Xi’s big idea
Xi Jinping’s thinking big.
On Wednesday, following the Politburo’s monthly meeting, the Politburo held a study session on the “new productive forces.”
Some context: Xi first introduced the concept of new productive forces in September on a trip to Heilongjiang. The concept has become something of a policy buzzword in recent months – but there has been little explanation of what it actually means.
On Wednesday, Xi laid down a clear metric for success:
- “The core sign [that we have supported the new productive forces] is a substantial improvement in total factor productivity.”
Xi was also clear on the key to enabling new productive forces:
- “Xi Jinping pointed out that technological innovation… [is] the core element for developing new quality productive forces.”
What Xi was not clear on is how that innovation should be fostered. On this point, he said the Party needs some fresh thinking:
- “Xi Jinping emphasized that high-quality development requires new theories of productive forces to guide it.”
- “Efforts should be made to break through the bottlenecks and obstacles that restrict the development of new quality productive forces.”
Get smart: This may all sound abstruse, but it’s critically important. Xi is asking officials to rethink fundamental aspects of how the Party runs the economy.
- That opens the door to all sorts of changes with respect to property rights, state ownership, and how resources are allocated in society.
In other words, this could be big.
- So stay tuned. Fleshing out how to create “new productive forces” will be a major area of focus in 2024.