trends and the needs of China’s S&T innovation work. Especially since the establishment of the Central Science and Technology Commission (CSTC), the S&T leadership system and management mechanisms have undergone major changes. To strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over S&T work, give play to the role of organizer for major S&T innovations, strengthen overall coordination and layout at the national level, and organize and promote implementation, it is necessary to further optimize the organizational mechanisms for major S&T innovations. Optimizing organizational mechanisms will help give full play to the advantages of the socialist system in concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks, help gather strategic S&T forces, help mobilize important innovation resources, and help ensure that major S&T innovations smoothly achieve strategic goals.

Second, optimizing organizational mechanisms will help improve the efficacy of major S&T innovations. Major S&T innovations require a large amount of innovation resources, but innovation resources are relatively scarce. Optimizing organizational mechanisms, giving full play to the decisive role of the market in allocating resources and the organizing and coordinating role of the government, and establishing a resource allocation model that conforms to the laws of S&T innovation will help improve resource allocation efficiency, put the best resources where they are needed most, and maximize the benefits of S&T innovation. Major S&T innovations often involve multiple departments, fields, teams, and disciplines. Optimizing organizational mechanisms will help enhance innovation synergy. Adopting different management models for different forms of innovation tasks, improving the “winner-takes-all open competition,” “horse race” system, “owner-based system,” and other methods, and establishing a suitable organizational model can systematically improve innovation efficiency. Optimizing organizational mechanisms can further promote the integration of S&T industries, enhance the capacity of S&T innovation to serve as a source supply for industry and the economy, accelerate the conversion of S&T achievements into practical applications, and form new productive forces as soon as possible.

Third, the optimization of organizational mechanisms must address outstanding issues in the implementation of major S&T innovations. At present, in the implementation of major S&T innovations in China, we still face problems such as imperfect mechanisms for converting national strategic needs and market demands into major S&T tasks, the lack of a diversified resource allocation pattern, the lack of organization and mobilization of strategic S&T forces, and the lack of coordination among industry, academia, research institutes, across departments, and across fields. These problems urgently need to be solved by optimizing the organizational mechanisms. First, we must strengthen overall planning, improve the need-oriented and problem-oriented methods of selecting topics for major national S&T tasks, and establish a selection mechanism that incorporates projects from enterprises and localities that meet national strategic needs into the national S&T plan system. Second, we must improve the end-to-end linkage mechanisms for S&T innovation, establish an integrated planning and deployment mechanism for key areas of S&T innovation, coordinate the deployment of innovation chains, production chains, talent chains, and capital chains, and establish a multi-department linkage and relay implementation work mechanisms throughout the entire chain. Third, we must explore the establishment of an organizational model for the classified management of major S&T tasks, and select appropriate departments, localities, general contractors, and owner units to be responsible for implementation according to their different fields, goals, and characteristics. Fourth, we must accelerate the transformation of the S&T resource allocation method, explore the establishment of a market-driven mechanism for breakthroughs in key and core technologies, and achieve the organic unity of an active government, an effective market, and responsible innovation entities. Fifth, we must strengthen task implementation supervision, dynamic adjustment, and assessment and acceptance, set milestones, introduce an S&T project supervision mechanism, and strengthen supervision and management of responsible units and professional institutions. At the same time, the role of social supervision should be brought into play to form a management model in which internal management and social supervision mutually promote each other.

27. How should the improvement of S&T plan management be understood?

S&T plans are scientific research or experimental development activities and other related S&T activities organized and implemented by government departments in accordance with the national S&T development plan and strategic arrangements, with government funding or macro-policy regulation and guidance. The Resolution states that: “We must improve the management of S&T plans, and strengthen our forward-looking and leading layout in basic research fields, multidisciplinary cutting-edge fields, and key fields.” This important reform initiative will further optimize the management model of S&T plans, stimulate innovation vitality, and bring S&T plans more into line with S&T development trends and national strategic needs. We can understand this by considering three aspects.

First, we must improve the management of S&T programs. The current S&T plan system was formed after the reform in 2015, and includes five major categories of projects: National Natural Science Foundation, National Science and Technology Major Projects, National Key R&D Program, Technology Innovation Guidance Projects (Funds), and Base and Talent Projects. Faced with the new situation, the deepening of reforms in national S&T plans is an urgent need. The first need is to reform the S&T management system. Based on the Plan for Deepening the Reform of Party and State Agencies issued by the CCP Central Committee and the State Council in 2023, the Ministry of Science and Technology’s responsibilities for coordinating and managing central government-funded S&T plans (special projects, funds, etc.) and coordinating and evaluating scientific research project funds are adjusted to strengthen its overall coordination function. In accordance with the requirements of institutional reform, we must further improve the management of S&T plans, adapt to the requirements of S&T management system reform, and better meet the needs of developing new productive forces and building an S&T superpower. The second need is to better shoulder the important mission of key and core technology research. S&T plans undertake the important mission of key and core technology research. Plans must start from a consideration of the country’s urgent needs and long-term goals, focus on high-end chips, biotechnology, industrial software, new materials, scientific research equipment, and other such fields, fully organize efforts to solve the “chokepoint” problems in these important fields with original technologies, achieve independent controllability of key and core technologies, and firmly seize the initiative for innovation and development in our own hands. The third need is to further improve the management level of S&T plans. At present, there are still weak links in S&T planning management. We must further improve the comprehensiveness and professionalism of management, consolidate the main responsibilities at each stage of S&T planning, strengthen the responsibilities of professional management institutions, and strengthen the assessment and goal management of R&D units and developers.

Second, in improving the management of S&T plans, we must focus on strengthening our forward-looking and leading layout. Strengthening our forward-looking and leading layout is a key stage in S&T plan management, and is crucial to ensuring the consistency of S&T plans with economic and social development needs and national strategic development goals. Only by deploying a good layout and positioning ourselves well can we identify key areas and critical S&T innovation tasks, ensure that S&T plans play their due role in S&T innovation and economic and social development, better respond to challenges, and meet the country’s strategic needs. First, this will help S&T to better play its basic and strategic supporting role. Only by deploying a forward-looking, leading layout, and selecting the right direction and goals can we better seize the commanding heights of S&T, lay a solid technological foundation for future development, and give play the strategic leading role of S&T. Second, it will help strengthen the ability of S&T innovation to serve as a strategic source. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: “China is faced with many ‘chokepoint’ technological problems, which stem from the fact that our basic theoretical research cannot keep up, and we have not clarified the source and underlying thing.” By strengthening our forward-looking and leading layout, S&T plans will focus more on original, disruptive, and strategic innovation, lay a solid technical foundation from the source and underlying layer, and create more original theories and technologies. Third, it will help to identify new technologies and new industries with huge potential. It is necessary to lay out production chains around the innovation chain, carry out resource allocation and talent training in advance, and strengthen the integration of S&T with emerging industries and future industries.

Third, we must strengthen overall coordination and ensure the implementation of S&T plans. We must strengthen collaborative innovation, use S&T plans as a vehicle, strengthen coordination among departments, enterprises, universities, and research institutes, strengthen joint efforts by strategic S&T forces, promote the construction of national S&T innovation platforms such as national laboratories, major S&T infrastructure, and national technology innovation centers, explore an integration mechanism for projects, bases, and talents, support base construction through projects, cultivate strategic S&T talents through base construction, and support S&T research through talents, forming a virtuous circle. We must strengthen coordination between the central government and local governments, and, based on national strategic needs, draw up a condensed list of major projects suitable for local governments or enterprises to undertake, incorporate them into the national S&T plan system, and have local governments or leading enterprises take full responsibility for fundraising and project implementation, fully mobilizing the whole country in a common effort. We must strengthen the construction of the S&T plan supervision and evaluation system, adhere to the goal-oriented and problem-oriented approach, focus on the classified assessment of major landmark achievements, establish and improve classified evaluation and assessment methods based on the characteristics of different tasks, grasp the key nodes and key entities, pass on the pressure from supervision and evaluation layer by layer, and form a closed-loop supervision system.

32. What are the main requirements for improving the support and guarantee mechanism for recruiting overseas talents?

The Resolution states that: “We must improve the support and guarantee mechanisms for recruited overseas talents.” This is an important measure taken by the Party Central Committee to implement the strategy of building a talent superpower, to strive to form an internationally competitive talent system, and to steadily improve China’s global talent resource allocation capabilities.

Overseas talents are an important source of high-level talent in China. To advance China’s modernization, we need to both cultivate and make good use of domestic talents and also adhere to demand orientation, make good use of global innovation resources, and precisely recruit high-level, elite, cutting-edge, and in-demand talents. After reform and opening up, a large number of Chinese students stayed abroad to work after graduation, and many of them are active in international S&T cutting-edge work and high-end industrial development. Attracting these outstanding talents back is a practical, quick, and effective way to solve the shortage of leading S&T talents in China. Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee has focused on national strategic needs and continuously increased its efforts to recruit overseas talents. More and more outstanding overseas talents have returned (or come for the first time) to China to innovate and start businesses, playing an important role in promoting the development of Chinese education, S&T, and talent pool. In the new era and on the new journey, we must implement more proactive, more open, and more effective talent policies, accelerate the formation of an internationally competitive talent system, provide a good environment and service guarantees for overseas talents to return (come) to China to engage in R&D, study, work, and life, and ensure that they are recruited, retained, and used well.

First, we must expand the career platform. When recruiting high-level overseas talent, it is critical that we make good use of these talents. The purpose and motivation that leads high-level overseas talents to return (come) to China is mainly that there are more development opportunities and greater development potential in China. However, China’s innovation and entrepreneurship environment and conditions still lag behind those of developed countries. We must take the building of an international S&T innovation center and a national high-level talent base as an opportunity, use national key S&T innovation projects, R&D projects of key state-owned backbone enterprises, key disciplines in universities and research institutes, national laboratories, high-tech industrial development zones, and overseas student entrepreneurship parks as vehicles, give full play to the primary role of employers, learn from and apply internationally accepted, flexible, and effective methods, promote innovative breakthroughs and detailed implementation of talent policies, and provide a good career platform and good working and living conditions for recruited high-level overseas talents. We must create a relaxed environment that respects individuality, encourages innovation, and tolerates failure. We must give talents full trust and give them free rein so that high-level overseas talent can do a good job and will stay in China, thus producing a good diffusion effect.

Second, we must improve service guarantees. High-level overseas talents are valuable resources that countries around the world are competing for. In today’s world, the competition for the commanding heights of S&T and high-end talents is fiercer than ever before. Many countries have introduced strategies and policies to attract talent, including adjusting immigration policies, providing generous salaries and benefits, implementing preferential study abroad policies, and providing tax incentives for entrepreneurship. In recent years, in order to improve the conditions and environment for attracting talent, various regions have successively introduced a series of effective methods and measures. We must focus on solving key and difficult issues of concern to high-level overseas talents, continuously improve relevant policies in terms of benefit guarantees, convenience of entry, and guarantees for children and spouses, implement special support policies for elite talents urgently needed by the country, take various measures to create conditions to retain talents by making them happy, help dispel the concerns of overseas talents, and allow them to settle down and live and work without worry.

Third, we must strengthen political leadership. Strengthening political guidance and political absorption (政治吸纳, to absorb or co-opt into the political system) of talents is an important part of adhering to the principle of the Party’s management of talents, an important measure to gather outstanding talents in all respects of patriotism and dedication, and a concrete manifestation of the effort to carry forward our Party’s fine tradition of linking with and serving experts. As early as the beginning of the founding of New China, under the personal attention and coordination of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and other older generation revolutionaries, a group of outstanding overseas experts such as Qian Xuesen resolutely gave up their favorable working and living conditions abroad and returned to the motherland, becoming the backbone of the development of industry, education, scientific research, and national defense in New China. To strengthen the political guidance and political absorption of overseas talents, we must focus on ideological connections, strengthen ideological communication and emotional exchanges, and listen carefully to their opinions and suggestions. We must be attentive to the physical and mental health of overseas talents, provide genuine care and considerate services, and help them solve practical difficulties. We should enhance the political identity and cohesion of overseas talents through education and training and their observations of national conditions, so as to achieve an organic unity that sees our numbers increase as we win over their hearts and minds.

52. What are the key points to be grasped in the innovative development of digital trade?

The Resolution states that: “We must innovate and develop digital trade.” Digital trade refers to trade where data is the key production factor, digital services are the core, and data ordering and delivery are the main features. It is an important part of the digital economy and represents a high level of openness to the outside world. At present, a new round of S&T revolution and industrial transformation is developing in an in-depth manner, the global digital economy is booming, and digital trade is becoming a new trend in the development of international trade and a new growth point for future economic development. The Resolution makes arrangements for the innovation and development of digital trade, which is of great significance.

Since the 18th Party Congress, China’s digital trade has maintained a good development trend. In 2023, the scale of China’s imports and exports of digitally-deliverable services reached RMB 2.71937 trillion, a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 8.5%. Specifically, exports were RMB 1,543.52 billion, an increase of 9.0%; and imports were RMB 1,175.85 billion, an increase of 7.8%. In 2023, China’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached RMB 2.38 trillion, an increase of 15.6%. The innovative development of digital trade is confronted with historical opportunities brought by the economic and social digitalization, but it also requires us to properly respond to a series of challenges. First, there is insufficient openness in the digital trade field. The 2022 “Digital Services Trade Restrictions Index” released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that China has a relatively high restriction index, ranking 71st among the 85 economies surveyed. China’s openness is still insufficient in the digital trade field, and there are still some limitations in areas such as intellectual property protection and data localization. Cross-border data flow is not smooth, and data classification and categorization standards and important data catalogs are still unclear in many fields. Second, the digital trade governance system needs to be improved. Digital trade governance mainly focuses on “behind-the-border” rules such as rules concerning cybersecurity, personal privacy protection, and open source code. At present, digital trade governance is still mainly based on “management,” and a policy environment of “promotion” has not yet been formed. Additionally, cross-departmental and cross-field governance mechanisms need to be improved. Third, the construction of global digital trade rules faces challenges. It is difficult to bridge differences in digital trade rules, and there is a risk of governance fragmentation. It is urgent that we strengthen international coordination and cooperation to jointly build a favorable institutional environment adapted to the development of digital globalization.

To innovate and develop digital trade, we must coordinate the efforts of various departments to form a combined force to promote the development of digital trade. Specifically, we can focus on the four aspects described below.

First, we must support the development of digital trade in a field-specific manner. We must strengthen the innovation of digital application scenarios and models, and continuously enhance the driving force and vitality of digital trade development. We must actively support the trade in digital products and create a good environment for digital products to go global. We must continue to optimize digital service trade and promote innovation and development in industries such as digital finance, online education, and telemedicine. We must steadily advance trade in digital technology and accelerate the development of foreign trade in areas such as communications, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing. We must actively explore trade in data and gradually form a more mature data trade model. We must accelerate the digitized empowerment of the entire trade chain. We must cultivate leading enterprises in the digital trade field with strong innovation capabilities and international competitiveness, and enhance the ability to allocate resources and deploy market networks globally. We must actively cultivate small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the digital trade field that have unique competitive advantages, and support enterprises as they follow the development path of “specialization, precision, and innovation.”

Second, we must promote institutional openness for digital trade. We must liberalize market access in the digital field and improve the level of investment and operation convenience for foreign-invested enterprises participating in the digital trade field in China. We must improve the security management system for outbound data transfers and promote the secure and orderly cross-border flow of data. We must build a highly open platform for digital trade, align with strict international economic and trade rules, and encourage pilot projects and stress testing of various reform and opening-up measures in the digital field. We must give full play to the role of platforms such as the China International Import Expo, the China International Fair for Trade in Services, and the Global Digital Trade Expo.

Third, the digital trade governance system needs to be improved. We must actively participate in the formulation of multilateral, bilateral, and regional digital trade-related rules by organizations such as the World Trade Organization, the G20, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to create an open, fair, just, and non-discriminatory environment for digital development. We must actively promote accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA). We must strengthen digital trade cooperation with ASEAN countries, Central Asian countries, BRICS countries, and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states. We must optimize and adjust the catalog of technologies with import or export prohibitions or restrictions. We must maintain industrial security in the digital field, and continue to promote the openness, security, stability, and sustainability of global digital technology, product, and service supply chains.

Fourth, we must strengthen the construction of digital trade rules. We must promote relevant legislation in the field of digital trade and coordinate the promotion of domestic rule of law and foreign-related rule of law. We must encourage regions with suitable conditions to introduce local regulations on digital trade. We must strengthen the construction of technical organizations for digital trade standardization and accelerate the formulation and revision of standards in the field of digital trade. We must research and establish rules for data intellectual property rights protection, strengthen public intellectual property rights services in the digital trade field, and strengthen trademark registration and protection related to digital trade. We must strengthen intellectual support for digital trade talents, support higher education institutions to set up digital trade-related disciplines, strengthen the training of top innovative talents, deepen cooperation between schools and enterprises, and between government and enterprises, and support enterprises to strengthen professional talent training.

56. What are the key points to be grasped in improving the mechanism for promoting the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative?

The Resolution states that: “We must improve the mechanisms for promoting high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI). This has pointed out the direction for us to promote the joint construction of the BRI and achieve new higher quality and higher level development.

Over the past 10 years, the joint construction of the BRI has achieved fruitful results and it has become a popular international public product and international cooperation platform. At present, China has signed more than 230 cooperation documents with more than 150 joint construction countries and more than 30 international organizations, and has carried out thousands of practical cooperation projects, promoting policy communication, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people exchanges in a comprehensive manner. The joint construction of the BRI adheres to consultation, joint construction, and sharing, and has transitioned from the “rough sketch” phase to the “detailed painting,” and expanded from hard connectivity to soft connectivity. It has injected new impetus into world economic growth, opened up new space for global development, and created a new platform for international economic cooperation.

At present, the joint construction of the BRI has entered a new stage of high-quality development. We must adhere to the goal-oriented and initiative-oriented approach, firmly implement the eight actions for high-quality joint construction of the BRI, and promote the steady and long-term development of international cooperation along the BRI. We must focus on doing a good job in the following five tasks.

First, we must build an all-encompassing interconnection network for the BRI. We must deepen infrastructure cooperation with key joint construction countries in fields such as energy, transportation, and communications, improve the integrated layout of land, sea, and air networks, and deepen infrastructure connectivity. We must strengthen alignment with the development strategies and market needs of the countries involved in joint construction, fully consider the interests and concerns of the governments, localities, and people of the countries involved in joint construction, and coordinate the construction of landmark projects such as railways, ports, airports, the Maritime Silk Road, the China-Europe Railway Express, and the new western land-sea corridor. Deepen trilateral and multilateral market cooperation to achieve complementary advantages and common development. Implement the risk prevention and control policy system for overseas projects to ensure the safety of projects and personnel.

Second, we must promote S&T innovation along the Belt and Road. We must implement the Belt and Road Initiative and S&T Innovation Action Plan, jointly foster innovative growth momentum, and expand cooperation in the fields of digital economy, AI, life sciences, green energy, and advanced manufacturing. We must work together to create an open innovation ecosystem and promote the smooth flow of innovation factors such as knowledge, technology, and talent. We should work together to improve global S&T governance, strengthen intellectual property protection, and oppose knowledge blockades and the artificial widening of the S&T gap. We must promote the implementation of the Global AI Governance Initiative, call on all countries to strengthen information exchange and technical cooperation in AI governance, and improve the security, reliability, controllability, and fairness of AI technology.

Third, we must promote the green development of the Belt and Road Initiative. We must continue to build a green Silk Road, align with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, build more eco-friendly projects with high standards, and encourage enterprises to cooperate in green infrastructure, energy, transportation, and other fields. We must actively negotiate and sign investment cooperation memoranda, promote information sharing and capacity building for green and low-carbon development, and support the green and low-carbon transformation of developing countries. We must increase support for the Belt and Road International Green Development Coalition, and build a photovoltaic industry dialogue and exchange mechanism and a green and low-carbon expert network. We must implement the green investment principles of the Belt and Road Initiative and provide training for 100,000 people in partner countries by 2030.

Fourth, we must carry out practical cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative. We must deepen pragmatic cooperation with participating countries in the fields of smart cities, IoT, AI, big data, and cloud computing. We must support the development of the digital economy in countries participating in joint construction, expand the global layout of “Silk Road E-Commerce,” consolidate e-commerce cooperation mechanisms among SCO countries and between China and Arab countries, deepen e-commerce cooperation with ASEAN, and promote the “China-Africa Digital Innovation Partnership Program.” We must give full play to the financial support role of the Silk Road Fund, focus on areas such as environmental protection, agriculture, green energy, health, education, and poverty reduction, efficiently organize the implementation of projects that are “small but beautiful, deliver fast results, and improve people’s lives,” improve and strengthen brand projects such as “Juncao” [菌草], Luban Workshop [鲁班工坊], and “Guangmingxing” [光明行], and promote the implementation of more down-to-earth and people-oriented results.

Fifth, we must improve the international cooperation mechanisms of the Belt and Road Initiative. We must promote the establishment of more bilateral economic and trade cooperation mechanisms for unimpeded trade, investment cooperation, and trade in services, and make good use of mechanisms such as the joint economic and trade committees, working groups on unimpeded trade, working groups on investment cooperation, the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation, the “China-Five Central Asian Countries” Economic and Trade Ministers’ Meeting, and the China-GCC 6+1 Economic and Trade Ministers’ Meeting. We must promote the building of an open, inclusive, and balanced regional economic cooperation framework that benefits all together with joint construction countries. We must give full play to the role of various existing cooperation platforms and promote the establishment of technologies, standards, and rules that are suitable for the needs of the joint construction countries. We must continue to hold the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. We must strengthen cooperation with co-construction countries under the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), promote the construction of multilateral cooperation platforms in the fields of energy, taxation, finance, and disaster mitigation, and actively promote the construction of new multilateral governance mechanisms such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

60. How should we understand the policy initiatives to improve the political role of the United Front in gathering people’s hearts and strength?

The Resolution states that: “We must improve policy measures to give full scope to the political role of the United Front in rallying the hearts of the people and gathering forces.” This will promote the United Front as a political tool advantageous to the Party and an important magic bullet, allowing it to play a greater role and demonstrate greater power.

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “People’s hearts are the highest politics, and the United Front is a powerful magic bullet to rally the hearts of the people and gather forces.” Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has made comprehensive deployments to strengthen the Party’s United Front work in the new era and promoted historic achievements in United Front work. On the new journey, the United Front plays a more important role in safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests, in focusing on the center and serving the overall situation, and in strengthening the Party’s class foundation and expanding its mass base. Faced with the current complex international situation and the arduous and difficult tasks of domestic reform, development, and stability, faced with the practical need to unify the thoughts and actions of all parties and to pool their wisdom and strength, and faced with the new situations and new characteristics of the complex and diverse internal structure of the United Front and the constant emergence of new groups and new classes, United Front work is broader in scope, larger in scale, more arduous in tasks, and more difficult in nature. We must always uphold and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership over United Front work, constantly consolidate, develop, and expand the patriotic United Front at the broadest scale, and give full play to the political role of the United Front in rallying the hearts of the people and gathering forces.

First, we must uphold, develop, and improve China’s new party system. Taking strengthening the overall leadership of the CCP as the foundation, focusing on giving full play to the efficacy of the system, and relying on sound institutional mechanisms as our guarantee, we must strive to build a new type of Chinese party system that is confident, self-reliant, pragmatic, effective, standardized, orderly, and full of vitality. We must give full play to the advantages of China’s new socialist party system, strengthen the unity and cooperation between the CCP and democratic parties and people without party affiliation, and support the democratic parties in strengthening self-construction and better performing their functions.

Second, we must improve the institutions and mechanisms for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. We must make the forging of a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation the main line of the Party’s ethnic work and all work in ethnic regions in the new era. We must improve policies and measures in the areas of building a theoretical system for the community of the Chinese nation, establishing a common spiritual home for the Chinese nation, promoting extensive exchanges, communication, and integration among all ethnic groups, promoting the joint modernization of all ethnic groups, governing ethnic affairs according to law, telling the story of the Chinese nation well, and preventing and resolving risks and hidden dangers in the ethnic field. We must promote the forging of a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation so that this runs through the entire process and all aspects of ethnic work and implement this goal throughout the entire process and in all aspects of development in ethnic regions so as to enhance the cohesion of the Chinese nation. We must adhere to and refine the system of regional ethnic autonomy and formulate laws to promote national unity and progress.

Third, we must systematically promote the Sinicization of religions in China. We must implement the Party’s basic guiding principles on religious work, adhere to the direction of the Sinicization of China’s religions, and actively guide the mutual adaptation of religions and socialist society. We must strengthen the rule of law for religious affairs governance, improve the institutional system of religious affairs management, and use rule-of-law thinking and methods to handle and resolve contradictions and problems in the religious field.

Fourth, we must improve the political guidance mechanism for non-Party intellectuals and people from new social classes. We must strengthen ideological and political work among non-Party intellectuals, do a good job in working with people from new social classes, strengthen political guidance for the common struggle, and enable these people to play an important role in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must comprehensively build a close and clean relationship between government and business, improve the working mechanisms used to promote the healthy development of the non-public economy and the healthy growth of non-public economic personnel, and guide non-public economic personnel to become models of patriotism, dedication, law-abiding business operations, entrepreneurship and innovation, and giving back to society.

Fifth, we must improve the working mechanisms for Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese affairs. We must develop and strengthen the forces of patriotic love for Hong Kong and patriotic love for Macao, and develop and strengthen the forces of patriotism and unification in Taiwan. We must do a good job in overseas United Front work and overseas Chinese affairs work, so as to better rally the hearts of overseas Chinese, pool their wisdom, mobilize their strength, and safeguard their interests.

Sixth, we must improve the overall pattern of United Front work. We must implement a responsibility system for United Front work, study and formulate regulations based on which Party committees (Party groups) implement the responsibility system for United Front work, and make it so the Party committees (Party groups) are the main entities responsible for United Front work in actual fact. We must improve the system for building teams of non-Party representatives, and strive to cultivate and create a team of high-quality non-Party representatives who are of one heart and one mind with the Party. We must do a good job in online United Front work and build concentric circles online and offline.

70. What are the main requirements for strengthening the rule of law in relation to foreign affairs?

Foreign-related rule of law is an important part of the socialist rule of law systems with Chinese characteristics and is relevant to law-based governance of the country and to the overall situation of China’s opening to the outside world and diplomatic work. The Resolution states that: “We must strengthen the construction of foreign-related rule of law.” This important deployment is not only a long-term requirement for comprehensively advancing the construction of a strong nation and advancing national rejuvenation through a Chinese-style modernization, but also an urgent task to promote high-level opening up to the outside world and addressing external risks and challenges. We must deeply understand the importance and urgency of strengthening foreign-related rule of law in terms of better coordinating the domestic and international situations and better coordinating development and security, accelerate the construction of a foreign-related rule of law system and capabilities that are compatible with the requirements of high-quality development and high-level opening up, and create favorable legal conditions and a favorable external environment for the steady and long-term development of China-style modernization.

In accordance with the spirit of the Resolution, strengthening the construction of foreign-related rule of law mainly involves the following four requirements.

First, we must strengthen the Party’s leadership over foreign-related rule of law work. The leadership of the Party is the most fundamental guarantee of the socialist rule of law. The fundamental purpose of promoting foreign-related rule of law is to better safeguard the interests of the country and the people, promote the progress of international rule of law, and promote the development of a community of common destiny for humanity. We must continue to improve the systems and working mechanisms for the Party’s leadership over foreign-related rule of law work, optimize vertical and horizontal coordination, and unswervingly follow the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. Foreign-related rule of law work is a systematic project with wide-ranging implications and strong linkages. We must strengthen top-level design, establish working mechanisms to promote foreign-related legislation, law enforcement, judicial proceedings, compliance with the law, legal services, and the cultivation of legal talents, and form a large-scale pattern for the coordination of foreign-related rule of law work. We must coordinate domestic rule of law and foreign-related rule of law, accelerate the strategic layout of foreign-related rule of law work, and comprehensively advance the construction of China’s foreign-related rule of law systems and capabilities.

Second, we must improve foreign-related legal and regulatory systems. Foreign-related legal and regulatory systems cover all laws, regulations, and rules with foreign-related factors and are legal norms that cut across different legal departments. Since the 18th Party Congress, the depth and breadth of China’s foreign-related legislation have greatly expanded, and foreign-related legislation in important areas has further strengthened. We have successively formulated foreign-related laws such as the Foreign Investment Law, the Export Control Law, the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, the Foreign Relations Law, and the Foreign State Immunity Law. In addition, we revised and formulated the Securities Law, Data Security Law, Personal Information Protection Law, and other laws that contain foreign-related clauses. Foreign-related legislative work has achieved fruitful results. However, there are still some weaknesses and gaps in China’s foreign-related legal and regulatory system, and our capacity and level of participation in the formulation of international rules need to be further improved. We must adhere to the principle of legislation first, and carry out legislation, revision, abolition, and interpretation simultaneously. We must be attentive to specialized foreign-related legislation, focus on improving the foreign-related clauses of relevant laws, further improve the laws and regulations against sanctions, interference, and “long-arm jurisdiction,” promote the construction of a legal system applicable outside the territory of China, and continuously improve the quality and efficiency of foreign-related legislation. We must firmly uphold the international order based on international law, actively participate in the formulation of international rules, promote the rule of law in international relations, actively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system, and promote good global governance through good international laws.

Third, we must improve the foreign-related rule of law implementation system. The vitality of the law lies in its implementation, and the authority of the law also lies in its implementation. We must accelerate the construction of a coordinated and efficient foreign-related rule of law implementation system, comprehensively use law enforcement, judicial, and other means, improve the effectiveness of foreign-related law enforcement and judicial work, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests. We must promote the reform of the institutions and mechanisms of foreign-related judicial trials, improve judicial trial systems in which parties involved in foreign-related civil legal relations agree on a jurisdiction and choose to apply foreign laws in accordance with the law, and enhance the credibility of foreign-related judicial proceedings. We must deepen international cooperation in foreign-related law enforcement and judicial affairs, improve China’s judicial assistance institutions and mechanisms, strengthen consular protection and assistance, and build a strong rule of law security chain to protect China’s overseas interests.

Fourth, we must improve the level of foreign-related legal services. Foreign-related legal services involve multiple fields such as lawyers, arbitration, notarization, mediation, and legal investigation. Since reform and opening up, China’s foreign-related legal services have made great progress, but their share in the international legal services market is still low and their influence is not significant. As opening up to the outside moves forward, the construction of foreign-related rule of law, including legal services, must follow suit. We must vigorously develop foreign-related legal services, improve the international commercial arbitration and mediation system, and cultivate world-class arbitration institutions and law firms. We must strengthen compliance awareness, guide our citizens and enterprises to consciously abide by local laws and regulations in the process of going global, respect local customs, and use the rule of law and rules to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

We must strengthen our confidence in the rule of law, actively interpret the concepts, propositions, and successful practices of foreign-related rule of law with Chinese characteristics, and do a good job in telling the story of China’s rule of law in the new era.

78. Why is it necessary to build a more effective international communication system?

The Resolution states that: “We must build a more effective international communication system.” This is an important measure to enhance China’s cultural soft power, and also an important measure to create a favorable external environment for further comprehensively deepening reforms and promoting Chinese-style modernization.

First, building a more effective international communication system is an urgent need in order to effectively respond to complex and severe international public opinion struggles. The ability to spread our message determines our influence, and the right to speak represents our initiative. Falling behind will lead to a beating, being poor will lead to hunger, and losing one’s voice will result in a scolding. At present, there is still an unreasonable order in international communication. The United States and other Western countries take advantage of their international communication platforms to launch various “public opinion wars” and “cognitive wars” against China, attempting to give the international community a false perception of China’s development, slander and smear China’s national image, and deny China’s legitimate right to development. At the same time, China’s international communication system is still not in line with its comprehensive strength. There is a “deficit” in the flow of information in and out, a “contrast” between China’s true image and the West’s subjective impression of it, and a “gap” between our soft power and hard power. Only by accelerating the construction of a more effective international communication system can we win the right to speak and take the initiative in the international public opinion struggle, effectively fight back against the public opinion attacks from the United States and other Western countries, better showcase a true, three-dimensional, and comprehensive image of China, and safeguard China’s national image and national interests.

Second, building a more effective international communication system is an urgent need in order to tell China’s story well and spread China’s voice. China has moved closer to the center of the world stage than ever before. Countries around the world are more eager to gain an in-depth understanding of China and look forward to hearing China’s voice on major international issues. Since the 18th Party Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has personally told the international community various wonderful stories about the CCP’s governance, China’s reform and development, and China’s exchanges, interactions, and friendship with other countries. On major issues such as the future of human society, he put forward important proposals such as promoting the building of a community of common destiny for humanity, promoting the common values of all mankind, and promoting the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative, which have aroused a strong response and resonance. Only by further improving the effectiveness and efficiency of China’s international communication system can we better promote Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to the international community and people of all countries, let Chinese stories and voices spread more widely in the world, and play a greater role in encouraging people of all countries in the world to work together to create a better future for mankind.

Third, building a more effective international communication system is an urgent need in order to further improve the institutions and mechanisms of China’s foreign propaganda work. Our Party has always attached great importance to external communication work. Since the 18th Party Congress, we have vigorously promoted the integrity and innovation of international communication, streamlined the internal and external propaganda systems, built a media cluster with international influence, actively promoted the spread of Chinese culture, and taken the first steps to establish a multi-entity, three-dimensional external propaganda pattern. At the same time, we must be clear-headed about the fact that China’s experience in the international communication arena is still not rich enough, our international communication resources and forces are still relatively scattered, our level of coordination and cooperation in various aspects of international communication work needs to be improved, and our ability to carry out differentiated communication for different regions, countries, and groups also needs to be strengthened. To solve these problems, we urgently need to build a more effective international communication system and better transform our institutional advantages, organizational advantages, human resource advantages, development advantages, and cultural advantages into international communication advantages.

Building a more effective international communication system is a systematic project, and some important aspects need to be grasped in the practical implementation of the work. First, we must improve the relevant institutions and mechanisms and promote the formation of a grand international communication pattern. We must strengthen the integration of international communication resources and the coordination of forces, deepen the reform and innovation of international communication mechanisms of mainstream media, build a team of specialized talents adapted to the needs of international communication in the new era, promote leading cadres at all levels, all regions, all departments, and all areas to work together on foreign propaganda work, and encourage the majority of members of society to consciously participate in international communication and safeguard the dignity and image of the country. Second, we must accelerate the construction and improvement of Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative systems. We must make strengthening the publicity and promotion of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era a top priority and continue to promote the effective overseas dissemination of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s charisma and style as the leader of a major country. We must strengthen publicity and interpretation of the CCP, and tell the story of why the CCP is successful, why Marxism works, and why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good. We must create new concepts, new categories, and new expressions that integrate China and the rest of the world, and strengthen theoretical support for international communication. We must be attentive to choosing the correct tone, being both open and confident as well as modest and humble, and strive to create a credible, lovable, and respectable image of China. We must promote the global, regional, and niche expression of Chinese stories and voices, and enhance affinity and effectiveness. Third, we must continuously enhance the communicative power and influence of Chinese civilization. We must pay more attention to promoting international communication from a cultural perspective, build a mechanism for implementing the Global Civilization Initiative, effectively promote the going global of Chinese culture, promote cultural exchanges and mutual understanding between the people of China and those of foreign countries, and build a human community.

83. How should we understand the idea of accelerating the construction of a new model of real estate development?

The Resolution states that: “We must accelerate the construction of a new model of real estate development.” This is a new situation that adapts to the major changes in the supply and demand relationship in China’s real estate market. It is aimed at solving the fundamental problems of real estate development, preventing risks, and promoting the stable and healthy development of the real estate market.

China’s current real estate development model gradually formed in the historical background of the housing shortage of the 1990s. In response to the severe shortage in urban housing, China achieved a major transformation from a benefit system of housing distribution to solving housing problems mainly through the market by reforming the housing allocation system and introducing a series of supporting policies on land, government spending, taxation, and finance. The real estate market developed rapidly, the scale of housing supply increased rapidly, the per capita housing construction area in urban areas has increased significantly, the people’s living conditions have improved significantly, and the problems that made a lack of housing a possibility have been basically solved. We promoted the construction of various types of affordable housing and resettlement housing for shantytown redevelopment, and built the world’s largest housing security system. The development of the real estate industry and related industries has played an important role in safeguarding and improving people’s livelihood and supporting China’s economic and social development. At the same time, during the period of rapid expansion of the real estate market, there was also some capital over-concentration in real estate, and some real estate companies had problems such as “high debt, high leverage, and high turnover.”

In recent years, with the continuous of the economic and social development, and the in-depth promotion of new urbanization, the supply and demand relationship in China’s real estate market has undergone major changes. The main contradiction in housing development has shifted from a shortage of total volume to a basic balance of total volume with insufficient structural supply. The proportion of second-hand housing in the commercial housing transaction structure has increased, the weight of the existing housing stock market has increased, and the real estate markets over different cities have further differentiated. In terms of the supply structure, the supply of affordable housing is relatively insufficient, housing prices in big cities are high, and new urban residents and young people face heavy housing burdens. From the perspective of residents’ needs, there has been an overall shift from “whether or not I have housing” to “how good is my housing,” with demand for improved housing increasing and the desire for an improved living standard becoming stronger. In terms of business operations, the “high debt, high leverage, and high turnover” model poses risks and urgently calls for a transformation. In terms of service economic development, the contribution of real estate to the macro-economy has shifted from being driven mainly by new construction to being driven mainly by existing stock, and the characteristics of the real estate industry as a service industry have become more obvious. All of these conditions require changing the current real estate development model and establishing a new development model.

We must accelerate the construction of a new model of real estate development. The overall idea is to focus on meeting needs for the rigidity and improvement of housing. In accordance with the principle of the government ensuring basic needs and the market meeting diversified needs, we must deepen reforms in supply structure, business methods, regulatory policies, and supervision mechanisms and accelerate the construction of a housing system that combines renting and purchasing to achieve the stable, healthy, and high-quality development of the real estate market.

We must accelerate the construction of a new model of real estate development and further deepen reforms in key areas, First, we must optimize and improve the supply system. We must increase efforts in the construction and supply of affordable housing, increase the proportion of affordable housing in the total housing stock, improve the quality and adaptability of affordable housing, better meet the rigid housing needs of the working class, and promote solutions to housing difficulties faced by new residents, young people, migrant workers, and other groups in large cities. We must support the diversified housing improvement needs of urban and rural residents, encourage real estate companies to improve housing construction standards, strengthen the application of smart science and technology (S&T), and improve property service levels. We must continue to promote the construction of dual-use public infrastructure for normal and emergency use and the renovation of urban villages. Second, we must change the operating mode. We must reform real estate development financing methods and the commercial housing pre-sale system, vigorously promote the sale of commercial housing already completed in an orderly manner, strengthen the supervision of pre-sale funds, and strictly enforce pre-sale thresholds. We must guide real estate companies to gradually form a development mechanism with moderate leverage ratio, reasonable debt levels, and normal turnover speed. Third, we must improve regulatory policies. We must improve the institutions and mechanisms for urban planning, construction, and governance. We must fully empower city governments with the autonomy to regulate the real estate market, adopt policies based on the specific conditions of each city, and allow relevant cities to cancel or reduce housing purchase restrictions and cancel standards for ordinary and non-ordinary residential properties. We must strengthen the linkages between housing, land, and financial resources, scientifically arrange land supply and allocate financial resources according to housing demand, realize a system of housing based on people, land based on housing, and money based on housing, maintain a balance in market supply and demand and a reasonable structure, and prevent major fluctuations. We must improve the real estate taxation system. Fourth, we must strengthen security governance. Recognizing the reality that China’s existing housing stock is large and that some housing was built long ago and poses safety hazards, we must study and establish systems such as housing physical examinations, housing pensions, and housing insurance to form a long-term mechanism for housing safety.

87. How should we understand the need to actively respond to population aging and improve the policy mechanisms for developing elder care services and industries?

Actively responding to population aging is relevant to the overall development of the country and the well-being of hundreds of millions of people. The Resolution states that: “We must actively respond to the aging of the population and improve the policy mechanisms for developing elder care undertakings and industries.” This is a major deployment based on the new situation of China’s aging population and for the implementation of the national strategy of actively responding to population aging.

Population aging is a basic national condition in China’s new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way, and it is also a major issue that must be faced in promoting Chinese-style modernization. China has a large elderly population that is aging rapidly, and the task of coping with population aging is difficult. By the end of 2023, the national population aged 60 and above reached 297 million, accounting for 21.1% of the total population, of which the population aged 65 and above reached 217 million, accounting for 15.4% of the total population. According to relevant international standards, China has become a moderately aging society. Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee has made a series of important deployments to actively respond to population aging. The Fifth Plenum of the 19th Party Central Committee identified actively responding to population aging as a national strategy. The guidelines and policies for population aging work have become clearer, and the development of elderly care undertakings and industries has accelerated, laying a solid foundation for actively responding to population aging. At the same time, there are still problems such as the fact that the population aging work system needs to be improved, the elder care service system needs to be improved, and the coordinated development of elder care services and industries needs to be enhanced. We must attach great importance to the series of problems and challenges brought about by population aging, focus on improving the policy mechanisms for developing elder care services and industries, and make systematic plans and adopt scientific policies to find a path to actively respond to population aging with Chinese characteristics. We need to grasp the following three points.

First, we must further improve the policy system and service system to cope with population aging. Coping with population aging involves a wide range of aspects and complex interest relations. We must adhere to the leadership of Party committees and the direction of the government, improve the population aging work system, increase institutional innovation, policy provisions, financial investment, and work coordination, and accelerate the improvement of the social security system, elder care service system, and health support system. We must strengthen the problem-oriented approach, conduct in-depth research on issues such as mismatch between supply and demand, structural imbalances, and a large urban-rural gap in elder care services, optimize the supply of basic elder care services, cultivate community elder care service institutions, improve the operating mechanism of public elderly care institutions, increase the proportion of nursing-care beds, accelerate the filling of gaps in rural elder care services, promote mutual aid elder care services, improve services for elderly people with special difficulties such as those without family or who are disabled, and improve service standards and comprehensive supervision systems. In response to the growing demand for health services for the elderly, we must improve the interconnected support systems for elderly health education, preventive health care, disease diagnosis and treatment, long-term care, and palliative care and enhance the effectiveness of integrating medical care and nursing. In response to the problem of the inability to pay of some elderly people, we must accelerate the establishment of a long-term care insurance system, accelerate the development of a multi-level and multi-pillar elderly care insurance system, and improve the relevant subsidy system for elderly care services.

Second, we must further promote the healthy development of the elder care industry. Developing the elder care industry is an important measure to expand and optimize the supply of elder care services. In view of the fact that the development of China’s elder care industry is still in its infancy, with underdeveloped business entities and relevant support policies that need to be improved, we must aim to encourage and guide enterprises and other social forces to actively participate, improve measures such as public construction and private operation, private business with public assistance, and government purchase of services, and implement relevant policies to benefit enterprises. We must promote the construction of a unified national elderly care service market, promote the scale-ified, chain-ified, and brand-ified [规模化、连锁化、品牌化] operations of related enterprises, and support the participation of Chinese elder care service enterprises in international competition. We must actively develop the market for daily necessities for the elderly, promote the integrated development of the elder care industry with the education and training, health, sports, culture, tourism, and housekeeping industries, expand the development space of the elder care industry, and develop the silver economy. We must strengthen factor guarantees, enhance the application of S&T means, improve land and housing guarantees, strengthen financial and taxation support, and promote the construction of talent teams.

Third, we must insist on social participation and actions by the whole nation to build an elderly-friendly society. Actively responding to population aging is the common responsibility of society as a whole. We must integrate the concepts of positive aging and healthy aging into the entire process of economic and social development to create a new situation in which responsibilities are shared and everyone participates. We must carry forward the traditional virtues of filial piety and respect for the elderly, create a social atmosphere that values filial piety, respect for the elderly, and helping the elderly, and strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of the elderly. We must fully recognize that old age is an important stage in life in which one can still be productive, make progress, and be happy. We must formulate and improve policies and measures to promote the participation of older people in society. On the basis of the principles of voluntary choice and flexibility, we must steadily and orderly advance the reform of the gradual extension of the statutory retirement age and create diversified and personalized jobs suitable for older people. We must improve the elderly education network and enrich the supply of spiritual and cultural products for the elderly. We must promote renovations adapted to an aging society, carry out “smart assistance for the elderly” initiatives in an in-depth manner, support urban and rural community organizations and social organizations in providing more convenience for the elderly, and promote the construction of elderly-friendly communities and cities.

93. What are the key points to grasp in improving green and low-carbon development mechanisms?

The Resolution states that: “We must improve the green and low-carbon development mechanisms.” This is a major deployment based on accelerating the green transformation of development methods and the building of Chinese-style modernization where people and nature coexist in harmony. It is also a strategic path and important task to promote the realization of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

In recent years, the Party Central Committee has attached great importance to green and low-carbon development. It has taken the construction of a beautiful China as its overall guide, and the synergistic improvement of pollution reduction and carbon reduction as the general starting point. It has focused on major regional strategies to build green development bastions, and planned and implemented a series of policy measures. The comprehensive effects of these efforts continue to emerge. In particular, the pace of the green transformation of development methods has been significantly accelerated, the role of market-based allocation of environmental factors has been significantly enhanced, and the incentive effect of environmental economic policies has been significantly increased. While achieving positive results, we also face some difficulties and challenges. The main difficulties are that the structural pressure on the ecosystem and environmental protection is still relatively large, especially the severe situation of carbon intensity reduction; the market mechanisms for environmental factors are not perfect, and the market’s role in optimizing allocation needs to be strengthened; the endogenous driving force for promoting green and low-carbon development is still insufficient, and the potential for promoting green and low-carbon development by relying on business entities has not yet been fully released.

Promoting green and low-carbon economic and social development is a key link in achieving high-quality development and is an inherent requirement for comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China. To improve the green and low-carbon development mechanism, we must fully and accurately implement the new development concept, stand at the height of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, do a good job in handling the relationship between high-level protection and high-quality development, and scientifically grasp and solidly promote the following key tasks.

First, we must accelerate the construction of a green, low-carbon, circular development economic system. Implement fiscal, tax, financial, investment, and pricing policies and standard systems that support green and low-carbon development, develop green and low-carbon industries, and improve green consumption incentive mechanisms. We must optimize government green procurement policies and improve the green tax system. We must accelerate the improvement of green finance system standards and deepen green finance reform and innovation. We must explore the formation of a new environmental protection supervision system based on credit. We must promote the application of green supply chain management technologies, standards, and certifications. We must participate in the formulation of relevant international standards and the initiation of initiatives, plan and improve the long-term development strategy of climate investment and financing, accurately define the relevant scopes and boundaries of climate investment and financing, strengthen policy alignment and cooperation, and promote the coordination and mutual recognition of domestic and international standards.

Second, we must strengthen resource conservation, intensive utilization, and recycling. We must improve the total resource management and comprehensive conservation system, establish an integrated conservation concept for “energy, water, grain, land, minerals, and materials,” and promote full-process management and full-chain conservation. We must strengthen the conservation and efficient utilization of energy and water resources, promote effective conservation and loss reduction throughout the entire grain industry chain, improve the system of efficient and intensive land use, and comprehensively improve the efficiency and level of mineral resource development and utilization. We must improve the waste recycling system, establish and improve the disposal and recovery infrastructure, enhance the level of professionalization and informatization of the recycling industry, and implement standardized management for the comprehensive renewable resource utilization industry. We must accelerate green and low-carbon S&T innovation, and cultivate and expand green and environmental protection industries.

Third, we must accelerate the planning and construction of the new energy system. Based on China’s energy resource endowment, we will continue to strengthen the construction of the energy production, supply, storage, and marketing system, improve the mechanism for clean and efficient utilization of coal, and accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of energy on the premise of ensuring energy security. We must vigorously develop clean energy, accelerate the development of wind power and solar power generation, coordinate hydropower development and ecological protection, actively develop nuclear power in a safe and orderly manner, scientifically develop new energy such as hydrogen energy in an orderly manner, and make every effort to ensure energy security. We must improve the policies and measures for new energy consumption and regulation, accelerate the construction of new power systems, establish a distributed energy system with clean energy as the core, complementarity of multiple energy sources, and coordinated production and marketing, guide the whole society to jointly assume the responsibility of new energy supply and consumption, and build a new energy supply and consumption system suitable for China’s national conditions.

Fourth, we must actively and steadily promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. We must improve the work system for adapting to climate change, establish a new mechanism for comprehensive transformation from dual control of energy consumption to dual control of carbon emissions, adhere to the principle of building up the new before dismantling the old, and implement the carbon peaking initiative in a planned and step-by-step manner. We must build a carbon emissions statistical accounting system, a product carbon labeling certification system, and a product carbon footprint management system; improve the statistics and accounting of carbon emissions from energy activities and industrial production processes; and explore the establishment of carbon footprint standards for key products throughout their life cycle and a carbon footprint and carbon labeling certification system. We must improve the carbon market trading system and the voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading system, promote the paid allocation of quotas, strengthen the connection between voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading and green electricity and green certificates, and establish a voluntary carbon market data quality supervision mechanism.

94. How should the improvement of the climate change adaptation system be understood?

The Resolution states that: “We must improve the work system for adapting to climate change.” This is an important task to deepen the reform of ecological civilization institutions and safeguard the bottom line of security in building a beautiful China. It is of great significance to ensuring high-quality economic and social development and ecological and environmental security.

Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to addressing climate change, strengthened strategic planning and top-level design, promoted the establishment and improvement of relevant mechanisms, and increased work efforts. This has already achieved positive results. First, we have accelerated the improvement of the policy system. The Opinions of the CCP Central Committee and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China were issued, making deployments for vigorously improving the ability to adapt to climate change. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment and 17 other departments jointly issued the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035, which clarified the key areas, regional structure, and guarantee measures for China’s adaptation to climate change by 2035. As of the end of 2023, 24 provinces (autonomous regions, province-level municipalities) have issued and implemented provincial action plans for adapting to climate change, and 39 cities (districts) have carried out pilot work to deepen the construction of climate-resilient cities. Second, we have optimized and upgraded the observation, prediction, and early warning system. We have initially established a three-dimensional observation network with multiple circles and layers for the Earth system with the atmosphere as the main component and featuring ground, air, and space coordination, improved emergency linkage mechanisms led by meteorological disaster warnings, and accelerated the formation of regional practical rescue capabilities. Third, we have continued to strengthen coordinated adaptation systems in key areas. We have carried out ecological quality monitoring and comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of forest and grassland ecosystems, strengthened marine disaster observation, early warning, and assessment, strengthened monitoring, early warning, and prevention and control for climate-sensitive diseases, comprehensively promoted water conservancy infrastructure construction, and formed a work pattern of active response and coordinated adaptation. Fourth, we have taken the first steps to establish a regional climate change adaptation system. We have established an inter-ministerial joint conference mechanism for ecological environment protection and climate change adaptation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and carried out water source conservation forest and soil and water conservation forest construction projects as well as comprehensive land improvement projects in the Yellow River Basin. Fifth, we have increased the closeness of international partnerships. China’s international leadership and influence in climate change adaptation have significantly enhanced.

Experts in China and abroad predict that the trend of global warming will continue for a considerable period of time in the future. Responding to climate change is a daunting task with major challenges. There are still some areas in China’s climate change adaptation work system that need to be improved and strengthened. First, the analysis and assessment of the impacts and risks of climate change are still insufficient, and the understanding of the laws of climate change needs to be improved. Second, the policy and initiative system for adapting to climate change still needs to be improved, and the ability of sensitive and vulnerable areas and regions to adapt to climate change needs to be enhanced urgently. Third, the basic support for adapting to climate change is insufficient, and there is still much room for improvement in capacity building.

To improve the work system for adapting to climate change, we must focus on the following key tasks in response to existing problems and shortcomings.

First, we must intensify the coordination of initiatives to mitigate and adapt to climate change. In accordance with the principle of giving equal importance to mitigation and adaptation, we must fully integrate our response to climate change into our overall economic and social development. We must improve the national carbon market and gradually expand industry coverage, and improve the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market. We must strengthen the assessment of the impact and risks of climate change, advance the construction of climate system observation networks and prediction systems, intensify observation and analysis of the impact of global climate change on China’s vulnerable regions, continue to deepen the pilot projects of low-carbon cities and climate-resilient cities, and effectively respond to the adverse impact and risks of climate change.

Second, we must ensure the implementation of climate change adaptation tasks in key areas and regions. We must improve the policy and initiative system for adapting to climate change, promote the accelerated formulation of action plans for adapting to climate change in sensitive and vulnerable areas, and clarify key tasks and measures. We must strengthen climate change adaptation work in major strategic regions such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Yangtze River Delta, the Yellow River Basin, and key areas such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and coastal areas. We must carry out provincial-level progress tracking and effectiveness evaluation of climate change adaptation initiatives. We must improve the policy system and incentive mechanism for deepening the pilot projects of climate-resilient city construction, establish a pilot coordination and expert assistance mechanism, and strengthen experience exchange and cooperation in urban adaptation to climate change.

Third, we must accelerate the building of capacity to respond to climate change. We must strengthen basic support for adapting to climate change, strengthen basic research on adapting to climate change, organize the selection of demonstration bases, demonstration projects, and demonstration technologies for adapting to climate change, promote the R&D, application, and promotion of key technologies, and strengthen the construction of expert teams and talent teams for actively responding to climate change. We must improve the standard system for mitigating and adapting to climate change, improve the fiscal, financial, and S&T support and guarantee mechanisms and supporting policies, and promote the sharing of knowledge, policies, and information. We must deepen bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms in the field of climate and expand international cooperation and exchanges on adapting to climate change. We must continue to carry out in-depth propaganda and education and create a good atmosphere that allows the whole society to consciously participate in actions to address climate change.

95. Why is it necessary to improve the national security rule of law system, strategy system, policy system, risk monitoring and early warning system?

The Resolution states that: “We must improve the national security rule of law system, strategy system, policy system, and risk monitoring and early warning system.” This is a strategic deployment made by the Party Central Committee to further promote the modernization of the national security system and capabilities.

National security is an important cornerstone of peace and stability. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, our Party has always attached great importance to and firmly safeguarded national security and social stability. Now, our country is in a critical period of comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong nation and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernization. The period when a country is moving from big to strong and is about to become strong is often a high-risk period for national security. The world is undergoing great changes unseen in a century and the pace of these changes is accelerating. The world has entered a new period of turbulence and change, and China’s external environment remains unstable and uncertain. Against this backdrop, the complexity and difficulty of the national security issues facing China have increased significantly, which requires us to continuously improve the national security system and enhance national security capabilities. First, the current significance and extensions of China’s national security are more involved than at any time in history, its spatial and temporal domains are broader than at any time in history, and its internal and external factors are more complex than at any time in history. National security covers many fields including politics, military, territory, economy, culture, society, S&T, networks, the environment, resources, nuclear, overseas interests, space, deep sea, polar regions, and biology. National security work is characterized by its holistic nature, comprehensiveness, systematization, and linkages. Second, system confrontation is the basic feature of the current national security struggle. Only by coordinating resources through top-level design to fight an overall war and realizing the systematic integration of national strength to the greatest extent can we gain the initiative in the struggle. Third, the national security system is an important component and support of the national governance system. To build China into a modernized socialist country in an all-round way, it is necessary to promote the modernization of the national security system at the same time. Therefore, we must focus on advancing the construction of the national security system, promote the organic alignment, linkage, and integration of all aspects of the national security system, and form systemic synergy and combat strength.

Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has coordinated the overall strategic plan for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and great changes unseen in a century, actively promoted the construction of the national security system, and made historic achievements and produced historic changes. First, we have formed and developed a theoretical system of national security. General Secretary Xi Jinping innovatively proposed the Overall National Security Outlook, and has continuously enriched and developed it in the practice of national security in the new era, providing a fundamental guideline for national security work in the new era and on the new journey. This is also the first time in the history of our Party that a systematic and complete theoretical system has been formed for national security, raising our Party’s understanding and grasp of the laws of national security practice to a new level. Second, we have reformed and improved the national security leadership system. We have established the Central National Security Commission, with General Secretary Xi Jinping personally serving as its chair. Internal Party regulations and documents, such as the Regulations on the Chinese Communist Party’s Leadership in National Security Work and the Regulations on the National Security Responsibility System of Party Committees (Party Groups), have been issued to ensure that the Party’s absolute leadership runs through all aspects and the entire process of national security work. Third, we have established a sound coordination mechanism for national security work and a coordination and command system for important special projects and continuously improved the national security rule of law system, strategy system, policy system, and risk monitoring and early warning system.

The current situation facing China’s national security is extremely severe, and the construction of the national security system still has shortcomings. We must accelerate the modernization of the national security system and capabilities. In particular, we must further improve the national security rule of law system, strategy system, policy system, and risk monitoring and early warning system. To improve the national security rule of law system, we must further improve the national security rule of law system with Chinese characteristics led by the National Security Law, promote the establishment, revision, abolition, interpretation, and compilation of laws and regulations related to national security in key areas in a planned and step-by-step manner, strictly enforce national security laws, and ensure that national security work runs on the track of the rule of law. To improve the national security strategy system, we must be guided by the Overall National Security Outlook, strengthen top-level design, continuously improve and adjust the national security strategy in accordance with the development and changes of the situation, formulate national security strategy plans in various fields, and effectively implement the national security strategy in all areas and throughout the entire process of national security. To improve the national security policy system, we must continuously improve national security policies in key areas, increase efforts to thoroughly implement policies, ensure that various policy deployments are implemented and effective, and allow policies to better play a guiding role. To improve the national security risk monitoring and early warning system, we must promote the effective alignment of risk monitoring, analysis, early warning, and disposal and promote the transformation of national security risk governance from after-the-fact and passive response to preemptive warning and rapid response.

97. Why is it necessary to establish a regulatory system for AI safety?

The Resolution proposes: “We must establish an AI security regulatory system.” This is an important deployment made by the Party Central Committee to coordinate development and security and actively respond to the security risks of AI.

AI is a strategic technology leading the current round of S&T revolution and industrial transformation. It has the effect of the “lead goose” [when flying in a V formation], exerting strong spillover influence and driving force. It is exerting a major and profound impact on economic development, social progress, and international political and economic patterns. AI security is an important part of many areas of China’s Overall National Security Outlook. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the coordinated development and security of AI. He has made a series of important statements on the dialectical unity of development and security and on building a solid national security barrier. He stressed the need to strengthen the assessment and prevention of potential risks in the development of AI, safeguard the interests of the people and national security, and ensure that AI is safe, reliable, and controllable.

First, establishing an AI security regulator system is an inevitable requirement to cope with the rapid development of AI. After more than 60 years of evolution, global AI has entered a new round of explosive growth. General AI as represented by large models and generative AI has made breakthrough progress, becoming a new milestone in the history of AI development. As a disruptive technology with wide-ranging influence, AI may also bring about changes in the employment structure, impact laws and social ethics, infringe on personal privacy, and challenge the norms of international relations. It will have a profound impact on government management, economic security, social stability, and even global governance. We must attach great importance to the security risks and challenges that AI may bring, and minimize the risks by strengthening regulation and implementing guidance for forward-looking prevention and constraint.

Second, establishing an AI security regulation system is an inevitable requirement for achieving high-quality development. In the new era and on the new journey, high-quality development has become the primary task of building China into a modernized socialist country in an all-round way, and AI is an important engine for developing new productive forces and achieving high-quality development. To use AI to promote high-quality development, we must learn the profound lessons from past instances of “development first, governance later” in human history, fully recognize and assess the unpredictable security risks that may exist in a disruptive technology such as AI, and abandon the pursuit of extensive growth at the expense of safety. By strengthening AI security regulation, we can achieve “development and governance at the same time,” strengthen strategic research, forward-looking prevention and constraint guidance for AI, accurately grasp the trends of technological and industrial development, fully recognize and assess the possible loopholes or blind spots for each “disruptive innovation” and promptly deal with them, and ensure that artificial intelligence is safe, reliable, and controllable.

Third, establishing an AI security regulatory system is an inevitable requirement for participating in and leading the global governance of AI. AI is tied to the destiny of all mankind, and all countries generally attach importance to AI security regulation. The United States has established AI security standards, the European Union has formulated AI security regulatory regulations, and the United Kingdom held the world’s first AI Security Summit, calling for international cooperation to address the risks of AI. China is a major country in the AI field. It continuously promulgates policies, regulations, and international position documents, and actively engages in communication, exchanges, and pragmatic cooperation with major countries on AI security. In October 2023, President Xi Jinping put forward the Global AI Governance Initiative, advocating for a universal consensus on the people-oriented use of intelligence for good, promoting the values of equality, mutual benefit, and respect for human rights, and providing constructive solutions to issues of AI development and governance that are of common concern to all parties, and providing a blueprint for relevant international discussions and rule-making. We must continue to play the active role of a responsible major country, strengthen leadership, and continuously provide Chinese solutions to ensure the healthy development of AI. We must oppose “walled gardens” in AI, encourage all parties to strengthen technology sharing, strive to bridge the intelligence gap, and jointly promote the orderly and secure development of global AI to ensure that AI always develops in a direction that is conducive to the progress of human civilization.

99. Why should we improve foreign-related national security mechanisms?

The Resolution states that: “We must improve mechanisms for national security involving foreign affairs.” This is an important measure taken by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core to coordinate the overall strategic plan for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and great changes unseen in a century, coordinate development and security, improve the institutions and mechanisms for maintaining national security, and enhance our ability to maintain national security.

Since the 18th Party Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has made a series of major decisions and deployments on national security from a holistic and strategic perspective, built a new security pattern, and made every effort to prevent and resolve external risks and challenges that affect China’s national security, making comprehensive and historic achievements. We have resolutely defended our national interests and national dignity, and continuously defeated external forces that have used issues such as Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet, epidemics, and human rights to attack and smear us. We have been effective in the fight against infiltration, terrorism, and separatism, and we have firmly safeguarded the security of our national political regime, system, and ideology. We have effectively fought back against external forces’ interference in the Taiwan issue and established or resumed diplomatic relations with 11 countries on the basis of the one-China principle. We have firmly safeguarded the country’s maritime rights and interests, steadily advanced the flourishing of border areas and enriched the people, stabilized and consolidated the borders, properly handled security risks on our periphery, and defended national sovereignty and territorial integrity. We have accelerated the building of a system for protecting overseas interests and for risk early warning and prevention, implemented emergency protection and evacuation operations for overseas citizens on multiple occasions, continuously strengthened security guarantees in the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, and safeguarded the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions, and projects overseas. We have maintained the security of food, energy, and important resource supplies and the security and stability of production chains and supply chains. We have actively participated in global security governance, strongly supported the UN’s important agenda in the field of peace and security, deeply participated in international security cooperation, and put forward new ideas and propositions in the security field such as the Global Security Initiative. Our influence, appeal, and power to shape global security affairs have significantly increased.

At present, domestic and foreign factors affecting national security are intertwined, mutually penetrating, interacting, and reinforcing each other, and the impact of risks to national security involving foreign affairs on national security and social stability is increasing. We must continuously improve our ability to safeguard national security involving foreign affairs and further improve national security mechanisms involving foreign countries.

First, to improve mechanisms for national security involving foreign affairs, we must coordinate external and internal security and respond to the risks and challenges brought about by the great changes unseen in a century. At present, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change. Anti-globalization ideas are on the rise, unilateralism and protectionism have increased significantly, the world economic recovery is sluggish, local conflicts and turmoil are frequent, global problems are intensifying, China’s external environment and security structure have undergone major changes, and external suppression and containment may escalate at any time. History has repeatedly proved that if you seek security through struggle, you will gain security, but if you seek security through weakness and compromise, you will lose security. We must carry forward the spirit of struggle, establish and improve the coordination mechanisms for security work on our periphery, improve mechanisms to counter sanctions, interferences, and “long-arm jurisdiction,” improve mechanisms for safeguarding maritime rights and interests, resolutely withstand and fight back against extreme suppression and containment from external sources, closely guard against and severely crack down on infiltration, sabotage, subversion, and separatist activities by hostile forces, make every effort to safeguard the Party’s leadership and ruling status, safeguard the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and defend our core national interests.

Second, to improve the mechanisms for national security involving foreign affairs, we must coordinate openness and security to serve high-level opening up and the new pattern of development. Since reform and opening up, and especially since the 18th Party Congress, China’s relations with the world have undergone historic changes. China has become the main trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions and the main source of investment for more and more countries. Since 2017, China has maintained its position as the world’s largest goods trading country for seven consecutive years. In 2023, our exports accounted for 14.2% of the international market, ranking first in the world for the 15th consecutive year. China has a massive total volume of overseas assets, and the number of Chinese people traveling, working, and studying abroad is huge. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “the more open we are, the more attentive we must be to security.” We must strengthen the institutions and mechanisms for early warning, prevention, and protection against risks to overseas interests and investments, deepen international law enforcement cooperation in the security field, coordinate and deal with major security incidents involving Chinese citizens and institutions in a prompt manner, improve the security guarantee system for the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and legal persons overseas, and ensure the security of food, energy resources, and important production chains and supply chains.

Third, to improve the mechanisms for national security involving foreign affairs, we must coordinate our own security with common security and promote global security governance. To achieve national rejuvenation, we not only require a stable and united domestic environment, but also a peaceful and stable international environment. We must continue to advocate for a common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable global security concept, promote the implementation of the Global Security Initiatives, actively participate in global security governance, promote the building of a balanced, effective, and sustainable security architecture, seek the greatest common denominator of universal security, and promote the building of a community of common destiny for humanity.

100. Why should the leadership and management system of the People’s Liberation Army be improved?

The Resolution states that: “We must improve the leadership management system and mechanisms of the People’s Liberation Army.” This is a strategic measure to deepen the implementation of the strategy of reform and strengthen the military, consolidate and expand the achievements of national defense and military reform, and continue to promote the modernization of the military’s organizational structure. This can be understood and grasped by considering three aspects.

First, this is an inevitable requirement to ensure the Party’s absolute leadership over the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Since the 18th Party Congress, we have focused on better upholding the Party’s absolute leadership over the PLA, better upholding the nature and purpose of the PLA, and better upholding the glorious traditions and fine style of the PLA. We have reformed the military’s leadership management system, broken the long-standing headquarters system, major military region system, and continental army system, reshaped the institutional structure and functional configuration of the Central Military Commission (CMC), reshaped the leadership management system of the services, arms, and armed police forces, reshaped the strict system of constraints and supervision on the exercise of power, and established a CMC–Service–Unit leadership management system, forming a new pattern with the CMC in charge of overall affairs, theater commands in charge of combat, and services in charge of construction and ensuring that the highest leadership and command power of the military is concentrated in the Party Central Committee and the CMC. At present, the world is undergoing great changes unseen in a century, the international strategic landscape is undergoing profound changes, and national security is faced with a time of high pressure and high risk. The more complex the situation and the more arduous the tasks we face, the more we must unswervingly uphold the Party’s absolute leadership over the People’s Army, constantly improve the leadership management system and mechanisms of the People’s Army, and consolidate and expand our political, organizational, and institutional advantages. In the overall system of institutions by which the Party leads the People’s Army, the institution of responsibility of the Chairman of the CMC is at the highest level and occupies a commanding position. Practice has fully proved that if the institution of the responsibility of the Chairman of the CMC is implemented well, the Party’s absolute leadership over the People’s Army will be fundamentally guaranteed; if it is not implemented well, the Party’s absolute leadership over the People’s Army will be fundamentally weakened. The Resolution clarifies that “we must strengthen the institutions and mechanisms for implementing the institution of the responsibility of the Chairman of the CMC.” This is intended to guide the entire military to deeply understand the decisive significance of the “Two Establishes,” strengthen the “Four Consciousnesses,” be firm in the “Four Confidences,” and achieve the “Two Upholds.” It also aims to implement the institution of the responsibility of the Chairman of the CMC with higher standards and stricter requirements through system optimization and institutional arrangements, and to better uphold the fundamental principles and institutions of the Party’s absolute leadership over the People’s Army.

Second, there is a practical need to innovate and strengthen the strategic management of the military. High-quality and efficient strategic management must be ensured by a corresponding leadership management system and mechanisms. Now, the tasks of national defense and military construction are arduous, and the holistic nature, coordination, and complexity of the military system’s operation have increased significantly. We must continuously optimize the system, improve the mechanisms, and straighten out the relationships to promote high-quality development of national defense and military construction. The CMC is the main force for implementing strategic management of the military. It needs to focus on strengthening strategic planning and macro-management, further optimize the configuration of functions, and allow staff, executive, and service agencies to better play their roles. If we seek to gain victory in the difficult battle of achieving the centennial objective of the army’s founding, the time is short and the task is daunting. We must improve the mechanisms for coordinating and advancing combat, construction, and preparation to systematically implement major tasks of national defense and military construction. Decision-making consultation and assessment play an increasingly important role in modern management. It is necessary to improve the consultation and assessment mechanisms for major decisions, improve the level of institutionalization, specialization, and systematization, and better support scientific, democratic, and law-based decision-making. Governing the military according to law is the basic method by which the Party builds and governs the military. It is necessary to improve the working mechanisms of governing the military according to law, improve the military legal system with Chinese characteristics, promote a fundamental change in the methods of governing the military, and improve the level of the rule of law in national defense and military construction.

Third, this is an important measure to improve the military’s preparedness and combat capabilities. The military must prepare for war. It must focus all its energy on fighting and put all its efforts into fighting. We should focus on improving the military’s strategic capabilities to defend national sovereignty, security, and development interests, improve the military’s leadership management system and mechanisms, continuously solve key and difficult problems that affect military preparedness for struggle, and eliminate weak links in combat power construction. President Xi pointed out that S&T is the core of combat power. We have reformed the Party and state institutions, established the Central Science and Technology Commission, reorganized the Ministry of Science and Technology, and improved the S&T innovation system. In accordance with the strategic layout of the Party and the country, we should adjust the leadership management system for military scientific research and fully initiate the powerful engine of S&T innovation to create a new axis of growth in productivity and combat effectiveness. Training and preparation for war are the main responsibilities and tasks of the military. We should focus on serving combat effectiveness, continuously improve supporting policies and systems in areas such as combat readiness and military human resources, promote the development of military academies in a way that is oriented to internal significance, implement adjustments and reforms in military enterprises and public institutions, and constantly unleash and develop combat effectiveness and liberate and enhance the vitality of officers and soldiers.

101. How can perfecting the military governance system be understood?

The Resolution states that: “We must improve the military governance system.” This is a major measure to implement the strategic deployment of the 20th Party Congress for comprehensively strengthening military governance, to deeply grasp the characteristics and laws of building and managing the military in the new era and on the new journey, and to promote the high-quality development of the military. It needs to be deeply understood, accurately grasped, and fully implemented.

First, comprehensively strengthening military governance is a strategic requirement for accelerating the modernization of national defense and the armed forces. Comprehensively strengthening military governance is an important aspect of the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. It is a strategic move on the part of our military for the purpose of accumulating advantages by grasping the opportunities presented by the changing times, seizing the initiative in fierce military competition, and improving efficiency in rapid construction and development. Since the 18th Party Congress, our Party has actively promoted the exploration and practice of military governance in the process of leading the cause of strengthening the military, formed a series of new institutions, mechanisms, laws, regulations, policies, and systems, and effectively promoted the modernization of national defense and the military. At present, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change. The task of safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests is arduous and difficult, and it puts forward new and higher requirements for developing and strengthening China’s military strength. The new round of S&T revolution and military revolution is developing rapidly and in depth. The competition to seize the strategic commanding heights in military competition is becoming more intense, posing new challenges to the effectiveness of military construction. Our military is implementing a new “three-step” strategic arrangement for national defense and military modernization and is striving to win the difficult battle to achieve the centennial objective of the army’s founding. It is urgently necessary to improve military governance capacity, accelerate the coordination and advancement of combat, construction, and preparation, be able to fight, prepare, and build up at the same time, and deliver the correct response at the correct time. In short, to push the PLA to achieve faster, higher quality, higher efficiency, and more sustainable development, we must comprehensively strengthen military governance, carry out a profound transformation in the concepts and methods of military governance, improve the military governance system, and use the new strengthening of military governance to promote new development in the undertaking of strengthening the military.

Second, improving the military governance system must focus on strengthening the systemic concept and overall coordination. Military construction is a complex systematic project. Military governance requires grasping correlations and mastering complexity, strengthening top-level design and strategic planning, strengthening coordination and integration among departments and regions, and improving the operational efficiency of the military system and the effective use of national defense resources. All areas of military construction are important points of military governance. It is necessary to strengthen cross-domain coordination, optimize cross-departmental and cross-field coordination, strengthen the guiding role of requirements, the regulating role of objectives, and the unifying role of standards, and improve the systemic, holistic, and coordinated nature of military governance. Process is an important vehicle of conceptual innovation, technological breakthroughs, and management changes. We must strengthen end-to-end governance, promote strategic management innovation through process optimization and reengineering, promote the close coupling of various links and the combined effect of various elements, and ensure the strategic management chain is smooth and efficient.

In the military governance system, each level has its own responsibilities. According to their respective functions and tasks, they should build a responsibility system and work system with clear entities and interfaces and promote military governance from top to bottom and from side to side with full coverage. Reform and the rule of law are strategic levers for military governance. We should attach importance to the driving role of reform, make good use of the rule of law as a basic method, continuously resolve the deep-seated contradictions and problems that constrain national defense and military modernization, and uphold and develop the socialist military system with Chinese characteristics.

Third, to improve the military governance system, we must strengthen governance across the military and localities. Strengthening military-locality governance is implicit in comprehensively strengthening military governance, and is an inherent requirement for consolidating and improving integrated national strategic systems and capabilities. In the current era, the linkages between national strategic competitiveness, social productivity, and military combat effectiveness are becoming increasingly close. We must strengthen centralized and unified leadership, strengthen awareness of the overall situation, strengthen reform and innovation, and strengthen legal safeguards, promote the formation of a governance state of mutual adaptation, mutual integration, mutual promotion, and coordinated development between the military and localities, and maximize the comprehensive benefits of economic and national defense construction. The concept of governance must be strengthened in all areas of the military and localities. We must use systematic governance, governance according to law, comprehensive governance, and source governance to promote strategic planning coordination, policy and system connection, and resource factor sharing, so as to achieve an organic combination of military construction layout and economic and social development layout. In accordance with the principle of organic unity of state-led, demand-driven, and market-operated, we must establish a sound operating mechanism with a clear division of labor and efficient linkages. With a focus on strengthening the alignment of military and local policies and systems, we must accelerate the establishment, revision, abolition, and interpretation of relevant laws and regulations, give full play to the normative, guiding, and safeguarding role of laws and regulations, and improve the level of military-localities governance by using rule of law thinking.

102. How should the mechanism for reporting military needs for national defense construction and for linking the military and the local government be understood?

The Resolution states that: “We must improve the mechanisms for reporting military requirements for national defense construction and for linking the military with localities.” This is an institutional design to consolidate and improve the integrated national strategy system and capabilities. It is also an important deployment based on new institutional adjustments and new construction patterns in fields related to national defense construction. To improve these mechanisms, we need to grasp the following three aspects.

First, we must give full play to the driving role of military requirements. Military requirements are the basic requirements of a country for safeguarding its security and development interests. They are the comprehensive requirements for the capabilities and conditions needed to achieve the country’s military strategic goals. They have the functions of orienting, focusing, and making adjustments in national defense construction. They can be said to be the logical starting point and fundamental driving force for national defense construction. If military requirements are clear, reasonable, and exert a strong guiding force, national defense construction will have a clear direction and scientific input. In this case, it will be possible to correctly guide and effectively regulate the direction and amount of resource investment, and transform explicit and potential capabilities in all areas into national defense strength. Otherwise, national defense construction may become disordered, without focus, and inaccurate, resulting in insufficient or wasted national defense resources and making it difficult to safeguard national security and development interests. To advance national defense construction, we must first generate scientific, authoritative, and workable military requirements. We should conduct in-depth analysis and gain a strong grasp of factors such as the international environment, national strategy, military strategy, economic and social development, S&T conditions, and level of military strength, clarify what tasks need to be accomplished and what capabilities are needed within a certain period of time, and provide a good description of the demand indicators mapped to the field of national defense construction. For military requirements to play a leading role, they must go through a process of transformation and implementation. We should focus on key links such as planning, resource allocation, execution supervision, and capacity assessment, build a closed-loop management system from demand demonstration and submission to implementation feedback, and enhance the guiding and restraining power of military requirements on national defense construction.

Second, we must establish a smooth and efficient military-localities coordination link. Xi Jinping emphasized that relevant departments of the central and state organs as well as local Party committees and governments at all levels must strengthen their awareness of national defense, enhance overall planning and coordination, and fulfill their responsibilities in the field of national defense construction to the best of their abilities. The military must improve communication and coordination with localities and give full play to the guiding effect of military requirements on national defense construction. We must promote the submission of military requirements for national defense construction and the connection between the military and localities, focus on establishing the idea of the military and the localities playing on the same side in a single chess game, establish a coordination mechanism that is requirement-driven, combines peacetime and wartime, coordinates between the military and localities, and normal-state operation, and promote the full integration of the strategic layout in various fields, the full integration of strategic resources, and the integrated use of strategic forces. In submitting and implementing military requirements, all fields and levels have their corresponding functions and tasks. We must improve the coordination mechanisms at all levels, clarify the responsibilities for hierarchical connection and coordination, strengthen the connections between military and local requirements, plans, and tasks, and clarify what should be done at each level, how to do it, and what standards to follow, so as to form a military-locality working pattern in which everyone has their own responsibilities and works in close cooperation in a standardized and orderly manner. We must build a military requirement generation and management platform, innovate the military requirement demonstration and submission model, carry out military-civilian collaborative demonstration, system demonstration, and joint demonstration, open up channels for the release of military requirements that are jointly built, used, and shared by the military and localities, make full use of all high-quality resources and advanced social achievements, and promote the efficient transformation and precise implementation of military requirements. National defense construction is the common cause of the entire Party, the entire military, and the people of all ethnic groups across the country. We should strengthen national defense education, enhance the national defense awareness of the whole people, and make caring about national defense, loving national defense, building national defense, and defending national defense the ideological consensus and conscious initiative of the whole society.

Third, we must strengthen inspection and assessment of the implementation of military requirements for national defense construction. Assessment is an important part of strategic management and an important means of assisting decision-making. It plays an important role in verifying, checking, and correcting the generation and management of military requirements for national defense construction. To advance national defense construction under the new system, we must carry out practical inspection and assessment and assess the level of requirement design, the quality of planning and implementation, and the effectiveness of resource allocation in a timely manner so as to provide a basis for adjusting decision-making directions, revising construction goals, and optimizing resource allocation. We must adhere to military-locality cooperation and the combination of full-time and part-time roles, establish a mechanism for inspecting and assessing the implementation of military requirements for national defense construction, improve systems such as regular assessment, dynamic assessment, and third-party assessment, and take a systematic and professionalized assessment path. We must build a strong assessment system, improve relevant policies and regulations, standardize assessment content, processes, and standards, and integrate assessment into the entire process of national defense planning, decision-making, execution, and regulation. We must focus on assessing whether military requirement indicators are reasonable, whether construction tasks match military requirements, whether resource investment is scientific, and whether capacity formation achieves expected goals to ensure that military requirements and national defense supply are closely aligned and iteratively promote each other. We must adhere to the principle of using assessment to promote construction and preparation, improve systems for reporting results, adopting conclusions, and rectifying problems, make full use of inspection and assessment results, establish a correct work orientation, promote accurate reporting, rapid response, and effective implementation of military requirements, and improve the quality and efficacy of national defense construction.

103. How should the construction of a management system for modernizing weapons and equipment be understood?

The Resolution states that: “We must build a modernized management system for weapons and equipment.” Weapons and equipment are an important symbol of military modernization, an important basis for preparations for military struggle, an important support for national security and national rejuvenation, and an important bargaining chip in international strategic games. To achieve the centennial objective of the army’s founding and accelerate the modernization of national defense and the military, we must firmly grasp the material and technological foundation of weapons and equipment, build a modernized management system for weapons and equipment, improve the level of the professionalized, refined, and scientific management for weapons and equipment construction, and promote the high-quality development of weapons and equipment.

First, we must adhere to the fundamental guidance of combat requirements. President Xi pointed out that designing weapons and equipment means designing future wars, and weapons and equipment must be developed according to the type of wars we will fight in the future. In the construction of weapons and equipment, combat requirements play a dominant role. What kind of war to fight and how to fight it fundamentally determine the direction, layout, and scale of weapons and equipment development. In building a modernized management system for weapons and equipment, we should focus on actual combat, take ensuring victory as the goal, and implement combat requirements throughout the entire process of weapons and equipment development and production. We must conduct in-depth research to understand the forms of war, combat styles, typical scenarios, and mechanisms for achieving victory, think about forward generation (正向生成) and system design based on combat requirements, improve weapons and equipment systems, performance, and indicators, and ensure that weapons and equipment meet the needs of victory and can stand the test of actual combat. We must attach importance to the driving role of S&T in the construction of weapons and equipment, take firm hold of national defense S&T innovation as the nose ring used to lead an ox, accelerate the development of strategic, cutting-edge, and disruptive technologies, and accelerate the modernization process of the weapons and equipment of the Chinese military.

Second, we must adhere to system-based construction and system-based application. With the changing times and progress in S&T, weapons and equipment are becoming increasingly complex in form, transitioning from single units to systems. In the era of cold weapons, the focus was on developing and improving materials. In the era of hot weapons, the focus was on developing and improving gunpowder. In the era of mechanization, the focus was on improving firepower and mobility. Now, in the era of informatization and intelligentization, warfare presents the distinct characteristics of system confrontation. Wars must be fought jointly, soldiers must be trained jointly, and weapons and equipment must likewise be constructed and applied as a system. In order to transcend the limitations of a single weapon system, we must organically integrate various weapon systems through intelligent networks to improve combat effectiveness across a wider range, by more means, and with higher efficiency. To build a modernized management system for weapons and equipment, we should strengthen the concept of systems, enhance top-level design and system integration, and enhance the systematic and coordinated development of weapons and equipment. We must coordinate the development of various types of weapons and equipment, coordinate current needs with long-term plans, coordinate strengths and weaknesses, coordinate the construction of new types of combat capabilities and traditional combat capabilities, comprehensively enhance strategic capabilities in emerging fields, and support the creation of a high-level strategic deterrence and joint combat system.

Third, we must persist in improving the quality of our weapons and equipment. Quality first is the basic principle of weapons and equipment construction. The quality of weapons and equipment is relevant to the lives of officers and soldiers and the outcome of wars. In building a modernized management system for weapons and equipment, we should implement the concept that quality is life and quality is the key to success. We must implement quality requirements in all aspects of the development, production, application, and assurance of weapons and equipment to achieve quality management throughout the entire life cycle. We must improve the quality management system for weapons and equipment, strengthen quality responsibilities at all levels and in all areas, strengthen assessment and appraisal of weapons and equipment based on actual combat performance, and rectify any quality issues of active-duty weapons and equipment to ensure the fundamental quality of weapons and equipment. Providing the military with advanced, reliable, effective, and complete national defense S&T and weapons and equipment systems is the primary responsibility and main business of the national defense S&T industry. We should optimize the national defense S&T industry system and layout, strengthen the leading role of advanced technology, the supporting role of the industrial foundation, and the guarantee provided by independently controllable technology, and promote the iterative improvement of the quality of weapons and equipment.

Fourth, we must insist on seeking benefits from management innovation. At present, the weapons and equipment of the Chinese military are developing at an accelerated pace, their technological content is becoming increasingly high, and the system structure is becoming increasingly complex. The organization and coordination, resource allocation, and system matching of weapons and equipment construction are becoming increasingly difficult, and there is an urgent need to work hard on management innovation. We should strengthen the awareness of management with actual combat as the orientation and efficiency as the core, comprehensively strengthen system management, project management, and basic management, optimize management processes, improve management mechanisms, and improve management regulations, connect all links in the chain of weapons and equipment research, construction, use, management, and maintenance, and promote the low-cost and high-efficiency development of weapons and equipment. We must innovate the management model of weapons and equipment construction, improve management methods and means, strengthen the application of advanced technologies and methods such as informatization, intelligentization, and system engineering, promote the digital transformation of management, and ensure that weapons and equipment better adapt to technological advances and the needs of future wars. At the same time, we must connect and coordinate non-equipment elements such as talent, organization, regulations, and support to promote the generation of system-wide and end-to-end combat effectiveness. Weapons and equipment management is the common responsibility of officers and soldiers. We should do a good job in learning about equipment, understanding equipment, managing equipment, and using equipment to achieve the optimal combination of people, weapons, and equipment and maximize the effectiveness of weapons and equipment.