Measure twice, cut once when developing new productive forces

Xi Jinping wants officials to use their brains when going about upgrading industry.

While meeting with the Jiangsu delegation to the legislature (NPC) Tuesday, Xi Jinping said officials must develop "new types of productive forces" – but consider "local conditions" in doing so.

Some context: Xi introduced the “new productive forces” concept in September. It features prominently in this year’s Government Work Report (GWR) and the macro planner's (NDRC) work report.

New productive forces include:

• Cutting-edge sci-tech capabilities
• Digitization techniques that increase efficiency
• High-end talent in strategic sectors

More context: The leadership thinks these forces are critical for moving China up the manufacturing value chain – and wants them applied enthusiastically.

Get smart: Local governments often go overboard in pursuing major policy directives – especially those with the explicit backing of the big man – leading to poorly considered and wasteful investments.

• Advising officials to consider “local conditions” – i.e., properly assess projects instead of blindly slapping tech on factories – is an attempt to get ahead of the issue.

Get smarter: Unfortunately, this is still a campaign-style program for now.

• It will get a campaign-style result unless the leadership can rethink how the economy is run.