2022/10/22
Source of information: Guangming Daily
Edit: Leisurely | Editor in charge: Zhiyuan
【Roundtable Dialogue】
Moderator: reporter Zhong Chao Liu Kun Lu Jian
Guest:
Yang Weidong (representative of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, member of the Standing Committee of the Huzhou Municipal Party Committee of Zhejiang Province, and Secretary of the Anji County Party Committee)
Han Baojiang (Director of the Economics Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School[National School of Administration])
Dong Zhiyong (Vice President of Peking University, Dean of School of Economics)
Zheng Gongcheng (President of China Social Security Society, Professor of Renmin University of China)
The world is huge, and Li Yuan is the first. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country has continued to promote inclusive and basic people’s livelihood construction, and the people’s sense of gain has been significantly improved. From winning the battle against poverty in an all-round way, to effectively safeguarding people’s health, from strengthening employment support for groups in difficulty, to weaving a dense social security network… the happiness of the common people is written on their faces and sweet in their hearts.
Governing the country is constant, benefiting the people. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that we must adhere to the guarantee and improvement of people’s livelihood in the process of development, encourage joint efforts to create a better life, and continuously realize the people’s yearning for a better life.
Invited representatives and experts of this roundtable dialogue talk freely about the value orientation, goal orientation and future direction of enhancing people’s well-being and improving people’s quality of life.
Adhering to the concept of “people’s livelihood is the greatest politics”
Moderator: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of my country, what new progress has our country made in addressing the people’s worries? How to view and evaluate these people’s achievements?
Han Baojiang: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we have always adhered to the concept of “people’s livelihood is the greatest politics”, and have always carried out people’s livelihood construction around the urgent, difficult, and anxious issues that the people care about. The specific manifestations are as follows: First, to win the battle against poverty in an all-round way, under the current standards All 98.99 million rural poor people have been lifted out of poverty, and the problem of absolute poverty has been solved historically. Second, the employment problem has been better resolved, and the income of urban and rural residents has continued to increase. Over the past ten years, the average annual increase in urban employment has exceeded 13 million. Third, the level of education popularization has achieved a historic leap, and the consolidation rate of nine-year compulsory education has reached 95.4%. Fourth, the problems of difficult and expensive medical treatment have been effectively alleviated. Fifth, the social security net has become stronger and stronger, and the number of people participating in basic pension insurance has increased from 790 million in 2012 to 1.04 billion in June 2022. It can be said that the achievements in people’s livelihood construction in the past ten years are historic and comprehensive.
Dong Zhiyong: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of my country, our country has attached great importance to people’s livelihood issues, and has kept pace with the times to continuously solve the urgent, difficult and long-awaited problems faced by the people. A series of major achievements have been made in terms of medical care, support for the elderly, housing and housing, and support for the weak. These achievements in people’s livelihood construction fully reflect our party’s “people-centered” development philosophy and the people’s standpoint of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. the fundamental interests of the broad masses of the people.
Yang Weidong: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we have completed the historical task of fighting poverty and building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and achieved the first centenary goal. This is undoubtedly the greatest and most iconic development in the history of the development of my country’s people’s livelihood. Over the past decade, people’s lives have been improved in all aspects. In the final analysis, the unprecedented achievements in the field of people’s livelihood are because the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core attaches great importance to ensuring and improving people’s livelihood, because of the superiority of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and because it is supported by an increasingly strong comprehensive national strength.
Zheng Gongcheng: The past ten years have been a decade in which the party and the country have achieved historic achievements in all aspects of development and undergone historic changes. In the field of social security, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country has built the world‘s largest social security system. Next, more people should be included in the social security system to further improve the level of security and weave a dense social security safety net.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward new requirements for safety and regulation of the construction of the social security system, reflecting the bottom-line awareness and long-term vision. Only when the social security system is safe, reliable and standardized can it provide stable expectations and adequate guarantees for the people and achieve sustainable development.
Adhere to the guarantee and improvement of people’s livelihood in the process of development
Moderator: The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China attached great importance to improving people’s livelihood and well-being, and deployed a series of major measures in improving the distribution system, implementing the employment priority strategy, and improving the social security system. What do you think are the key points and difficulties in ensuring and improving people’s livelihood at a higher level?
Han Baojiang: The biggest difficulty is that it is more difficult to “make the cake bigger and better”. Therefore, we must always hold on to the central task of economic construction and not relax. On the one hand, we must do everything possible to tap the potential of consumption and investment, and enhance the “pull” of domestic demand to economic growth; new economic growth point.
Dong Zhiyong: At present, the imbalance in people’s livelihood is mainly reflected in the gap between regions and between urban and rural areas in the protection of people’s livelihood. Narrowing this gap is the focus and difficulty of ensuring and improving people’s livelihood under the new situation. At present, the key to narrowing the gap in regional people’s livelihood lies in effective financial system arrangements, especially the issue of financial transfer payments in the eastern and central and western regions. To promote the improvement of people’s livelihood in the central and western regions, it is necessary to optimize the distribution mode of fiscal transfer payment and strengthen the utilization efficiency of fiscal transfer payment funds. In the medium and long term, it is necessary to combine the comparative advantages of various regions, vigorously promote the development of industries in the western region, especially the development of emerging industries such as digital industry and new energy industry, stimulate the vitality of the region, shift from “blood transfusion” to “hematopoiesis”, and continuously improve the financial self-sufficiency guarantee for people’s livelihood in the region ability.
Yang Weidong: It is our priority to ensure and improve people’s livelihood by firmly grasping the most immediate and practical interests of the people. Over the past few years, we have always insisted on asking the people for their needs and their plans, and establishing and improving a long-term mechanism for practical affairs for the people. For example, we have launched a policy of “universal insurance coverage” for some people’s pension issues, and asked financial institutions to provide people with low-interest loans. At present, the participation rates of basic endowment insurance and medical insurance have reached 99.6% and 99.8% respectively, which has solved the worries of the masses in terms of endowment.
Zheng Gongcheng: insisting on ensuring and improving people’s livelihood during development is the general policy keynote. In the next step, we must take a multi-pronged approach and work together. First, we must give priority to “dividing the cake”, increase labor remuneration in the initial distribution, fully reflect fairness in the redistribution, and truly inject positive incentives in the third distribution. Second, we must comprehensively improve the quality of employment and eliminate unreasonable restrictions and employment discrimination that affect equal employment. The third is to improve the quality of the social security system. Fourth, it is necessary to comprehensively promote the development of elderly care services, child welfare and the cause of the disabled, and speed up the construction of the social security system.
Substantial progress in promoting common prosperity
Moderator: The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made specific arrangements for the solid promotion of common prosperity. How can we effectively promote common prosperity to achieve more obvious and substantial progress?
Han Baojiang: First of all, we must firmly grasp the central task of economic construction and consolidate the material foundation for the common prosperity of all the people. Second, firmly adhere to the “two unshakable”. Unswervingly consolidate and develop the public economy, adhere to the dominant position of public ownership, and at the same time unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public economy. Third, adhere to the income distribution system with distribution according to work as the main body and coexistence of various distribution methods, effectively “divide the cake”, and accelerate the formation of an effective distribution mechanism of “lowering, expanding, and increasing”. This is of great significance for promoting economic growth, expanding social employment, increasing fiscal revenue, improving people’s lives, and promoting common prosperity for all people.
Dong Zhiyong: At present, the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development in my country is still prominent. It is necessary to fully realize that achieving the strategic goal of common prosperity is a long-term, arduous and complex process, which cannot be achieved overnight and needs to be advanced in stages. To effectively promote common prosperity to achieve more obvious and substantial progress, we must always adhere to the people-centered approach, and focus on the design of the income distribution system, the improvement of the basic public service supply system, and the optimization of digital technology empowerment paths and digital governance. . First of all, it is necessary to optimize the income distribution pattern. On the basis of the primary distribution and redistribution, the three distribution system should be continuously improved to form a long-term mechanism for high-income groups to help low-income groups. Second, improve the education, medical care, pension, housing and social security systems, especially to increase the emphasis on basic public service resources in rural areas and the central and western regions. Third, we must pay attention to the role of digital technology in improving people’s livelihood, cultivate a group of “Internet +” enterprises with inclusive nature, and use digital technology to enhance the balance and accessibility of public services.
Yang Weidong: Promoting common prosperity is not to achieve prosperity at the same time, but to promote prosperity in stages and in the whole process. Staged goals need to adhere to the principle of gradual progress, do your best, and do what you can, and encourage hard work and innovation to become rich. In the practice of common prosperity, the key is to correctly handle the relationship between efficiency and fairness. It is necessary to make the “cake” bigger, and on this basis, build a basic institutional arrangement for the initial distribution, redistribution, and coordination of the three distributions. For example, we in Anji are vigorously developing moso bamboo, white tea, rural tourism and other industries that enrich the people, and promote distribution methods such as “equity incentives” throughout the county, and innovatively implement the “two shares and three benefits” in which resources and assets are invested in shares, and ordinary people take rent to earn salary and share money. “Mechanism, and actively develop philanthropy, the purpose is to improve various distribution systems, continuously increase the income of low-income people, and expand the middle-income group.
Zheng Gongcheng: The common prosperity we pursue is that all people are generally in a state of material abundance and spiritual abundance. This is an ideal realm for the development of human society, and it is also a historical process that requires the unremitting and common struggle of all people. From the perspective of space, improving the distribution system and developing social security is a national action towards common prosperity. Zhejiang Province has been given the mission to basically achieve common prosperity by 2035, while other regions can do their best and set “small goals”. To achieve the above-mentioned goals as scheduled, there are four key points: First, establish a development concept that attaches equal importance to “making a bigger cake” and “dividing a good cake”, developing a market economy and building a just society. The second is to take the equalization of basic public services as an important starting point. The third is to accelerate the improvement of the social security system and continue to increase the share of social security under the condition of comprehensively optimizing the current system. The fourth is to establish an observation dimension for solidly advancing common prosperity, including the reduction of the Gini coefficient, and use it to evaluate the substantial progress of common prosperity.
Original link: Improve people’s well-being and improve people’s quality of life