The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee pointed out that the '15th Five-Year Plan' period is critical period for laying a solid foundation and exerting full strength to achieve the basic modernization of socialism, playing an important role of connecting the past with the future in the process of the basic modernization of socialism. Faced with the complex and changeable domestic and international situation, to accomplish the arduous and glorious tasks of this period, it is necessary deeply understand and fully play the advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the advantages of the super-large market, the advantages of the complete industrial system, and the advantages of abundant human resources, so as to ensure that China's socialist modernization construction achieves decisive progress.

The institutional advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics
The institutional advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics are the fundamental institutional guarantee for ourization drive. Institutional advantages are a country's greatest advantages. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping its core, has placed great importance on institutional development. At the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, it outlined a grand blueprint for developing the of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we will strive to turn our institutional advantages into advantages in modernization.
The leadership the Communist Party of China is the greatest advantage under socialism with Chinese characteristics. The leadership of the Party determines the fundamental direction, future, and ultimate success or failure of Chinese-styleization. From the arduous exploration in the early days of the founding of New China, to the great leap during the reform and opening-up period, and then to the development in the new era, each step has been made possible by the Party's wisdom and strength. In the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we will uphold strengthen the centralized, unified leadership of the Central Committee. We will stay committed to using the Party's self-revolution to lead the social revolution. We will improve the's ability and level in leading economic and social development. We will fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the entire society to participate in the construction of Chinese- modernization. We will pool great strength for advancing Chinese-style modernization.
The remarkable advantage of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the ability to pool resources and accomplish great things As a key mechanism for mobilizing the resources of the whole country, the five-year plans have, from the perspective of long-term development and overall interests of the people, the allocation of resources throughout the country, promoted the combination of a positive market and a strong government, and set the focus of development efforts in each period in response to the principal contradiction that time. In the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we will focus this advantage on making breakthroughs in key fields, so as to form a concerted effort the country, and push China's modernization drive to ever-higher levels.
The super large-scale market is a strategic resource for China's modernization drive. With the continuous growth of's GDP and the improvement of per capita GDP, China has become one of the most dynamic and potential markets in the world. In 2024, China's GDP 130 trillion yuan, and per capita GDP exceeded US$13,000. The super large-scale market not only provides broad space for industrial upgrading but also builds a resilient modern economic system through dynamic balance between demand and supply, deep integration of innovation and industry, and two-way interaction between domestic and international.
 super large-scale market produces a powerful driving force. From the perspective of demand, the consumption upgrade of 1.4 billion people constitutes the largest incremental market in the world, its scale effect is enough to reduce the cost of innovation, accelerate technological iteration, and enable enterprises to dare to invest in high-risk and long-term technological research and development, a soil for the "from 0 to 1" breakthrough of emerging industries. From the perspective of supply, the industrial ecology formed by the super large-scale market has a self-reinforcing ability. The cost advantage brought by the complete industrial chain makes Chinese production have a global price competitive advantage. The agglomeration effect of data elements has a new paradigm for the digital economy and built a unique competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, we should adhere to strategic focus of expanding domestic demand, adhere to benefiting the people and promoting consumption, lead new supply with new demand, create new demand with new supply, resolutely break through blockages, build a unified domestic market, and promote China's industries to develop in the direction of high-end, intelligentization and greening.
The super largescale market produces a powerful driving force. Against the backdrop of economic fluctuations and trade protectionism, China's super large consumer capacity and complete industrial chain have effectively avoided the resonance of downturn. The power effect of the super large-scale market will also turn market advantages into the right to formulate rules, enhancing China's voice and influence in global economic governance. the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China's development environment is facing profound and complex changes, and China's development is in a period where strategic opportunities risks coexist, and uncertain and unexpected factors increase. We should make full use of the advantages of the super large-scale market to build a stabilizer for our economy to resist shocks.
The advantage of a complete industrial system
China has the most complete industrial system in the world, covering 41 industrial categories, 207 medium categories and 666 sub-categories. The added value of manufacturing accounts for about 30 percent of the global total. This is not only a key support for coping with global changes and achieving high-quality development, but also a core driving force for building a new pattern of development and promoting the advancement of-style modernization.
A complete industrial system helps build a new pattern of development. From an international comparison, the general law of economic development in major and powerful countries to have a strong domestic circulation endogenous driving force and reliability. In an unstable and uncertain external environment, it must be possible to circulate internally to enhance economic resilience. With complete industrial system, relevant scientific research forces and production practices can work together to innovate, gradually achieve technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrading, and enable the country to have a strong buffer and self-circulation capacity. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we should accelerate the construction of a new pattern of development, combine the strategy of expanding demand with deepening supply-side structural reform organically, and strive for simultaneous efforts and coordinated coordination in both supply and demand to continuously improve the quality and efficiency of the economic cycle
A complete industrial system helps build a modern industrial system. There is an upstream and downstream relationship and synergy among different industries, and a complete industrial layout allows resources flow efficiently within and between industries. The positive interaction among industries allows resources to be concentrated on superior industries and efficient links, improving the efficiency of resource use, reducing production costs, and the overall competitiveness of the industry. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we should insist on focusing on the development of the real economy, accelerate the construction of strong manufacturing country, a strong quality country, a strong aerospace country, a strong transportation country, and a strong cyberspace country, maintain a reasonable share of manufacturing, and a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone.
Enriching talent resources is a foundation for self-reliance and self-improvement in science and. The essence of self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology lies in building an independent and controllable technological innovation system, and its core is to break key core technologies and grasp the initiative of development. This process heavily relies on the collaborative innovation of strategic scientists, top-notch scientific researchers, and basic research talents. Strategic scientists guide direction, top talents overcome difficulties, and basic talents accumulate and emerge, forming a talent ladder that is deeply coupled with the innovation chain, industrial chain, and value chain needed for the of new-quality productive forces. This resonance between talent resources and industrial transformation provides the confidence to break the technological blockade and the core driving force for promoting high-quality economic. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it is necessary to give full play to the unique advantages of the multi-level talent ladder and significantly improve the level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology.
Enriching talent resources is key to fostering new-quality productive forces. New-quality forces are characterized by scientific and technological innovation as the core driving force, and their essence is the optimization and leap of the combination of laborers, means of labor, and objects labor. The leap in productive forces driven by talent not only reflects in the improvement of efficiency but also in the creation of new value growth points, forming a virtuous cycle of technologicals, industrial upgrading, and talent aggregation. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it is necessary to give full play to the advantages of talent resources, seize historical opportunity of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, coordinate the construction of an education power, a science and technology power, and a talent power, improve overall efficiency of the national innovation system, fully enhance the ability of independent innovation, seize the commanding heights of scientific and technological development, and continuously foster new-quality productive forces.
In summary, the four major advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the super-large market, the complete industrial system, and the abundant talent resources jointly converge into the outstanding of China's modernization construction. Among them, the institutional advantage provides fundamental guarantee, the market advantage releases the potential of domestic demand, the industrial advantage consolidates the material, and the talent advantage drives innovation and development. These advantages support and cooperate with each other, and will inevitably promote the cause of Chinese-style modernization in the 15 Five-Year Plan period to go steadily and far.
Author: Tao Wenzhao (Professor at Renmin University's School of Marxism, and Vice President of the Xi Jinping Thought on Social with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era Research Institute)