New Quality Productive Forces and National Competitive Advantage: Internal Logic and Strategic Priorities

The new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening, competition among major powers is escalating, and developed economies are intensifying their implementation of industrial policies aimed at promoting strategic emerging industries and future industries, seizing the commanding heights of global scientific and technological innovation and industrial development. Therefore, accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces is both an inevitable requirement for China to achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, and a practical necessity to gain strategic initiative in international competition. Compared with the incremental innovation of traditional productive forces, new quality productive forces take disruptive innovation as their core; their logical starting point should be the reconstruction of independent innovation capability under the organic integration of government and market. To accelerate the formation of new quality productive forces, it is necessary to use the new system of mobilizing resources nationwide [1]1 The “new system of mobilizing resources nationwide” (新型举国体制) refers to a state-led mechanism for concentrating resources on strategic scientific and technological goals, updated from the earlier planned-economy model to incorporate market mechanisms. to solve the “bottleneck” problems of key core technologies, promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, climb to the middle and upper reaches of the global value chain through a modernized industrial system, and build world-class enterprises.

新一轮科技革命与产业变革深入发展,大国竞争不断升级,发达经济体纷纷加大产业政策实施力度,旨在促进战略性新兴产业和未来产业发展,抢占全球科技创新和产业发展制高点。为此,加快形成新质生产力既是我国实现高水平科技自立自强的必然要求,也是赢得国际竞争战略主动的现实需要。相较于传统生产力的渐进式创新,新质生产力以颠覆式创新为内核,其逻辑起点应是在政府与市场有机结合下的自主创新能力的重构。加快形成新质生产力,应以新型举国体制破解关键核心技术“卡脖子”难题,推动数字经济与实体经济深度融合,以现代化产业体系攀升全球价值链中上游,打造世界一流企业。

The development of productive forces determines the rise and fall of nations, and innovation is the strongest driving force for the development of productive forces. Michael Porter, in his book *The Competitive Advantage of Nations*, emphasizes considering competitiveness from the national level, arguing that the only meaning of “competitiveness” is national productivity.

生产力发展决定着国家兴衰，而创新是生产力发展的最强推动力。生产力发展决定着国家兴衰，而创新是生产力发展的最强推动力。迈克尔·波特在《国家竞争优势》一书中强调从国家的层面来考虑竞争力，认为“竞争力”的唯一意义就是国家生产力。

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized during the 11th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee that “new quality productive forces are advanced productive forces with high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, where innovation plays a leading role, breaking away from traditional economic growth modes and paths of productive forces development, and conforming to the new development philosophy.” [2]2 Quotation from Xi Jinping’s speech at the 11th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, January 31, 2024. The lessons of history and the trends of reality both suggest that on the new journey of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation, we must unswervingly promote high-quality development, accelerate the formation of new quality productive forces, and enhance independent innovation capabilities. Only in this way can we truly grasp the initiative in development amid fierce international competition, thereby enabling China to become a global leader in important scientific and technological fields, a pioneer in frontier and interdisciplinary areas, and as soon as possible, a major world scientific center and innovation highland.

习近平总书记在中共中央政治局第十一次集体学习时强调“新质生产力是创新起主导作用，摆脱传统经济增长方式、生产力发展路径，具有高科技、高效能、高质量特征，符合新发展理念的先进生产力质态。”历史的教训、现实的趋势都启示我们，在强国建设、民族复兴的新征程中，必须坚定不移推动高质量发展，加快形成新质生产力，提高自主创新能力。唯有如此才能在激烈的国际竞争中真正掌握发展主动权，从而使我国在重要科技领域成为全球领跑者，在前沿交叉领域成为开拓者，尽早成为世界主要科学中心和创新高地。

I. The Progress of Productive Forces Is the Decisive Factor in Establishing National Competitive Advantage

一、生产力的进步是确立国家竞争优势的决定因素

(I) Expansion of Stock: Changes in Traditional Productive Forces and Incremental Innovation

（一）存量的扩张：传统生产力变迁与渐进式创新

Adam Smith, in his 1776 work *An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations*, noted, “If a country’s industry and the degree of improvement of its labor productivity are extremely high, then the division of labor in various trades will generally also reach an extremely high degree.” The deepening of the division of labor has promoted international cooperation and the integration of global value chains. Countries can share the dividends of global innovation and growth by participating in international production networks. Matt Ridley, in his book *How Innovation Works*, argues that the improvement of traditional productivity relies more on incremental innovation: “In the process of progress, each key invention is built upon the previous one and makes the next one possible. This is an evolution, not a series of revolutions.” Often, technological progress is achieved through the improvement and gradual innovation of existing technologies. This “spiral” progress means that technological development is often gradual, not a sudden leap.

斯密在1776年的《国民财富的性质和原因的研究》中提到，“一个国家的产业与劳动生产力的增进程度如果是极高的，则各种行业的分工一般也都达到极高的程度”。分工的深化促进了国际合作和全球价值链的整合。国家可以通过参与国际生产网络，分享全球创新和增长的红利。马特·里德利在《创新的起源》一书中认为，传统生产力提高更多的是依靠渐进式的创新，“在前进的过程中，每一个关键的发明都是建立于前一个发明之上的，并且让下一个发明成为可能。这是一种演化，而非一系列革命。”很多时候，技术的进步是通过对现有技术的改进和逐步创新来实现的。这种“回旋”式的进步意味着技术发展往往是渐进的，而不是突然的跳跃。

Incremental innovation is usually more stable, lower in risk, and more easily accepted by the market. Although disruptive innovation may bring huge market upheaval and economic benefits, its uncertainty and risk are also relatively greater. However, in the context of global digital technology competition, developed countries attempt to further solidify China’s position in the global division of labor, trapping China in a vicious cycle of a “race to the bottom” with other developing countries in the middle and lower links of manufacturing. To ensure their own advantages are not surpassed, developed countries implement strict protection in patents and technology, restrict technological cooperation with developing countries, and force developing countries to rely more on independent innovation to achieve technological catch-up, further intensifying technological competition between nations. Only through disruptive innovation can a place be secured in the white-hot international competition.

渐进式创新通常更加稳定、风险较低，并且更容易被市场接受。颠覆式创新虽然可能带来巨大的市场颠覆和经济效益，但它的不确定性和风险也相对更大。然而，在全球数字技术竞争背景下，发达国家企图进一步固化中国在全球分工中的位置，使中国陷入与其他发展中国家在制造业的中下游环节“逐底竞争”的恶性循环中。发达国家为了保障自身的优势不被超越，在专利和技术领域实行严格的保护，限制与发展中国家的技术合作，迫使发展中国家更多地依赖自主创新实现技术赶超，进一步增加了国家之间的技术竞争。唯有通过颠覆式创新才能在白热化的国际竞争中占有一席之地。

(II) Restructuring of Increments: New Quality Productive Forces and Disruptive Innovation

（二）增量的重构：新质生产力与颠覆式创新

After the 15th century, Portugal and Spain, relying on the disruptive innovation of maritime navigation technology, became the discoverers of the New World and the leaders of the world economy at that time. The First Industrial Revolution, respectively called “economic take-off” by Rostow and “the great prosperity” by Phelps, occurred in Britain and made it a great power leading the world economy for a century precisely because it first achieved disruptive innovation in steam power. The invention of the steam engine was the watershed marking the transition from manual labor to the machine age. The steam engine itself was merely a product, but the industrial and industrial systems represented by the steam engine began to form on this basis, fundamentally changing the productive forces and relations of production of human society. As Marx classically stated in the *Communist Manifesto*, “The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication, draws all, even the most barbarian, nations into civilization.” [3]3 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, *The Communist Manifesto* (1848), describing the transformative global impact of the bourgeoisie. Subsequently, the United States replaced Britain as the leader of the world economy because it achieved competitive leadership in disruptive innovation during the Second Industrial Revolution, represented by electrification.

15世纪后，葡萄牙和西班牙正是依靠航海技术的颠覆式创新成为新大陆的发现者和当时世界经济的引领者。被罗斯托和费尔普斯分别称为“经济起飞”与“大繁荣”的第一次工业革命之所以出现在英国并使其成为引领世界经济长达百年的大国，是因为最早实现了蒸汽动力上的颠覆式创新。蒸汽机的发明是手工劳动进入机器时代的分水岭，蒸汽机本身只是一个产品，但是以蒸汽机为代表的工业和产业系统以此作为基础开始形成，使人类社会的生产力与生产关系发生了本质性变化。正如马克思在《共产党宣言》中的那段经典论述，“资产阶级，由于一切生产工具的迅速改进，由于交通的极其便利，把一切民族甚至最野蛮的民族都卷入文明中来了。”而后，美国替代英国成为世界经济领导者，是因为在以电气化为代表的第二次工业革命中实现了颠覆式创新的竞争领先。

“New quality productive forces” are not ordinary scientific and technological progress, nor marginal improvements in productive forces, but rather the breakthrough and innovation of original and disruptive technologies. Disruptive innovation involves major breakthroughs based on scientific principles and the cross-integration of technologies; that is, through fundamental changes in technology, it brings about new industries and markets. It is a major discovery from “0 to 1,” from nothing to something, offering a new understanding of the world. The world is entering an economic development period dominated by the information industry. Historically, industrial development and economic growth have mainly relied on factors such as labor, capital, and energy. However, in the future mode of productive forces development, the intervention of the data factor has caused new changes in the production function. As Richard Baldwin pointed out in his book *The Great Convergence*, advances in information and communication technology have reduced communication costs, prompting the combination of technological factors with low-cost labor factors, driving the rapid industrialization of latecomer countries, thus giving rise to the “Great Convergence.” [4]4 Richard Baldwin, *The Great Convergence: Information Technology and the New Globalization* (2016), arguing that ICT enabled developing nations to industrialize rapidly by linking their low-cost labor with global knowledge. Buckmann and Weigel, in their book *The Growth Trap*, also refute the traditional view that Western countries are ushering in a new innovation revolution. A major economic problem in today’s Western world is that there is too little disruptive innovation, not too much. The capitalist system, which once pursued bold ideas and encouraged innovation, now produces more mediocre output. This creates conditions for developing countries to catch up with developed countries and thereby break through the long-standing exploitative international industrial division of labor model.

“新质生产力”不是普通的科技进步，也不是生产力边际上的改进，而是要实现原创性颠覆性技术的突破和创新。颠覆性创新是具有基于科学原理重大突破和技术的交叉融合，即通过技术的根本性改变带来新的产业和市场，是从“0到1”、从无到有的，对世界有新理解的重大发现。世界正在进入以信息产业为主导的经济发展时期。历史上产业发展与经济增长主要依靠劳动力、资本、能源等要素，但是未来的生产力发展模式中，数据要素的介入让生产函数发生了新的变化。正如理查德·鲍德温在《大合流》一书中所指出的，信息通信技术的进步降低了交流成本，促使技术要素与低成本劳动力要素结合，推动了后发国家的快速工业化，由此出现了“大合流”。巴克曼和韦格尔在《增长陷阱》一书中也驳斥了传统观点所认为的西方国家正迎来一场崭新的创新革命。当今西方世界中一个主要的经济问题在于颠覆性创新不是太多，而是太少。曾经追求异想天开、鼓励推陈出新的资本主义体系如今更多是平庸无奇的产出。这为发展中国家追赶发达国家，进而突破长期以来形成的带有剥削性质的国际产业分工模式创造了条件。

II. Industrial Competition Has Become a New Model of Modern National Competition

二、产业竞争成为现代国家竞争的新模式

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Historical experience shows that those countries that seized the opportunities of scientific and technological revolutions to achieve modernization are all countries with strong scientific foundations; those countries that seized the opportunities of scientific and technological revolutions to become world powers are all countries that are in the leading ranks in important scientific and technological fields.” [5]5 Quotation from Xi Jinping’s speech at the 20th National Congress of the CPC, October 16, 2022. The world is currently undergoing changes unseen in a century. Competition and innovation are the themes of the new trends in economic globalization, and boosting the leap of productive forces through scientific and technological innovation is the focal point of competition among major powers.

习近平总书记指出：“历史经验表明，那些抓住科技革命机遇走向现代化的国家，都是科学基础雄厚的国家；那些抓住科技革命机遇成为世界强国的国家，都是在重要科技领域处于领先行列的国家。”当前世界正经历百年未有之大变局，竞争和创新是经济全球化新趋势的主题，以科技创新助推生产力跃迁是大国竞争的角力点。

Territory, population, and natural resources were once the main targets of competition among major powers. However, after World War II, in the context of globalization, competition between nations is no longer limited to traditional military, political, and geostrategic levels, but is increasingly manifested as competition in economic strength and technological capability, the essence of which is industrial competition. Economic historian Joel Mokyr emphasizes, “One of the important reasons for the divide between rich and poor countries is that rich countries have better technology, that is, they have a superior ability to control and utilize nature and personnel for productive purposes.” [6]6 Joel Mokyr, *The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress* (1990), emphasizing technological superiority as a key factor in national wealth. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, also pointed out, “During the Fourth Industrial Revolution, technology is expanding exponentially, forming physical products, changing society, and reshaping our future.” [7]7 Klaus Schwab, *The Fourth Industrial Revolution* (2016), describing the transformative impact of digital technologies.

幅员、人口和自然资源曾经是大国争夺的主要目标，但是二战后在全球化背景下，国家之间的竞争已经不再局限于传统的军事、政治和地缘战略层面，而是越来越多地表现为经济实力和技术能力的竞争，其本质则是产业的竞争。经济史学家乔尔·莫基尔强调，“富国与穷国的分野的重要原因之一在于它们的技术更好，即富国为了生产性目的，控制和利用大自然和人员的能力更为高超。”世界经济论坛创始人兼执行主席克劳斯·施瓦布也指出，“在第四次工业革命期间，技术以指数级扩展，形成实体产品，正在改变社会并重塑我们的未来。”

To this end, the report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC emphatically stressed, “We will continue to focus our efforts on developing the real economy and advance new industrialization.” The real economy is a key component of the national economy and an important carrier for the optimal allocation and effective functioning of various factors of production. The real economy is the foundation of China’s development and a vital support for building strategic advantages for the future. Developing the real economy and forming new quality productive forces require a stable, open, fair, and orderly market environment to ensure the efficient allocation of resources and the healthy development of industries. However, as William Easterly pointed out in *The Elusive Quest for Growth*, “To seize the opportunity of technological leapfrogging, a certain level of technical skill, infrastructure, prior technological experience, and good government policies are needed.” Wen Yi, in *The Great Chinese Industrial Revolution*, argues that a successful industrialization requires collective action by the government and market participants to overcome the enormous social costs faced in market creation and the provision of public goods; otherwise, “missing markets” and “development traps” at different stages will emerge. The theory of national innovation systems proposed by Christopher Freeman also supports this view. Freeman argues that a national innovation system is “a network of institutions in the public and private sectors whose activities and interactions initiate, import, modify, and diffuse new technologies. Innovation becomes a key dynamic system for national development, and the subject of innovation is the state.” Angus Deaton also noted: “Rich and poor countries alike have technology and knowledge, but for production to function as it does in rich countries, poor countries must also possess the infrastructure of rich countries, such as roads, railways, telecommunications, factories, and machinery.” The establishment of these public infrastructures can often only be achieved through government investment and construction using national finances.

为此，党的二十大报告着重强调，“坚持把发展经济的着力点放在实体经济上，推进新型工业化”。实体经济是国民经济的关键组成部分，是各类生产要素得以优化配置并有效发挥作用的重要载体。实体经济是我国发展的本钱，也是构筑未来发展战略优势的重要支撑。发展实体经济，形成新质生产力需要一个稳定、开放、公平、有序的市场环境，以确保资源高效配置和产业健康发展。但是正如伊斯特利在《经济增长的迷雾》一书中指出的，“要抓住技术跨越的这一机会，需要有一定的技术水平、基础设施、以前的技术经验和良好的政府政策。”文一在《伟大的中国工业革命》一书中认为，一个成功的工业化需要政府和市场参与者的集体行动来克服在市场创造和公共产品提供方面所面临的巨大社会成本，否则就会出现“市场缺失”和不同发展阶段的“发展陷阱”。弗里曼提出的国家创新系统理论中同样支持了这一观点。弗里曼认为，国家创新系统是“由公共部门和私营部门中的各种机构组成的网络，这些机构的活动和相互作用促进了新技术的开发、引进、改进和扩散。创新成为国家发展的关键动力系统，而创新的主体则是国家。”安格斯·迪顿也指出：“富裕国家和贫困国家都有着技术与知识，但是要想让生产像富裕国家那样运转起来，穷国也必须拥有富裕国家那样的基础设施，比如公路、铁路、电信、工厂、机械等。” 这些公共基础设施的建立往往只能通过政府，以国家财政的方式所投资建设。

III. Several Theoretical Misunderstandings in Shaping National Competitive Advantage through New Quality Productive Forces

三、新质生产力塑造国家竞争优势的几个理论误区

(A) Complete Marketization

（一）完全市场化

From the perspective of institutionalist scholars, the state is merely an instrument for controlling violence and providing social order. In their co-authored book *Why Nations Fail*, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson particularly emphasize that inclusive economic institutions protect property rights, create a level playing field for competition, and encourage investment in new technologies and new skills. However, beyond this, they believe the state’s role is limited to creating and maintaining inclusive institutions and “facilitating” the market mechanism. Clearly, they do not believe that governments can successfully implement development strategies. To date, the analyses of most institutional economists lack a clear and systematic understanding of the potentially “beneficial” effects of active, interventionist government policies on economic activity; government policy, in their view, need only focus on “getting prices right.”

在制度学派的学者看来，国家仅是控制暴力和提供社会秩序的工具。达龙·阿西莫格鲁和詹姆斯·罗宾逊合著的《国家为什么会失败》一书中特别强调，包容性的经济制度通过保护产权，创造公平竞争的环境，鼓励投资于新技术和新技能。但是除此之外，他们认为国家的角色仅限于创建和维护包容性制度，并为市场机制“提供便利”。很明显，他们不相信政府能够成功地实施发展战略。到目前为止，绝大多数制度经济学家的分析对于积极的、干预主义的政府政策对经济活动可能产生的“有利”影响，缺乏明晰的、系统的认识，政府政策只关注“把价格搞对”就可以了。

John Sheahan, examining the economic history of Latin America, found that due to technological progress, the industrialization of Latin American countries from 1945 to 1980 proceeded almost simultaneously with the leapfrog development of industrialized countries moving from domestic to global markets. However, the seeds of subsequent decline had already been sown. Foreign investment flowed more heavily into relatively developed countries that needed it least, because these countries had obvious market opportunities and necessary technological advantages. Moreover, foreign investment did not always create enterprises that domestic entrepreneurs could not build; more commonly, it took over existing companies. The enterprises taken over were generally not weak or poorly managed domestic firms, but rather the most dynamic state-owned enterprises that had the potential to become leading firms.

约翰·希恩通过考察拉美地区的经济史，发现由于科技的进步，1945—1980年的拉美国家的工业化发展与同时期工业化国家从国内走向世界实现飞跃式发展几乎同时进行。但是，随后的衰败其实早已埋下了伏笔。外国投资更多地流入了那些最不需要外国投资的相对发达的国家，因为这些国家的市场机会和必要技术优势明显。而且，它们并非总是创建国内企业家都建不起来的企业，更常见的是接管现有公司。那些被接管的企业一般不是弱小或管理不当的国内公司，而是那些有可能成为龙头企业的最有活力的国有企业。

(B) Industrial Hollowing-Out and Excessive Financialization

（二）产业空心化和过度金融化

Marx had already pointed out: “In the 1850s, fictitious capital first caused an industrial boom and then triggered the crash of 1857.” With the prolonged stagnation of the capitalist economy, the inherent nature of capital to maximize the extraction of surplus value drives industrial capital to shift to high-profit industries such as finance, or to relocate to other high-profit countries (regions). The description “capital flows around the world, profits flow back to the West” precisely depicts developing countries moving away from manufacturing and technological innovation, falling into deeper development traps. In *Capital*, Marx emphasized, “The credit system accelerates the material development of productive forces and the formation of the world market.” In Marx’s view, the form of realization of expanded reproduction is the capitalization of surplus value, i.e., capital accumulation. Credit capital, by participating in the overall process of capital accumulation and the equalization of profit rates, appropriates interest income from surplus value. For financial and credit capital to play a positive role in economic development and the progress of productive forces, capital accumulation must be promoted to serve material reproduction; if financial oligarchs monopolize financial credit and detach it from the reproduction of material goods, then financial capital will damage the real economy and undermine social productive forces.

马克思早已指出：“在50年代，虚拟资本先是使得工业繁荣，后又引起1857年的崩溃”。伴随资本主义经济长期停滞，资本最大程度攫取剩余价值的内在本性决定了产业资本转移至金融等高盈利行业，或者驱使产业转移至其他高利润国家（地区）。“资本流遍全球，利润流回西方”描述的正是发展中国家远离制造业和技术创新，陷入更深层次的发展陷阱。在《资本论》中，马克思强调，“信用制度加速了生产力的物质上的发展和世界市场的形成。”在马克思看来，扩大再生产的实现形式是剩余价值的资本化，即资本积累。而信贷资本通过参与资本积累总过程和利润率的平均化从剩余价值中分割利息收入。若使金融和信贷资本发挥对经济发展和生产力进步的积极作用，必须推进资本积累服务于物质再生产；如若形成金融寡头垄断了金融信贷，脱离了物质资料再生产，则金融资本就会损害实体经济破坏社会生产力。

(C) Static Comparative Advantage Theory

（三）静态比较优势理论

The principle of comparative advantage has been controversial since its inception: on the one hand, trade liberals regard it as a golden rule; on the other hand, trade protectionists denounce it as the root of all evil. Ricardo, from a static perspective, argued that specializing according to comparative advantage and engaging in free trade is the optimal choice for a country. Heckscher and Ohlin further added the factor of capital to Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage, providing a more detailed depiction of the sources of trade gains: based on different factor endowment structures and relative factor prices, differences in technological structures under the same level of technology give two countries their respective comparative advantages, and trade allows both to obtain comparative gains. However, the very reason many developing countries have been unable to join the ranks of developed countries is precisely because they followed this trade principle and failed to establish their own manufacturing systems. Joseph Stiglitz similarly pointed out that “tariff structures are designed to encourage African countries to produce raw materials rather than higher value-added products, which are designated as the work of developed countries.”

比较优势原理从诞生至今都一直存在争议：一方面，贸易自由主义者将其奉为圭臬；另一方面，贸易保护主义者将其诟病为万恶之源。李嘉图从静态视角出发，认为根据比较优势实行专业化分工并开展自由贸易是国家的最优选择。赫克歇尔和俄林进一步在李嘉图比较优势理论的基础上加入了资本要素，对贸易利益来源进行了更细致的刻画：根据不同的要素禀赋结构与要素相对价格，相同技术水平下的技术结构差异使两国形成了各自比较优势，进行贸易可以使两国都获得比较利益。但是，许多发展中国家之所以无法迈入发达国家的行列，恰恰是因为遵循了这种贸易原则，没有建立自己的制造业体系。斯蒂格利茨同样指出“关税结构旨在鼓励非洲国家生产原材料，而不是生产附加值更高的而这些被设定为发达国家分内的工作。”

No country can achieve national prosperity and strength by relying on only one industry; a manufacturing system formed through the collaboration of multiple industries is the foundation of a nation. When a large number of developing countries attempt industrial transformation, they face not only disadvantages in tariffs and investment but also a situation of weak technological accumulation. In addition to traditional trade tariffs and financial monopoly measures, developed countries also use technological monopolies to curb the technological upgrading of developing countries and block normal technology transfer. Currently, whether in the chip industry or the entire semiconductor sector, the Western countries led by the United States have targeted Chinese high-tech enterprises across the entire process, from development and design to software platforms, hardware, and market sales. They also exert external pressure on other countries and enterprises to jointly or coercively abandon Chinese tech companies’ products and services. From the Trump administration’s *American AI Initiative* to the Biden administration’s *National Security Strategy (2022)*, restrictions on semiconductors have expanded from initial tariff measures to current export controls, investment reviews, chip alliances, and other forms of long-arm jurisdiction, restricting foreign enterprises’ exports to China and comprehensively obstructing the catch-up of China’s semiconductor industry. The “hard injury” of being dependent on others in these key technology industries is precisely the result of these industries in China having long followed comparative advantage, vigorously developing assembly and other mid-to-lower segments of the value chain, while core technologies have remained unbreakable.

没有任何一个国家能够只依靠一种产业实现民富国强，多产业共同协作构成的制造业体系才是立国之本。当大量的发展中国家试图进行工业化改造时面临的不仅仅是关税、投资的劣势，还面临着技术积累薄弱的局面，发达国家除了以往的贸易关税、金融垄断手段外，还利用技术垄断来遏制发展中国家的技术升级，阻断正常的技术转移。当前，无论是芯片还是整个半导体产业，以美国为首的西方国家对中国高科技企业的打击的范围从开发设计、软件平台、硬件和市场销售等全过程，同时还对外施压给其他国家与企业，联合或胁迫放弃中国科技企业产品与服务。从特朗普政府的《人工智能倡议》到拜登政府的《国家安全战略（2022年版）》，对半导体的限制从最初的关税措施扩大到现今的出口管制、投资审查、芯片联盟等长臂管辖，限制外国企业对华出口，全方位阻挠中国半导体产业追赶。在这些关键技术产业上受制于人的“硬伤”，恰恰是由于我国这些产业长期遵循比较优势，大力发展组装等价值链中下游环节，核心技术一直无法突破的结果。

IV. Key Breakthroughs for Shaping National Competitive Advantage through New Quality Productive Forces

四、以新质生产力塑造国家竞争优势的关键突破口

(A) Accelerating the Construction of a New Nationwide System for Mobilizing Resources

（一）加快构建新型举国体制

Both theory and practice have proven that the nationwide system for mobilizing resources can both fully leverage the decisive role of the market in resource allocation and better play the role of the government. General Secretary Xi Jinping also emphasized: “Our greatest advantage is that our socialist system can concentrate resources to accomplish major tasks. This is an important magic weapon for our success in our endeavors.” [8]8 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Conference Commemorating the 95th Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese Communist Party” (July 1, 2016). Now, the new nationwide system for mobilizing resources has the new core task of tackling key core technologies and a new target orientation: “to form competitive advantages in several important areas and gain strategic initiative.” [9]9 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party” (October 29, 2020).

理论与实践均已证明，举国体制既能充分发挥市场在资源配置中的决定性作用，又能更好发挥政府作用。习近平总书记也强调：“我们最大的优势是我国社会主义制度能够集中力量办大事。这是我们成就事业的重要法宝。”现在，新型举国体制有了关键核心技术攻关这一新的核心任务，也有了新的目标定位“在若干重要领域形成竞争优势、赢得战略主动。”

For a nation, in fields of major scientific and technological innovation—such as aerospace systems, high-speed rail technology, quantum communication, artificial intelligence, and the industrial internet—what is needed is not merely technological innovation in isolation, but rather a holistic approach starting from the nation’s medium- and long-term development strategy, achieving the organic integration of science and technology strategy, education strategy, industrial strategy, and financial, talent, and diplomatic strategies. By driving the horizontal integration and vertical upgrading of various elements through strategic vision, an inexhaustible impetus can be provided for building a strong nation in scientific and technological innovation, making significant leading contributions to global peace and sustainable development. Therefore, to leverage the advantages of the new nationwide system for mobilizing resources [10]10 The “new nationwide system for mobilizing resources” (新型举国体制) refers to a contemporary Chinese model of state-led resource mobilization for strategic technological breakthroughs, which combines state planning with market mechanisms. and enhance scientific and technological innovation capacity, it is essential to strengthen the coordination and cooperation between government and market on the basis of clarifying their respective divisions of labor. Breaking down the barriers between research institutes, factory production lines, and capital markets, forming a virtuous interaction of “technology-industry-finance,” will maximize the release of industrial innovation vitality and stimulate the growth potential of productive forces, thereby shaping a solid national competitive advantage.

对于国家而言，在重大科技创新领域——如航天系统、高铁技术量子通信、人工智能和工业互联网等领域，不仅仅需要单纯的技术创新，更需要从国家中长期发展战略入手，实现科技战略、教育战略、产业战略与金融、人才、外交战略的有机整合，通过战略视野驱动各要素的横向整合和纵向提升，为建设科技创新强国提供源源不竭的动力，为全球的和平和可持续发展做出重大的引领性贡献。因此，发挥新型举国体制优势，提高科技创新能力，必须在明确政府与市场分工的基础上加强二者的协同配合。打通科研院所、工厂生产线和资本市场之间的阻隔，形成“科技—产业—金融”的良性互动，最大程度地释放产业创新活力，激发生产力增长潜力，从而塑造坚实的国家竞争优势。

(II) Promoting the Deep Integration of the Digital Economy and the Real Economy

（二）促进数字经济和实体经济深度融合

Vigorously advance the digitalization of industries and the industrialization of digital technologies. Data elements constitute the core “software” support for the development of the digital economy, while digital infrastructure provides the “hardware” support. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the supply of high-quality data elements, accelerate the market-based circulation of data elements, and innovate mechanisms for the development and utilization of data elements. The digitalized business model also enables financial services to break through geographical limitations, lowering financial thresholds and achieving broader financial coverage and higher service efficiency, thereby promoting the quantity and efficiency of technological innovation in real enterprises. The government should scientifically guide financial institutions to provide a sound institutional environment for digital finance to support the healthy development of the real economy. By providing information technology platforms for industrial development, accelerating the cooperation, sharing, and interactive integration of production factors, product R&D, technological innovation, and markets, resource allocation can be further optimized, and operational costs across departments can be reduced. This can drive the digital transformation of upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain, promote the integrated development of various industries, and thereby drive the formation of new quality productive forces.

大力推进数字产业化和产业数字化。数据要素则是数字经济发展的核心“软件”支撑，数字基础设施则是数字经济发展的“硬件”支撑。因此，强化高质量数据要素供给、加快数据要素市场化流通、创新数据要素开发利用机制。数字化的经营模式也使金融服务突破地理限制，降低了金融门槛，实现更广阔的金融覆盖和更高的服务效率，从而促进实体企业技术创新的数量和效率。政府应科学引导金融机构，为数字金融支持实体经济的健康发展提供良好的制度环境。通过为产业发展提供信息技术平台，加速生产要素、产品研发、技术创新及市场方面合作共享与交互融合，进一步优化资源配置，降低各部门运营成本。这能推动产业链上下游企业数字化转型，促使各类产业融合发展，进而驱动新质生产力的形成。

New forms of e-commerce consumption derived from the development of the digital economy can effectively improve the efficiency of matching market supply and demand, refine the employment structure and income distribution system, and thereby promote the transformation and upgrading of the real economy. This is conducive to solving problems in the alignment of production, operation, circulation, and services, improving production and service efficiency, and reshaping a new pattern of industrial division of labor and cooperation. While encouraging platform enterprises to grow bigger and stronger, it is necessary to clarify the boundaries of their rights and responsibilities, establish a full-cycle regulatory system, and form a standardized and meticulous negative list management system. Implement the anti-monopoly law, promptly correct and stop the abuse of market position by online platforms; raise the entry threshold for internet platform companies in finance, public services, and security sectors, and strengthen supervision to prevent and defuse the generation and spread of social risks in the platform economy.

数字经济发展所衍生出的新型电商消费形式可有效提高市场供需匹配效率，完善就业结构及收入分配制度，进而推动实体经济转型升级。这有利于解决生产、经营、流通、服务等对接问题，提高生产与服务效率，重塑产业分工协作新格局。在鼓励平台企业做大做强的同时，厘清平台企业权益与责任的边界，建立全周期的监管体系，形成规范而周密的负面清单管理制度。落实反垄断法，及时纠正和制止网络平台滥用市场地位；提高金融、公共服务、安全类互联网平台公司的准入门槛并强化监管，防范和化解平台经济领域社会风险的生成和扩散。

(III) Building a Modernized Industrial System

（三）建设现代化产业体系

Along with the advancement of a new round of technological revolution and industrial revolution, global industrial chains have been severely impacted. To cope with the complex internal and external environment, China needs to grasp the laws of industrial transfer and actively participate in the adjustment of the global industrial layout. Deepening scientific and technological innovation can fill the gaps in industrial chains, enhance the independent and controllable capability of industrial and supply chains, effectively respond to external containment, suppression, and uncertain risks, and lay a solid foundation for improving the resilience and security level of industrial chains, building a modernized industrial system, and forming new quality productive forces. High-tech industries are the great instruments of the state [11]11 “Great instruments of the state” (国之重器) is a classical Chinese idiom originally referring to ritual vessels or symbols of state power, now used metaphorically for strategically vital industries or technologies., the core driving force leading the innovative development of the entire industrial system, empowering the national economy to achieve leapfrog growth and shaping new national competitive advantages.

伴随新一轮科技革命与产业革命推进，全球产业链受到严重冲击。为应对复杂的内外部环境，我国需把握产业转移规律，主动参与全球产业布局调整。深入推进科技创新可以补齐产业链短板，增强产业链供应链自主可控能力，有效应对外部遏制打压和不确定性风险，为提升产业链韧性和安全水平、构建现代化产业体系、形成新质生产力夯实基础。高技术产业是国之重器，是引领整个产业体系创新发展的核心驱动力，赋能国家经济实现跨越式增长，塑造新的国家竞争优势。

The important carrier of new quality productive forces is the modernized industrial system. Although China has now become the “world’s factory,” industrial upgrading requires manufacturing enterprises to continuously transform, fully utilizing the production and sales network that includes elements such as finance, technology, and logistics. Currently, China is in an important period of steadily advancing towards Chinese-path modernization, where exogenous risks and endogenous challenges are intertwined. Therefore, in the process of climbing to the middle and upper reaches of the global value chain, safeguarding national security must be the core mission. It is not just manufacturing; the report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC [12]12 The 20th National Congress of the CPC was held in October 2022, where Xi Jinping delivered also emphasized the need to strengthen security capacity building in key areas, ensuring the security of grain, energy resources, and important industrial and supply chains. Therefore, it is essential to fully ensure the independent controllability, security, and reliability of grain, energy resources, and key industrial and supply chains. Fully deploy in key industrial areas related to the national economy and people’s livelihood, the lifeline of the national economy, and national security, continuously enhancing China’s proactive layout capability in the global division of labor system and its ability to integrate and control global industrial and supply chains.

新质生产力的重要载体是现代化产业体系。如今我国虽已成为“世界工厂”，但产业升级要求制造业企业不断转型，充分利用包括金融、科技、物流等要素在内的生产和销售网络。当前，我国正处于不断向中国式现代化大步前行的重要时期，外源性风险和内源性挑战相互交织。因此，在攀升全球价值链中上游的过程中，必须以维护国家安全为核心使命。不仅仅是制造业，党的二十大报告同样强调要加强重点领域安全能力建设，确保粮食、能源资源、重要产业链供应链安全。因此，要充分保障粮食、能源资源、重点产业链供应链的自主可控与安全可靠。在关系国计民生、国家经济命脉、国家安全等重点产业领域充分布局，不断增强我国在全球分工体系中的主动布局能力和对全球产业链供应链的整合控制能力。

(IV) Building World-Class Enterprises

（四）打造世界一流企业

Accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces requires enhancing the vitality of state-owned enterprises, deepening mixed-ownership reform, improving the modern enterprise system compatible with market rules, strengthening the competitiveness and influence of state-owned enterprises, and fully leveraging their role in leading industrial upgrading. State-owned enterprises have reached the international frontier in core technological innovations in fields such as manned spaceflight, ultra-high voltage power transmission, and high-speed railways. Central enterprises and other state-owned enterprises must bravely shoulder heavy burdens, dare to take the lead, and act as the “source” of original technologies and the “chain leader” of modern industrial chains. High-difficulty technological and industrial innovations more often need to be undertaken by modern state-owned enterprises. Many large state-owned enterprises, as the leaders of industrial chains, have the capacity to promote the connection and operation of upstream and downstream, production and supply, and sales, making the technological supply of the entire industrial chain better oriented towards the market and the nation’s major strategic needs. Therefore, state-owned enterprises have both the capacity and the responsibility to play a significant role.

加快形成新质生产力需要增强国有企业活力，深化混合所有制改革，完善与市场规则相适应的现代企业制度，增强国有企业的竞争力和影响力，充分发挥其引领产业升级的作用。国有企业在载人航天、特高压输电以及高速铁路等领域的核心技术创新已经达到了国际前沿水平。中央企业等国有企业要勇挑重担、敢打头阵，勇当原创技术的“策源地”、现代产业链的“链长”。高难度的科技产业创新更多需要现代国有企业来承担。很多大型国有企业作为产业链的龙头，有能力推动上下游、产供销衔接运转，使整条产业链的技术供给更好地面向市场、面向国家重大战略需求。因此国有企业有能力，也有责任发挥重大作用。

Accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces requires not only large state-owned enterprises and leading enterprises but also the cultivation and nurturing of a large number of specialized and sophisticated “little giant” enterprises [13] from the vast pool of private enterprises, creating industry “champions” or “hidden champions.” Private enterprises full of innovative vitality have always been an important new force in China’s scientific and technological innovation. They can form R&D consortia with state-owned enterprises characterized by “strong synergy, loose coupling,” strengthening professional cooperation and supporting capabilities, and developing together. Through policy measures such as tax and fee reductions and improving financing support systems, effectively solve a series of development difficulties faced by private enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-enterprises. Further create a favorable tax system environment that encourages innovation investment. At the same time, actively foster a social environment that respects and encourages entrepreneurs to innovate and start businesses, better stimulate, protect, and promote the entrepreneurial spirit, and accumulate sustained new momentum for new quality productive forces.

加快形成新质生产力，不仅要有大型的国有企业与龙头企业，还要从广大民营企业中挖掘与培育一大批专精特新“小巨人”企业，打造行业“单项冠军”或“隐形冠军”。富有创新活力的民营企业一直是我国科技创新的重要生力军，能够与国有企业形成“强协同、松耦合”的研发联合体，强化专业合作配套能力，共同发展。通过减税降费、健全融资支持制度等方面的政策措施，切实解决民营企业尤其是中小微企业面临的一系列发展难题。进一步营造激励创新投入的良好税制环境。同时也积极营造尊重和鼓励企业家创新创业的社会环境，更好地激发、保护、弘扬企业家精神，为新质生产力积蓄持续新动能。

(Author Biographies: Zhou Wen, Distinguished Professor of the Changjiang Scholars Program of the Ministry of Education, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the Research Institute of Marxism and the Research Center for the Sinicization of Marxist Economics, Fudan University; Yang Zhengyuan, Master’s Student at the Research Institute of Marxism, Fudan University)

（作者简介：周文，教育部长江学者特聘教授，复旦大学马克思主义研究院、马克思主义经济学中国化研究中心教授、博士生导师；杨正源，复旦大学马克思主义研究院硕士研究生）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心