Forging a solid foundation for the real economy
According to a report by Jin Guanping, Economic Daily,currently, China is in a critical period of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, facing the dual challenges of domestic economic transformation and upgrading, as well as profound adjustments in the global industrial system. The more complex the situation is, the more we need to stand firm. "The real economy is the foundation of China's development and an important support for building strategic advantages for the future." "We must deeply grasp the new characteristics and requirements of the current stage of development, and persist in taking the strengthening, optimization, and expansion of the real economy as the main direction of attack." These are a series of important statements made by General Secretary Xi Jinping, which point out the key tasks that require comprehensive efforts, key breakthroughs, and coordinated promotion.
Throughout the history of world economic development, since the Industrial Revolution, although the specific development paths of various countries have been different, the underlying logic remains the same,a thriving industry leads to a thriving country, and a strong manufacturing sector enhances competitiveness.
For China, adhering to the real economy holds special significance. As a large country with a population of over 1.4 billion, we cannot take the path of shifting from the real economy to the virtual economy and expanding through bubbles, nor can we take the path of relying on external factors and hollow development. Building a solid foundation for the real economy is not an optional task, but a must, it is not a temporary solution, but a long-term strategy.
In recent years, facing the phenomenon of "de-industrialization" where capital has been largely withdrawn from the real economy in some places, we have promoted policies and measures favoring the real economy, aggregated resource elements towards the real economy, and strengthened work efforts in the real economy, achieving remarkable results. However, we must also be soberly aware that reversing trending issues does not equate to resolving deep-seated contradictions. Some real economy sectors are "large but not strong" and "comprehensive but not specialized," with key core technologies being controlled by others, industrial quality and efficiency being low, and resource element constraints becoming tighter. These contradictions, such as "external blockades" and "internal competition" coexist. To consolidate and expand the momentum of economic stability and improvement, it is particularly important to target and treat practical problems, and to strengthen, expand, and optimize the real economy.
Developing advanced manufacturing is the core engine for strengthening, optimizing, and expanding the real economy. The outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan emphasizes placing the focus of economic development on the real economy, indicating the need to maintain a reasonable proportion of manufacturing and vigorously develop advanced manufacturing. The proportion of China's manufacturing value added to GDP has gradually adjusted to the current level of around 25%. This change is in line with the general law of industrial evolution, but we must be highly vigilant of the risk of declining too rapidly or too low, and we must ensure that the proportion of manufacturing remains within a reasonable range.
Maintaining a reasonable proportion is not about protecting outdated production capacity, but about achieving qualitative leaps on the basis of stabilizing the fundamentals. Targeting high-end development, we should focus on the current situation of insufficient self-supply capabilities in key areas such as high-end chips, strengthen innovation and tackle key challenges, enhance industrial added value and core competitiveness, and break free from the low-end lock-in of the global value chain. Targeting intelligence, based on digitalization, we should remove bottlenecks in the implementation of industrial software adaptation, system integration, and other aspects, promote the deep integration of the real economy and the digital economy, and solve the problem of production efficiency. Targeting green development, we should achieve sustainable development and seize the new commanding heights of international competition in the manufacturing industry.
Developing advanced manufacturing industry does not only focus on "high-precision and advanced technology", but rather on making efforts to "create value" in a focused, tiered, and continuous manner. By promoting the quality improvement and upgrading of traditional industries, we can consolidate the position and competitiveness of key industries in the global industrial division of labor. By developing strategic emerging industry clusters, we can catalyze the emergence of several trillion-yuan or even larger markets. By opening up new tracks for future industries, we can form strategic reserves that shape long-term advantages. Only by allowing "old trees to sprout new branches" and "new seedlings to grow into big trees" can we accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone, promote the transformation from "Made in China" to "Intelligent Manufacturing in China", and facilitate the leap from "Chinese products" to "Chinese brands".
