The Construction Logic of a High-Level Socialist Market Economy System

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out that “a high-level socialist market economy system is an important safeguard for Chinese-path modernization,” and that we must “focus on building a high-level socialist market economy system, fully leverage the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, better play the role of the government, uphold and improve the basic socialist economic system, advance high-level self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology, promote high-level opening up, build a modernized economic system, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, and promote high-quality development.” The above discussion indicates that building a high-level socialist market economy system is crucial to the overall situation of high-quality development, and its practical focus is directed at the dialectical unity of productive forces and relations of production, economic base and superstructure, and social development and national governance. It is necessary to grasp the construction logic of a high-level socialist market economy system with a systematic approach.

党的二十届三中全会指出，“高水平社会主义市场经济体制是中国式现代化的重要保障”，“聚焦构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，充分发挥市场在资源配置中的决定性作用，更好发挥政府作用，坚持和完善社会主义基本经济制度，推进高水平科技自立自强，推进高水平对外开放，建成现代化经济体系，加快构建新发展格局，推动高质量发展”。上述论述表明，构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制关系高质量发展全局，其实践重心指向的是生产力与生产关系、经济基础与上层建筑、社会发展与国家治理的辩证统一，必须以系统观念把握高水平社会主义市场经济体制的建构逻辑。

1. Building a high-level socialist market economy system must uphold the comprehensive leadership of the Party

1.构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制必须坚持党的全面领导

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “We are developing a market economy under the premise of the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system; we must never forget the modifier ‘socialist.’” Building a high-level socialist market economy system must first highlight the modifier “socialist.” The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the greatest strength of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and the fundamental guarantee for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization. Building a high-level socialist market economy system must always adhere to the Party’s comprehensive leadership over economic work.

习近平总书记指出，“我们是在中国共产党领导和社会主义制度的大前提下发展市场经济，什么时候都不能忘了‘社会主义’这个定语”。构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，首先要突出“社会主义”这个定语。中国共产党领导是中国特色社会主义最本质的特征，是中国特色社会主义制度的最大优势，是进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化的根本保证。构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，必须始终坚持党对经济工作的全面领导。

Only by adhering to the Party’s comprehensive leadership over economic work can we ensure the socialist direction of economic system reform, mobilize the enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of people, form the greatest synergy for high-quality development, and lay a solid material foundation for Chinese-path modernization. Adhering to a people-centered approach, taking the interests of the people as the starting point and ultimate goal of economic construction, and effectively mobilizing the enthusiasm of the people are the only ways for the market economy to be truly full of vitality. The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the Chinese working class, and at the same time the vanguard of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation, always representing the fundamental interests of the broadest majority of the people, sharing weal and woe with the people. Only by adhering to the Party’s comprehensive leadership over economic work can we command the overall situation, coordinate all parties, resolve the principal contradiction in society through economic system reform, and continuously meet the people’s needs for a better life.

坚持党对经济工作的全面领导，才能确保经济体制改革的社会主义方向，调动亿万人民群众积极性，形成高质量发展的最大合力，为中国式现代化奠定坚实物质基础。坚持以人民为中心，将人民利益作为经济建设的出发点和落脚点，有效调动人民群众的积极性，市场经济才能真正充满生机活力。中国共产党是中国工人阶级的先锋队，同时是中国人民和中华民族的先锋队，始终代表最广大人民根本利益，与人民休戚与共、生死相依。坚持党对经济工作的全面领导，才能统揽全局、协调各方，通过经济体制改革解决社会主要矛盾，不断满足人民群众对美好生活的需要。

Only by adhering to the Party’s comprehensive leadership over economic work can we carry out creative practical explorations on the basis of respecting the objective laws of economic development, and build a high-level socialist market economy system in the process of further comprehensively deepening reform. In the historical process of leading the Chinese people in revolution, construction, and reform, the Communist Party of China has formed strong social mobilization capabilities and strong leadership and organizational capabilities. Strong social mobilization capabilities can fully stimulate the pioneering spirit of market entities, and strong leadership and organizational capabilities can effectively enhance the effectiveness of national governance. The two are unified in the Party’s comprehensive leadership over economic work, embodying the dialectical unity of democracy and centralism, and constitute an important foundation for building a high-level socialist market economy system.

坚持党对经济工作的全面领导，才能在尊重经济发展客观规律的基础上开展创造性实践探索，在进一步全面深化改革中构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制。中国共产党在领导中国人民进行革命、建设和改革的历史进程中，形成了强大的社会动员能力和坚强的领导组织能力。强大的社会动员能力能充分激发市场主体首创精神，坚强的领导组织能力能有效提升国家治理效能，二者统一于党对经济工作的全面领导，体现了民主与集中的辩证统一关系，是构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制的重要基础。

2. A high-level socialist market economy system should fully leverage the role of an effective market

2.高水平社会主义市场经济体制应充分发挥有效市场作用

Making the market play a decisive role in resource allocation and better playing the role of the government is the theoretical crystallization of our Party’s great practice of leading the socialist country’s economic construction in keeping with the times. Building a high-level socialist market economy system requires the market to be more effective, better achieving the optimization of resource allocation efficiency and the maximization of benefits.

使市场在资源配置中起决定性作用，更好发挥政府作用，是我们党与时俱进领导社会主义国家经济建设伟大实践的理论结晶。构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，要求市场更加有效，更好地实现资源配置效率最优化和效益最大化。

Whether the market is more effective depends first on whether the price mechanism, supply and demand mechanism, and competition mechanism are sensitive and effective. In the current era, digital technology is profoundly transforming traditional large-scale socialized production methods. The promotion of flexible production models continuously enhances the organic nature and integrity of the social division of labor and cooperation system. The role of the price mechanism, supply and demand mechanism, and competition mechanism in stimulating the innovative spirit of market entities and enhancing the vitality and competitiveness of the market economy is further highlighted. To build a high-level socialist market economy system that can better leverage the role of market mechanisms, it is necessary to adapt to and lead this change, focus on building a unified national market, promote the unification of basic market system rules, fair and unified market supervision, and high-standard connectivity of market facilities, promote the smooth flow of production factors, improve the mechanism for determining factor prices mainly by market supply and demand, improve the mechanism for production factors such as labor, capital, land, knowledge, technology, management, and data to be evaluated by the market for their contribution and remunerated according to their contribution, ensure that all forms of ownership can use production factors equally according to law, participate fairly in market competition, and receive equal legal protection, and form a high-standard market system that is unified, open, orderly competitive, with complete systems and sound governance.

市场是否更有效，首先取决于价格机制、供求机制和竞争机制是否灵敏有效。当今时代，数字技术深刻改造着传统的社会化大生产方式，弹性生产模式的推广不断提升社会分工协作体系的有机性和整体性，价格机制、供求机制和竞争机制对于激发市场主体创新精神、提升市场经济活力和竞争力的作用进一步凸显。构建能够更好发挥市场机制作用的高水平社会主义市场经济体制，必须适应和引领这一变化，着力构建全国统一大市场，推动市场基础制度规则统一、市场监管公平统一、市场设施高标准联通，推动生产要素畅通流动，完善主要由市场供求关系决定要素价格机制，健全劳动、资本、土地、知识、技术、管理、数据等生产要素由市场评价贡献、按贡献决定报酬的机制，保证各种所有制经济依法平等使用生产要素、公平参与市场竞争、同等受到法律保护，形成统一开放、竞争有序、制度完备、治理完善的高标准市场体系。

Whether the market is more effective also depends on the further optimization of the division of labor and organization methods and the further improvement of labor productivity. To cultivate an “effective market,” we must face the fierce competition of economic globalization, guide Chinese enterprises to closely follow the opportunity of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, and form a positive feedback between corporate profitability and the development of productive forces. In the practice of economic system reform, we should strengthen the dominant position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation, guide various advanced production factors to gather toward the development of new quality productive forces, strengthen innovation in key common technologies, cutting-edge leading technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technologies, cultivate and strengthen advanced manufacturing clusters and digital industry clusters, promote the high-end, intelligent, and green development of manufacturing, accelerate the high-quality development of producer services and the digital transformation of traditional infrastructure, and achieve the deep integration of the real economy and the digital economy.

市场是否更有效，还取决于分工组织方式的进一步优化和劳动生产效率的进一步提升。培育“有效市场”，必须直面经济全球化的激烈竞争，引导我国企业紧扣新一轮科技革命和产业变革的契机，因地制宜发展新质生产力，形成企业盈利与生产力发展的正反馈。在经济体制改革实践中，应强化企业科技创新主体地位，引导各类先进生产要素向发展新质生产力集聚，加强关键共性技术、前沿引领技术、现代工程技术、颠覆性技术创新，培育壮大先进制造业集群和数字产业集群，推动制造业高端化、智能化、绿色化发展，加快生产性服务业的高质量发展和传统基础设施的数字化改造，实现实体经济和数字经济的深度融合。

Whether the market is more effective ultimately depends on whether market entities can provide products and services that continuously meet the people’s needs for a better life. Adhering to and implementing the “two unswervinglys”[1]1 The “two unswervinglys” (两个毫不动摇) refer to the Party’s policy of unswervingly consolidating and developing the public sector of the economy, and unswervingly encouraging, supporting, and guiding the development of the non-public sector of the economy. can further stimulate the vitality of market entities, providing prerequisites for resolving the contradiction between supply and demand and achieving a positive interaction between accumulation and consumption. To this end, deepen the reform of state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises, promote the optimization and structural adjustment of the state-owned economy, make state-owned capital and state-owned enterprises stronger, better, and larger, concentrate state-owned capital in important industries and key fields related to national security and the lifeline of the national economy, in public services, emergency response capabilities, and public welfare fields related to the national economy and people’s livelihood, and in forward-looking strategic emerging industries; create a good environment and provide more opportunities for the development of the non-public sector of the economy, deeply break down market access barriers, support capable private enterprises to take the lead in undertaking major national technological research tasks, solve the problems of difficult and expensive financing for private enterprises, and support and guide private enterprises to improve their governance structures and management systems.

市场是否更有效，最终取决于市场主体能否提供不断满足人民美好生活需要的产品和服务。坚持和落实“两个毫不动摇”，能够进一步激发市场主体活力，为破解供需矛盾、实现积累和消费的良性互动提供前提条件。为此，深化国资国企改革，推进国有经济布局优化和结构调整，推动国有资本和国有企业做强做优做大，推动国有资本向关系国家安全、国民经济命脉的重要行业和关键领域集中，向关系国计民生的公共服务、应急能力、公益性领域等集中，向前瞻性战略性新兴产业集中；为非公有制经济发展营造良好环境、提供更多机会，深入破除市场准入壁垒，支持有能力的民营企业牵头承担国家重大技术攻关任务，破解民营企业融资难、融资贵问题，支持引导民营企业完善治理结构和管理制度。

3. A high-level socialist market economy system should better play the role of a capable government

3.高水平社会主义市场经济体制应更好发挥有为政府作用

Scientific macro-regulation and effective government governance are inherent requirements for leveraging the advantages of the socialist market economy system. Building a high-level socialist market economy system must better play the role of the government, by improving the macroeconomic governance system, perfecting the macro-regulation system, coordinating the promotion of reforms in key areas such as fiscal, tax, and finance, enhancing the consistency of macro-policy orientations, and promoting a better combination of an effective market and a capable government.

科学的宏观调控、有效的政府治理是发挥社会主义市场经济体制优势的内在要求。构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，必须更好发挥政府作用，通过健全宏观经济治理体系，完善宏观调控制度体系，统筹推进财税、金融等重点领域改革，增强宏观政策取向一致性，推动有效市场和有为政府更好结合。

Give full play to the role of an effective government in developing new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions. Developing new quality productive forces is a systematic project that requires not only revolutionary breakthroughs in technology but also the optimized combination and upgraded transformation of laborers, means of labor, and subjects of labor. Implementing this systematic project requires both stimulating the innovation vitality of various market entities and having an effective government provide stronger innovation support for market entities. Furthermore, laborers are the most active factor among the three elements of productive forces; developing new quality productive forces depends on the fundamental and strategic support of education, science and technology, and human resources, which in turn relies on the comprehensive development of education, science, culture, and health undertakings promoted by the government. To address the "bottleneck" problems constraining the development of new quality productive forces, the government's macroeconomic governance needs to address both symptoms and root causes. On the one hand, it should organize major scientific and technological innovations, support strategic scientific plans and projects that have long cycles, high risks, great difficulty, and promising prospects, and focus on systematic layout, systematic organization, and cross-border integration to resolutely win the battle for core technologies in key areas. On the other hand, it should organize the construction of national strategic scientific and technological forces and strategic talent forces, promote the systematization, institutionalization, and collaboration of scientific and technological innovation forces, factor allocation, and talent teams, and accelerate the construction of national high-level talent hubs and platforms for attracting and gathering talent.

在因地制宜发展新质生产力中充分发挥有为政府作用。发展新质生产力是一项系统工程，不仅要求技术的革命性突破，更要求劳动者、劳动资料和劳动对象的优化组合和更新跃升。实施这一系统工程，既需要激发各类市场主体创新活力，也需要有为政府为市场主体提供更加有力的创新支持。进一步讲，劳动者是生产力三要素中最活跃的要素，发展新质生产力有赖于教育、科技、人才的基础性战略性支撑，这离不开政府推动的教科文卫事业的全面发展。针对制约新质生产力发展的“瓶颈”问题，政府的宏观经济治理需要标本兼顾，一方面组织重大科技创新，支持周期长、风险大、难度高、前景好的战略性科学计划和科学工程，抓系统布局、系统组织、跨界集成，坚决打赢关键核心技术攻坚战；另一方面组织国家战略科技力量和战略人才力量建设，推动科技创新力量、要素配置、人才队伍体系化、建制化、协同化，加快建设国家高水平人才高地和吸引集聚人才平台。

Give full play to the role of an effective government in adjusting and optimizing major proportional relationships in the national economy and spatial layout. The regulation of the law of value is spontaneous; the market mechanism cannot automatically resolve issues such as accumulation versus consumption, urban versus rural areas, and regional economic layout. To promote a positive interaction between accumulation and consumption, advance integrated urban-rural development, and optimize the regional economic layout, it is necessary to give full play to the important role of an effective government. In the practice of economic system reform, in line with the strategic goal of building a modern economic system, we should improve the national strategic planning system and the policy coordination mechanism, and enhance the macro-guidance and overall coordination functions of national strategies. We should strengthen the coordinated efforts of fiscal, monetary, industrial, price, and employment policies around the implementation of national development plans and major strategies, and optimize the allocation of incremental resources and the adjustment of existing structures. We should strengthen the coordination of fiscal resources and budgets, reinforce financial guarantees for major national strategic tasks and basic public welfare, improve the tax system, and optimize the tax structure. We should accelerate the improvement of the central bank system and smooth the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. We should coordinate new industrialization, new urbanization, and comprehensive rural revitalization, comprehensively raise the level of integration in urban and rural planning, construction, and governance, and promote the equal exchange and two-way flow of factors between urban and rural areas.

在调整和优化国民经济重大比例关系和空间布局中充分发挥有为政府作用。价值规律的调节具有自发性，市场机制无法自动解决积累与消费、城市与乡村、区域经济布局等问题。促进积累与消费良性互动、促进城乡融合发展、优化区域经济布局，必须充分发挥有为政府的重要作用。在经济体制改革实践中，对照建设现代化经济体系的战略目标，完善国家战略规划体系和政策统筹协调机制，增强国家战略宏观引导、统筹协调功能；围绕实施国家发展规划、重大战略促进财政、货币、产业、价格、就业等政策协同发力，优化各类增量资源配置和存量结构调整；加强财政资源和预算统筹，强化国家重大战略任务和基本民生财力保障，健全税收制度，优化税制结构；加快完善中央银行制度，畅通货币政策传导机制；统筹新型工业化、新型城镇化和乡村全面振兴，全面提高城乡规划、建设、治理融合水平，促进城乡要素平等交换、双向流动。

Give full play to the role of an effective government in building a new system for a higher-standard open economy. At present, the changes unseen in a century are accelerating, and China's economic development faces unprecedented external opportunities, risks, and challenges. To seize the opportunities of economic globalization and break through external blockades and containment, it is necessary to further leverage the role of an effective government, concentrate resources to accomplish major tasks, build a new system for an open economy, and achieve a positive interaction between high-quality development and high-level security. In the practice of economic system reform, in line with the strategic deployment of building a new development pattern, we should steadily expand institutional opening-up, and strengthen the coordination of trade policies with fiscal, tax, financial, and industrial policies. We should deepen the reform of the management system for foreign investment and outbound investment, improve the mechanism for international macroeconomic policy coordination, and steadily and prudently advance the internationalization of the renminbi. We should optimize the regional layout of opening-up, and promote the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. We should improve the system and mechanism for ensuring the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains, establish a mechanism for risk assessment and response to industrial and supply chain security, strive to build independent and controllable industrial and supply chains, and improve the coordination mechanism for the orderly gradient transfer of industries within the country.

在建设更高水平开放型经济新体制中充分发挥有为政府作用。当前，世界百年未有之大变局加速演进，我国经济发展面临的外部机遇和风险挑战前所未有。把握经济全球化机遇、打破外部封锁遏制，需要进一步发挥有为政府的作用，集中力量办大事，建设开放型经济新体制，实现高质量发展和高水平安全良性互动。在经济体制改革实践中，应围绕构建新发展格局的战略部署，稳步扩大制度型开放，强化贸易政策和财税、金融、产业政策协同；深化外商投资和对外投资管理体制改革，健全国际宏观政策协调机制，稳慎扎实推进人民币国际化；优化区域开放布局，推进高质量共建“一带一路”；健全提升产业链供应链韧性和安全水平制度，建立产业链供应链安全风险评估和应对机制，抓紧打造自主可控的产业链供应链，完善产业在国内梯度有序转移的协作机制。

4. Building a High-Standard Socialist Market Economy System on the Track of the Rule of Law

4.在法治轨道上构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that "a socialist market economy is essentially a rule-of-law economy." To build a high-standard socialist market economy system on the track of the rule of law, it is necessary to achieve the unity of economic reform and rule-of-law construction, ensure that major reforms have a legal basis, and promptly elevate reform achievements into legal systems.

习近平总书记指出，“社会主义市场经济本质上是法治经济”。在法治轨道上构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，要做到经济改革和法治建设相统一，重大改革于法有据，及时把改革成果上升为法律制度。

To build a high-standard socialist market economy system on the track of the rule of law, it is necessary to uphold the authority of the Constitution to safeguard the socialist economic base, ensuring that the market economy continuously develops and matures along the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The Constitution clearly stipulates that socialist public ownership of the means of production is the foundation of the socialist economic system, that socialist public property is sacred and inviolable, that the non-public sector of the economy is an important component of the socialist market economy, and that citizens' lawful private property is inviolable. In the practice of economic system reform, it is necessary to ensure that all forms of ownership equally use factors of production according to law, participate fairly in market competition, and receive equal legal protection. We should improve the property rights system, provide equal and long-term legal protection for the property rights of all forms of ownership, implement equal accountability, equal guilt, and equal punishment for acts infringing upon the property rights and legitimate interests of all forms of ownership, and improve the system of punitive damages. We should strengthen the judicial protection of property rights enforcement, prevent and correct the use of administrative or criminal means to intervene in economic disputes, and improve the mechanism for legally identifying and correcting wrongful convictions in cases involving enterprises.

在法治轨道上构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，必须以宪法权威维护社会主义经济基础，确保市场经济始终沿着中国特色社会主义道路不断发展成熟。宪法明确生产资料社会主义公有制是社会主义经济制度的基础，社会主义的公共财产神圣不可侵犯，非公有制经济是社会主义市场经济的重要组成部分，公民合法的私有财产不受侵犯。在经济体制改革实践中，必须保证各种所有制经济依法平等使用生产要素、公平参与市场竞争、同等受到法律保护；完善产权制度，依法平等长久保护各种所有制经济产权，对侵犯各种所有制经济产权和合法利益的行为实行同责同罪同罚，完善惩罚性赔偿制度；加强产权执法司法保护，防止和纠正利用行政、刑事手段干预经济纠纷，健全依法甄别纠正涉企冤错案件机制。

To build a high-standard socialist market economy system on the track of the rule of law, we should give full play to the institutional guarantee function of various laws and regulations to regulate the economic behavior of various market entities. We should accelerate relevant legislation in important areas and key links involving the national economic cycle, improve the systems and rules for factor markets, and improve the basic systems for promoting the standardized development of capital markets. We should strengthen the rigid constraints of fair competition review, and intensify anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition efforts. We should standardize the legal system for local investment attraction. We should improve the market information disclosure system, establish a system for protecting trade secrets, and establish an efficient comprehensive intellectual property management system. We should improve the market access system, improve the enterprise bankruptcy mechanism, explore the establishment of a personal bankruptcy system, and improve the social credit system and regulatory system. We should fully implement the principle of statutory taxation, and standardize tax preferential policies. We should formulate a financial law, improve the financial regulatory system, bring all financial activities under supervision according to law, and strengthen regulatory responsibilities and accountability systems. We should deepen the reform of the administrative law enforcement system, improve the comprehensive law enforcement system and mechanism at the grassroots level, and improve the supervision system and mechanism for administrative law enforcement.

在法治轨道上构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，应充分发挥各类法律法规的制度保障功能，规范各类市场主体的经济行为。在涉及国民经济循环的重要领域和关键环节加快推进相关立法，完善要素市场制度和规则，完善促进资本市场规范发展基础制度；加强公平竞争审查刚性约束，强化反垄断和反不正当竞争；规范地方招商引资法规制度；完善市场信息披露制度，构建商业秘密保护制度，建立高效的知识产权综合管理体制；完善市场准入制度，健全企业破产机制，探索建立个人破产制度，健全社会信用体系和监管制度；全面落实税收法定原则，规范税收优惠政策；制定金融法，完善金融监管体系，依法将所有金融活动纳入监管，强化监管责任和问责制度；深化行政执法体制改革，完善基层综合执法体制机制，健全行政执法监督体制机制。

To build a high-standard socialist market economy system on the track of the rule of law, we should adhere to promoting high-level opening-up on the basis of the rule of law, and continuously consolidate the legal foundation of the new system for an open economy. We should proactively align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, achieving compatibility and coherence in rules, regulations, management, and standards in areas such as property rights protection, industrial subsidies, environmental standards, labor protection, government procurement, e-commerce, and finance, creating a transparent, stable, and predictable institutional environment. We should create a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, and protect the rights and interests of foreign investors according to law. We should improve the system of foreign-related laws and regulations and the legal implementation system, deepen cooperation in law enforcement and judicial affairs internationally, improve the system of international commercial arbitration and mediation, and actively participate in the formulation of international rules.

在法治轨道上构建高水平社会主义市场经济体制，应坚持在法治基础上推进高水平对外开放，不断夯实开放型经济新体制的法治基础。主动对接国际高标准经贸规则，在产权保护、产业补贴、环境标准、劳动保护、政府采购、电子商务、金融领域等实现规则、规制、管理、标准相通相容，打造透明稳定可预期的制度环境；营造市场化、法治化、国际化一流营商环境，依法保护外商投资权益。完善涉外法律法规体系和法治实施体系，深化执法司法国际合作，健全国际商事仲裁和调解制度，积极参与国际规则制定。

Online editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗