The landmark resolution passed by the just-concluded sixth plenary session of the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee that focuses on major achievements and historical experience of the CPC’s 100 years of endeavors also included “secret recipe” for China’s economic miracle, including adherence to reform and opening-up and upholding the CPC leadership, senior officials said on Friday.
China’s ascendence from a backward agrarian economy to the world’s second-largest economy and the biggest trading nation in just several decades is among the most profound achievements of the CPC and unparalleled in human society. Such a rapid rise and its driving factors have also become a subject of global discussion.
At a news conference held by the CPC on Friday, Han Wenxiu, deputy director of the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, said that there are principally eight important aspects of the “secret recipe” for the economic miracle.
Among these experiences, resolutely adhering to the CPC’s leadership and its centralized uniform leadership is the fundamental political guarantee for the miracle of China’s economic growth, he said.
These also include adhering to the pursuit of development, deepening reform and opening-up, and seeing innovation as the primary driving force for growth. The country has also succeeded in unswervingly consolidating and developing the public sector and unswervingly supporting and developing the nonpublic sector.
A proper balance between and integration of an effective market and functional government has also contributed to China’s economic success, Han said, adding that such a balance has helped foster a world-class, market-oriented business environment governed by a sound legal framework in China.
“Reform and opening-up are the pillars of China’s economic success, as reform has broken the shackles of the rigid planned economic system of the past, and opening-up brings the vitality to China’s economy,” Zhao Xuejun, director of the Modern Economic History of China Research Center under Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Economics, told the Global Times on Friday.
Official data shows that the per capita disposal income in 1949 was less than 50 yuan ($7.80), compared with 32,000 yuan as of 2020.
China’s economy continued stable recovery in the first three quarters of this year with major indicators staying within a reasonable range. The country’s GDP expanded 9.8 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters, putting the average growth for the period in the past two years at 5.2 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
At the just-ended 4th China International Import Expo in Shanghai, more than $70 billion worth in deals were inked, showing the strong confidence of foreign companies in China.
Regarding the future development, experts said innovation and technological self-sufficiency are strategic pillars for this development paradigm in ensuring a more independent and controllable industry, as Chinese and the US are locked in a hard-fought battle on technology.
Only by holding these technologies in our hands can we ensure economic security, national security and security in other areas, an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping said in March, highlighting that science and technology exercises a profound influence on the future of the country and people’s lives.
Chinese observers also said adhering to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability is also a guideline for future economic development, which shows that the reform is an exploratory process.
Han said we must learn from the lessons of the “Great Leap Forward” and “People’s Commune Movement” in the 1950s, noting that seeking progress while maintaining stability is also the principle we should stick to in the process of achieving carbon emissions peak and carbon neutrality, and advancing toward common prosperity.
“The CPC knows that exploring the reform is a challenge without any experience to follow, but the CPC is confident to lead the reform with strong leadership,” Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Friday.
Secret recipe for China’s economic miracle Graphic: GT
Global Times
