General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that guiding economic and social development through medium- and long-term planning is an important way in which our Party governs the country. The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese Modernization" (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision"), adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Party, makes systematic arrangements for improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning, and clearly defines the strategic direction and key measures for improving the planning institutional system, strengthening the mechanisms for planning alignment and implementation, and enhancing policy coordination. This is a major decision made by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, from a strategic and overall perspective, to improve the macroeconomic governance system. We must study and understand it deeply and resolutely implement it.

　　Deeply understand the important significance of improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning

　　General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that scientifically formulating and effectively implementing national development plans is conducive to maintaining the continuity and stability of national strategy, concentrating forces to accomplish major tasks, and ensuring that one blueprint is carried through to the end. Improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning is of great and far-reaching significance for solidly advancing Chinese modernization.

　　Improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning is an important way for the Party to effectively lead economic and social development. The formulation and implementation of national development plans fully reflect the organic unity of upholding Party leadership, the people being masters of the country, and law-based governance, and represent a notable strength of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. In the practice of modernization, China has explored and developed an institutional arrangement under the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, whereby the Party Central Committee's plenary session puts forward planning "recommendations," the State Council formulates a planning "outline," and the National People's Congress reviews and approves it before it is published and implemented for society, thereby effectively translating the Party's propositions into the will of the state and common action of the whole society. General Secretary Xi Jinping has always attached great importance to strategic planning work. As early as during his work in Fujian, he formulated a forward-looking 15-year development blueprint for Xiamen and the "3820" strategic project for Fuzhou; during his work in Zhejiang, he systematically laid out the "Eight-Eight Strategy." In particular, since the 18th National Congress of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping has personally planned, personally deployed, and personally promoted national development planning work, twice serving as head of the drafting group for the Central Committee's "recommendations," making strategic deployments for securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and comprehensively building a modern socialist country, and clearly putting forward a series of new ideas, new viewpoints, and new judgments such as basing ourselves on the new development stage, applying the new development philosophy, building a new development pattern, and promoting high-quality development, thus forming a scientific path in which the Party's innovative theory guides the drawing of planning blueprints and leads economic and social development. China's development has entered a period in which strategic opportunities and risks and challenges coexist and uncertainties and unforeseeable factors are increasing. It is all the more necessary to improve the institutional system of national economic and social development planning, so that planning becomes one of the important means by which the Party Central Committee sets direction, plans the overall situation, determines policy, and promotes reform, so that the Party Central Committee's centralized, unified leadership over economic and social development becomes stronger and more effective, and so as to fully gather the powerful strength of united struggle to jointly create great undertakings.

　　Improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning is a strong guarantee for advancing Chinese modernization. The formulation and implementation of national development plans have become a distinctive feature of China's economic and social development and an important part of what countries around the world draw on from China's experience. Since the founding of New China, our Party has, through the successive formulation and implementation of 14 five-year plans (programs), carried forward the long-term strategic goals of socialist modernization, established a complete industrial system and national economic system on the basis of poverty and blankness, achieved a historic leap from solving the problem of food and clothing to overall moderate prosperity and then to comprehensive moderate prosperity, and created the miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability rarely seen in the world. On the new journey, the 20th National Congress of the Party put forward the central task of comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization, clearly deployed the "two-step" strategic arrangement for comprehensively building a great modern socialist country, clearly depicted the overall goal of basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035, and set out a long-range vision for comprehensively building a great modern socialist country by the middle of this century. Improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning is conducive to focusing closely on this central task and strategic goal, maintaining the continuity and stability of the implementation of national strategy, carrying on the work one term after another and carrying one blueprint through to the end, and continuously advancing the grand cause of Chinese modernization.

　　Improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning is an inevitable requirement for accelerating the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. National development plans centrally embody national strategic intent, medium- and long-term goals, and phased tasks, play a key role in clarifying the priorities of government work, optimizing the direction of public resource allocation, and guiding the behavior of business entities, and are an effective means of macroeconomic governance under the conditions of the socialist market economy. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the role of national development plans in macroregulation has continued to strengthen. The reports of the 19th and 20th National Congresses of the Party emphasized innovating and improving macroregulation, improving the macroeconomic governance system, and giving play to the strategic guiding role of national development plans. In November 2018, the Party Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Unifying the Planning System and Better Giving Play to the Strategic Guiding Role of National Development Plans," making institutional arrangements for rationalizing planning relationships and improving planning management. An important task in advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity is to continuously enhance the effectiveness of macroeconomic governance, promote the combination of an efficient market and a capable government, the coordination of cross-cyclical design and counter-cyclical regulation, and the mutual promotion of aggregate improvement and structural optimization. Improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning can effectively give play to the important role of planning in coordinating the current and the long term, the comprehensive and the key, and the whole and the part, enable various regulatory means to be systematically integrated, coordinated, and efficient, and promote sustained and healthy economic development and faster improvement of national governance effectiveness.

　　Implement the key tasks of improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning

　　General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that it is necessary to accelerate the establishment of a planning system with sound institutions, scientific standards, and effective operation, and better give play to the strategic guiding role of national development plans. In response to prominent problems that affect the full play of the strategic guiding role of national development plans, such as an imperfect planning system, inadequate planning alignment, and uncoordinated planning goals and policy tools, the "Decision" sets out new requirements for improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning in terms of improving the planning system, strengthening the mechanisms for planning alignment and implementation, and optimizing the coordination and linkage mechanism between planning and macroregulation.

　　Improve the national planning system. The primary task in improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning is to build a national planning system with accurate positioning, clear boundaries, complementary functions, and unified alignment, so that plans at all levels and of all types perform their respective duties in a standardized and orderly manner.

　　First, fully give play to the strategic guiding role of national development plans. National development plans must fully implement the strategic intent of the Party Central Committee, focus closely on the strategic goal of comprehensively building a great modern socialist country, formulate timetables and roadmaps for phased implementation, and provide the overall basis for other plans to implement national strategic deployments. It is necessary to focus on the key issues and prominent weak links in promoting high-quality development and high-level security, plan and propose major strategies concerning the country's long-term development, major cross-departmental and cross-industry policies, and cross-regional major projects with overall impact, and enhance guidance and binding force for other plans.

　　Second, continuously strengthen the foundational role of territorial spatial planning. Territorial spatial planning must provide spatial guarantees for the implementation of major strategic tasks set by national development plans, and provide guidance and constraints for spatial development and protection activities proposed by other plans. It is necessary, based on the requirements for the territorial spatial development and protection pattern and the optimization of spatial structure proposed by national development plans, to scientifically lay out production, living, and ecological space, strengthen development intensity control and the precise implementation of the "three zones and three lines," and promote the formation of a territorial spatial system with complementary advantages and high-quality development.

　　Third, continuously enhance the supporting role of special plans and regional plans. ***Special plans should focus on key areas requiring concentrated efforts to achieve breakthroughs, such as scientific and technological innovation, infrastructure, green ecology, and livelihood security, and extend and refine the goals and tasks defined by national development plans in specific fields.*** Regional plans should, in accordance with the requirements of national development plans, implement major regional strategies and the strategy for coordinated regional development, strive to break down regional segmentation, coordinate and resolve major issues across administrative regions and river basins, and promote the deepened implementation of regional strategies within regions and their linkage and integration across regions.

　　Strengthen the mechanisms for planning alignment and implementation. The key to improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning is to implement the strategic intent of the Party Central Committee and the work deployments of the State Council, and, in accordance with the principles that lower-level plans are subordinate to higher-level plans, lower-level plans serve higher-level plans, and plans at the same level coordinate with one another, strengthen the alignment and coordination of plans at all levels and of all types, and ensure that a synergy of planning is formed.

　　First, strengthen vertical connectivity. It is necessary to ensure that other plans implement national development plans, improve planning management systems such as catalog lists, formulation and filing, and alignment and coordination, and, on the basis of national development plans, simultaneously deploy, simultaneously formulate, and simultaneously implement a batch of ***special plans and regional plans, and dynamically adjust territorial spatial planning. During the formulation process, it is necessary to do a good job in indicator alignment, task refinement, and project decomposition, ensure that other plans are coordinated and consistent with national development plans in terms of main goals, development direction, overall layout, major policies, major projects, and risk prevention and control, and form a vertically connected mechanism in which national development plans are refined by special plans along "sectors," deepened by regional plans in "blocks," and guaranteed by territorial spatial planning "on the ground," while also ensuring that annual plans carry out the rolling implementation of national development plans.

　　Second, strengthen horizontal coordination. It is necessary to strengthen the alignment and coordination among other plans to avoid overlap, duplication, contradictions and conflicts, or fallacies of composition. Among them, special plans and regional plans, in terms of spatial arrangements, must comply with the spatial development and protection requirements proposed by territorial spatial planning. Special plans and regional plans should strengthen the coordination and linkage of task setting and project layout, and, in accordance with the optimization needs of the national layout of major productive forces and the regional development pattern, support regions that are sources of growth in enhancing their radiating and driving capacity, and support main agricultural production areas, key ecological function areas, areas rich in energy and resources, and border areas in enhancing their safeguarding capacity. Relevant special plans should strengthen indicator matching and project coordination to improve comprehensive benefits and overall effectiveness.

　　Optimize the coordination and linkage mechanism between planning and macroregulation means. An important guarantee for improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning is to unify the direction of various policy tools with the deployment requirements of national development plans, and achieve effective support and coordinated guarantee for national development plans by macro policies, annual plans, and public resources.

　　First, further strengthen the coordination and linkage between national development plans and macro policies. In accordance with planning goal requirements and the development situation, rationally determine the orientation of fiscal, monetary, industrial, price, and employment policies, and enhance the scientific nature and stability of policies. Improve the coordination mechanism for macroeconomic policies, properly grasp the pace and intensity of various policy tools, include both economic and non-economic policies in the consistency assessment of macro policy orientation, give play to the role of the consistency assessment of macro policy orientation, and promote the coordinated exertion of various policies to form an amplifying and superimposed effect.

　　Second, further improve the alignment between annual plans and national development plans. Adhere to the alignment of short-term goals with medium- and long-term goals, break down the main indicators of national development plans into the annual indicator system and do a good job in balancing across years, roll out and clarify annual requirements for the implementation of major task measures and major engineering projects, and form a systematic promotion and closed-loop implementation mechanism of "long-term strategy—development plan—annual plan," ensuring that established strategic goals are achieved on schedule and with high quality.

　　Third, further strengthen the supporting and safeguarding role of public resources for national development plans. Adhere to the principle that public resource allocation is subordinate to and serves the direction of public policy, and strengthen the implementation guarantees for national development plans through fiscal budgets, government investment, and land supply. Monetary policy and credit policy should actively support the key areas and weak links defined by national development plans. Adhere to the principle that projects follow planning, funds and factors follow projects, and supervision follows projects and funds, optimize the allocation of existing resources and the supply of incremental resources, and ensure the implementation of major engineering projects defined by national development plans.

　　Comprehensively improve the scientific and standardized level of planning work

　　General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that scientific planning is the greatest benefit, and it is necessary to improve planning quality and uphold and improve effective implementation mechanisms. To improve the institutional system of national economic and social development planning and better give play to the role of various plans, the key is that planning quality must be high, implementation must be solid, and legal guarantees must be in place.

　　Improve the quality of plan formulation. National development plans should, around giving play to their strategic guiding role, adhere to the overall coordination of being based on the domestic situation and maintaining a global perspective, the unity of problem orientation and goal orientation, the connection between medium- and long-term goals and short-term goals, and the coordination between comprehensive planning and highlighting key points, and enhance their strategic, macro, and policy nature. Territorial spatial planning should, on the basis of evaluations of resource and environmental carrying capacity and the suitability of territorial spatial development, scientifically delineate spatial control boundaries and strengthen the foundational role of bottom-line constraints and spatial guidance. Special plans and regional plans should focus on supporting the implementation of national development plans in specific fields and specific regions, deepen and substantiate planning content, and enhance pertinence and operability. It is necessary to strictly perform plan formulation procedures, expand the breadth and depth of preliminary research, improve the system for experts to participate in public decision-making, extensively listen to opinions from all sides, and safeguard planning quality through standardized procedures.

　　Improve the full-cycle management system for plan implementation. It is necessary to build a whole-process mechanism for promoting plan implementation and safeguard the seriousness and authority of plans. Improve the mechanism for promoting implementation; all regions and departments should formulate operable, assessable, and appraisable implementation arrangements for goals and tasks; for binding indicators and tasks in fields such as public services, ecological and environmental protection, and security guarantees, strengthen the decomposition and implementation of responsibilities; for expected indicators and tasks in fields such as industrial development and structural adjustment, create a favorable policy environment, institutional environment, and legal environment. Improve the monitoring and evaluation mechanism, organize dynamic monitoring of plan implementation, and use monitoring results as an important basis for strengthening and improving plan implementation. Carry out mid-term evaluations and summary evaluations of plan implementation, promptly request instructions and report to the Party Central Committee and the State Council on the implementation of national development plans, and in accordance with the law submit them to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation. For plans that truly need adjustment or revision after evaluation, strictly perform the review and approval procedures. Improve the supervision and assessment mechanism; the implementation of plans should be included in the assessment and evaluation system and subject to supervision by people's congresses, audit supervision, and social supervision, so as to ensure with effective supervision and assessment that planning goals and tasks are implemented.

　　Strengthen the legal guarantees for the formulation and implementation of plans. Adhere to formulating plans in accordance with the law and implementing plans in accordance with the law, fix in legal form the provisions and requirements of the Party Central Committee on improving the institutional system of national economic and social development planning and the proven and effective experience and practices, accelerate the legislative process of the National Development Planning Law, lead and guarantee with the rule of law that national development plans better give play to their strategic guiding role, and better transform institutional advantages into national governance effectiveness.