Ministers, department heads unravel policy priorities for 2024
Heads of five Chinese ministries and government departments map out policy priorities for industrial upgrades, market regulation, fiscal policy, and sci-tech innovation.
In this post, Peking Insight offers a summary of recent articles penned by the heads of five Chinese ministries and government departments. These articles span a broad range of topics, including industrial upgrades, market regulation, fiscal policy, and sci-tech innovation.
The articles hold particular significance for the research and analysis of China's policymaking, as they were published in Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
Industry and information technology ministry: New industrialization via sci-tech breakthroughs
The Party committee of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published an article titled "We Must Fulfil the Mission of Realizing New Industrialization" in the first issue of Qiushi. The article underscores the importance of advancing new industrialization in the country's development strategy, and outlines an array of priorities aimed at facilitating the process. It says:
"The industry and information technology departments at all levels should steadfastly push forward new industrialization and ensure the solid implementation of all major tasks, thereby making greater contributions to Chinese modernization and national rejuvenation."
Here is an overview of the measures unveiled in the article:
Stabilizing industrial economy: ensuring that the manufacturing industry holds a significant share in the economy; Speeding up equipment renewals and technological transformation; creating new consumption patterns.
Solidifying industrial and supply chains: enhancing resilience and security; ensuring smooth operation; materializing innovation achievements
Improving sci-tech innovation capabilities: seeking breakthroughs in core technologies; cultivating new quality productive forces
Optimizing industrial structure: upgrading traditional industries, consolidating advantageous industries, and nurturing emerging industries; accelerating the integration of advanced manufacturing and modern services
Using digital technologies to boost the real economy: speeding up the digital transformation of manufacturing; encouraging the innovative use of AI; advancing digital industrialization
Economic planner: High-quality development at all fronts
Also in the first issue, the Party committee of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, sheds light on the advancement of China's high-quality development at all fronts. The article summarizes the country's progresses over the past year in fields such as the macroeconomy, sci-tech innovation, openness, and livelihoods, while also analyzing the challenges that urgently need to be addressed.
The following are the challenges, both external and domestic, specified by the article:
External:
Mounting geopolitical risks
Global oil and gas crunch
Increasing fluctuations in commodity prices
Government debt of major economies
Currency depreciation, capital outflows, and insolvency in developing countries
Restructuring of global industrial and supply chain
Domestic:
The lack of external demand is weighing on exports
Employment and income uncertainties are restraining consumer spending
Shrinking property development and investment
Overcapacity in some sectors
Local government debts
Financial risks in some sectors may spread to capital and housing markets
Barriers for the establishment of a unified national market
Regarding its 2024 policy agenda, the planner mapped out its primary tasks as follows:
Economic analysis and policy research: strengthening the monitoring of economic climate; maintaining the consistency of macroeconomic policy; enhance the alignment of policies for all areas.
Formulation of mid- and long-range objectives: creating development strategies for the 15th Five-Year period; advancing coordinated regional development, new urbanization and rural revitalization
Project construction and investment: providing financial support for new infrastructure construction; encouraging private investment
Opening-up and innovation: building a unified national market by reducing logistics costs and improving business environment; accelerating the development of the Belt and Road; nurturing the digital economy and other emerging industries
Coordinated and balanced development: improving livelihoods; stabilizing employment; safeguarding food and energy security; promoting the green shift of economy and society
Market regulator: improving market environment
The Party committee of the State Administration for Market Regulation's article "Consistently building a market environment characterized by fair competition", featured in the second issue this year, delves into the implementation of various measures aimed at sefaguarding market fairness, highlighting the crucial role of fair competition in advancing social and economic development.
We distilled the key points of the article:
Business environment: improve equity exit mechanism; curb market monopoly; reduce corporate burden
Rule-making: remove rules that hinder the establishment of a unified market; optimize anti-monopoly rules
Regulation efficiency: foster a credit monitoring system; promote the use of technologies in market regulation
Institutional openness: support enterprises to participate in international competition and cooperation, as well as the formulation of international competition rules
Intersectional collaboration: establish a regulatory mechanism integrating government, enterprises, industries and society
Finance ministry: implementing a proactive fiscal policy
In his article in the 6th issue of Qiushi this year, Finance Minister Lan Foan shares his insights into the country's fiscal policy in 2024.
In particular, the minister highlights the consensus reached at the Central Economic Work Conference on the need to "appropriately strengthen proactive fiscal policies and improve policy effectiveness," offering his detailed interpretations.
"Appropriately strengthening proactive fiscal policy requires us to improve the arrangement of fiscal resources and fully use our policy toolkit, which includes deficits, special bonds, ultra-long special treasury bonds, tax and fee cuts, and fiscal subsidies. We should also maintain an appropriate level of expenditure."
"To enhance the effectiveness of our policies, we must adopt a fiscal management approach that is law-based, scientific, and standardized. This will help us leverage fiscal resources in a more effective way and maximize the overall impact of our policies."
Regarding employment, Lan says that the central budget has earmarked 66.7 billion yuan to support job creation, with a special focus on university graduates and migrant workers. A large-scale vocational training campaign is also underway to meet the varied demands for skilled labor.
To mitigate local government debt, the central budget will issue re-financing bonds to improve debt management. Finance departments will intensify oversight and punishment on unauthorized borrowing, while optimizing the debt structure of local governments.
National Data Administration: developing computing strength
Liu Liehong, head of National Data Administration has published an article that emphasizes the need to build a unified computing network across the country, calling for progress in Chinese modernization through the utilization of digital technology.
"In the era of the digital economy, computing strength serves as a new quality productive force. As a digital infrastructure, a national computing network regulates and coordinates the operations of computing resources of all types across our country. Building a national integrated computing network and developing infrastructure for computing strength is a key symbol of national modernization."
"We must...optimize the construction layout of data centers, improve the cross-regional transfer of computing strength, and consistently bolster China's digital prowess."
Key measures include:
Streamlining approval procedures and relaxing market entry restrictions to draw corporate investment
Building cross-regional internet characterized by fast and direct connection
Guaranteeing the effective utilization of computing power by scientific research institutes and businesses
Exploring highly-efficient methods for cross-regional transfer of computing power
Encouraging state-owned enterprises and industry leaders to strive for technological innovation; seeking more approaches for industry-university-institution collaboration
Written by Shaun G
Thanks, interesting to learn.