Yang Canming, Former President and Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
The fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee has further elevated the strategic positioning of China's scientific and technological development, making construction goals clearer and development paths more defined. China's scientific and technological development is transitioning from the stage of strategic planning to strategic implementation. An important feature of advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization in the future is to promote the development of new quality productive forces through high-level scientific and technological innovation, thereby facilitating high-quality economic and social development.
First, the significance of self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology has become more prominent.
The communique of the fifth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee proposed to "maintain the core position of innovation in China's overall modernization drive and take self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology as a strategic fulcrum for national development." The communique of the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee specifically called for "accelerating high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology to lead the development of new quality productive forces." The orientation of scientific and technological development has shifted from being a "strategic fulcrum" to playing "a leading role," and its development level has evolved from "self-reliance and self-improvement" to "high-level self-reliance and self-improvement," all of which indicate a further elevation of its strategic status. This embodies the development concept of creating new opportunities amid changes. It focuses not just on general scientific and technological innovation but on emphasizing that high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology would require strengthening breakthroughs from scratch. In particular, it is necessary to tackle critical "bottleneck" problems. It is not limited to specific innovations, but aims to use high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology to lead the development of new quality productive forces, thereby fundamentally enhancing overall national strength and further improving the production relations of socialism with Chinese characteristics through the development of productivity.
Second, the logical relationship among science and technology, industry, and productivity has become clearer.
The communique places the concept of high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology after the development of a modern industrial system, highlighting its role in strategic guidance and the trend of deep integration. The logic that scientific and technological development serves modern industry development is becoming increasingly clear. This not only helps promote further improvement of China's industrial system and high-quality development of major industries, but also helps China maintain a certain competitive edge in global industrial competition and industrial chain layouts. By achieving autonomous and controllable capabilities in key areas, China can gradually form local leading advantages, which can then be expanded into comprehensive leading advantages, ultimately advancing the development of new quality productive forces under socialism. Only in this way can the country have the initiative in development, strengthen its ability to withstand external risks, and foster internal economic growth momentum.
The third is to promote the development of education, science and technology, and talent in a coordinated manner.
The communique of the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee pointed out that "coordinating the initiatives of building China into a leading country in education, science and technology, and talent" as well as "promoting the development of education, science and technology, and talent in a coordinated manner" both signify that cultivating scientific and technological talent is the key to achieving high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology. This also aligns with the advantage of abundant human resources among China's four development advantages. Talent development is the key to promoting sustained scientific and technological progress and is also an important way to support original scientific and technological innovation. In 2023, Chinese scholars published 395 papers in the three scientific and technological journals: Cell, Nature, and Science, accounting for 6.69%, with the world ranking rising from fourth to second place. However, according to data from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the average proportion of personnel engaged in original research across disciplines in China is 16.3%, lower than the ideal value of 24.4%. This indicates that there is still considerable potential in talent cultivation. Strengthening talent cultivation to address fundamental and underlying technology challenges serves as a crucial way to consolidate scientific and technological development and promote high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology.