An aerial view of an ecological civilization sight-seeing area along the Yellow River in Zouping, Shandong Province, exemplifying green development as envisioned by the new development philosophy Photo: TUCHONG

When addressing the 27th group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Jan. 28, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping described the new development philosophy as “a systematic theoretical system which answers a series of theoretical and practical questions about the purpose, motivation, mode, and path of development. It also clarifies major political issues including the Party’s political stand, value orientation, and the mode and path for development.”

As key principles guiding China’s economic development in the new era, the new development philosophy has broken new ground in Marxist political economy in contemporary China, composing a new chapter in socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics.

Holistic theoretical system

“To lead the people in exercising governance, we must be clear about what development we want and how to achieve it,” said General Secretary Xi Jinping at a study session on implementing the decisions of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee on Jan. 11, 2021. “Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, based on a careful assessment of the economic situation, our Party has made timely adjustments to our development philosophy and our way of thinking, which have resulted in historic progress and transformation in the economic development of our country,” he added.

This development philosophy and way of thinking, boiled down to fundamentals, aim to build a new development pattern with the domestic market as the mainstay while the domestic and international markets reinforcing each other, under the guidance of the new idea of innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared development. The intended outcome is high-quality economic development.

The new development philosophy highlighting innovation, coordination, greenness, openness, and sharing is a holistic theoretical system. Innovation is the primary driver of development, coordination represents the intrinsic requirement, green development will protect lucid waters and lush mountains that are invaluable assets, opening up is the inevitable path to national prosperity, and achieving common prosperity for all is a defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics. These core views systematically respond to a range of critical issues regarding the development objectives, drivers, models, and paths which Chinese modernization demands, further deepening the understanding of the principles guiding socialist modernization.

Four levels

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era and embraced a series of important theories which can be generalized into four levels.

At the first level lies the path-value theory, explaining why China takes a socialist path with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the CPC and why it adopts a people-centered approach to development.

At the second level, the stage-system theory interprets why China remains in the primary stage of socialism and why the new development phase is considered part of this stage, including its associated institutions.

The third level, the philosophy-policy theory, details why the new development philosophy is applied to guiding economic and social development, and how China should build a new development pattern, move forward with high-quality development, and achieve Chinese modernization.

At the fourth level is a theory of openness and seeking win-win scenarios. It illustrates why China pursues higher-standard opening up, strives to build a human community with a shared future, and collaborates with countries around the world based on mutual benefits.

From the path-value theory to the philosophy-policy theory, this system complies with the progression from abstract to concrete in Marxist dialectics, and presents the following implications. First, compared with the path-value and stage-system theories, the philosophy-policy thesis is more concrete, incorporating previous development ideas. Second, the progression from abstract to concrete is ultimately oriented towards dynamic social practices. The philosophy-policy theory, as a significant component of the new chapter of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, not only rests in theorizing, but will necessarily be translated into governance practices.

The new development philosophy targets the overall situation, fundamental concerns, and long-term interests. Its inherent structure and relations evince how practices in human society combine the purpose-value and means-path approaches, addressing a number of theoretical and practical questions regarding the goals, drivers, methods, and pathways of development. This philosophy continuously translates theory into practice, which in turn refines the theory. It is a cyclical process that is repeatedly revisited and reflected upon.

Significance

First, the new development philosophy is a scientific summary of China’s economic and social development practices. Each element of the philosophy contains a wide array of topics for studies of political economy, factually constituting the overarching theoretical framework of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics.

For example, innovative development calls for research on why innovation is the primary driver of economic development, how China can foster new quality productive forces and build itself into an innovative country, and how it can stabilize growth within reasonable ranges under the new normal of economic development to smoothly realize the “Two Centenary Goals.”

In terms of coordinated development, it is vital to start from problems like imbalanced, inadequate, and unsustainable development to examine how China can synchronize the new type of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization, balance the supply and demand structures, and boost coordinated regional development and urban-rural integration.

Green development requires studies of basic policies for resource conservation and environmental protection to take a civilized development path marked by progressive production, affluent lives for the people, and a sound ecosystem, opening up broad prospects for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation.

With respect to open development, research efforts are needed to chart the future of high-standard opening up, accelerate cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative, and build a human community with a shard future.

Shared development urges scholars to investigate ways to fully mobilize the initiative, agency, and creativity of the people to make the pie bigger and divide it evenly, so as to bring the strengths of the socialist system into fuller play and enhance the people’s sense of gain.

Second, the new development philosophy deepens the understanding of basic socialist economic law in China. The basic socialist economic law emphasizes reforming relations of production and the superstructure and upgrading productive forces to meet the people’s growing material and cultural needs. This law is rather abstract and applicable to the entire process of socialism. It doesn’t involve specific features of each stage of socialism.

The new development philosophy is suited to the evolution of the principal contradiction facing Chinese society and change of the development stage, stressing the contemporary features of productive force development more distinctly and concretely. It follows the dynamics of the major social contradiction closely with a view to guide high-quality economic development, cultivate new quality productive forces, and accelerate the building of a new development pattern.

Moreover, the philosophy more explicitly underscores the necessity of continuous adjustments to relations of production in order to align with the development of productive forces. With the purpose to remove institutional obstacles hindering the upgrade of productive forces through deepening reform comprehensively, it enables the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation and the government to better play its role.

Also the philosophy stresses coordination and sustainability in social reproduction, alongside improvements to the relationships between industries, between urban and rural areas, between regions, and between nations, as well as between humanity and nature, and interpersonal relations. Further, it is crucial to straighten out the relationships between the present and the future, between overall and local interests, and between the key and the general. Additionally, it upholds the people-centered development philosophy and the principal position of the people, emphasizing that the people’s need for a better life is the fundamental force driving development.

Third, the new development philosophy enriches and develops theories of Marxist political economy on economic development principles. It offers entirely new explanations to major strategic and programmatic issues in socialist economic development, and delineates political parameters including the stance, values, model, and path concerning development.

Current economic theories, particularly development economics, an important branch of Western economics, have shown obvious historical and theoretical limitations when addressing the new stage, problems, tasks, and characteristics of China’s economic development.

For example, Western development economics largely focuses on developing countries in the low-income stage. China also drew upon and applied some theories of development economics during the low-income stage, such as those on the binary urban-rural structure and comparative advantage. However, after China entered the middle-income phase, development economics theories centering around low-income nations have lost or partially lost their explanatory power and application value.

For another instance, Western development economics designed modernization paths for developing countries based on developed nations’ experience. This traditional model of modernization is characterized by high energy consumption and emissions. It is inadequate for China’s push to promote ecological progress and build itself into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful. These flaws of Western development economics make it clear that China must construct a new system of socialist economic development theories with Chinese characteristics, thereby adapting to the changing needs of economic development.

On the new journey in the new era, the new development philosophy, featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared growth, should serve as the guidance and run through the entire process of deepening reform comprehensively to steadfastly advance Chinese modernization and instill new theoretical connotations into Marxist political economy.

Meng Jie is a professor from the School of Economics at Fudan University.