People's well-being is the true measure of governance

Editor's note: Gao Lei, a special commentator for CGTN, is an associate professor at the School of Marxism and research fellow at the Collaboration Center for Theories and Practice of Open Economy, Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Opening-up, Research Institute of Globalization and China's Modernization, University of International Business and Economics. Wen Jiaqi, a special commentator for CGTN, is currently postgraduate student at the School of Marxism, University of International Business and Economics. The article reflects the authors' opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The fifth plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee will convene in Beijing from October 26 to 29. The core agenda is to study major issues on advancing the Party's full and rigorous self-governance, which demonstrates the determination of this century-old Party to sustain its governing vitality through self-reform.

These issues bear not only on the long-term development of the entire nation but also constitute focal questions that have drawn extensive attention from the international community: How can a long-ruling Marxist-Leninist party sustain its governing vitality? How can it continuously promote high-quality development? And how can it guarantee that the outcomes of development genuinely benefit the general public?

The answer to the aforementioned questions resides in the profound grasp of the concept of governance performance by the CPC, as well as its sustained and extensive practice of advancing full and rigorous self-governance. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has stressed that a correct understanding of governance performance requires proceeding from reality, respecting objective laws and creating, through sound decision-making and hard work, achievements that withstand the test of practice and history, truly benefit the people and earn public recognition.

It establishes the direction for advancing full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, and embodies the fundamental commitment of the Party to the people. Cadres and officials at all levels must always keep in mind that promoting people's well-being constitutes the most fundamental political achievement.

A biased cognition of governance performance will induce local governments to overemphasize numerical economic growth and show excessive preference for image projects. This tendency of prioritizing short-term tangible achievements while neglecting long-term development goals is most likely to cause a large amount of public resources to flow into ostentatious vanity projects, which further hinders the smooth implementation of national strategies that are designed to benefit the general public. Ultimately, this will erode the governing foundation of the Party and deviate development from its fundamental goal of serving the people.

To correct the orientation of officials' behavior, it is imperative to optimize the "baton" of assessment and evaluation. Full and rigorous Party self-governance has reshaped the evaluation criteria for officials' political achievements through the improvement of institutional frameworks. Currently, the performance evaluation system is being continuously optimized, with greater emphasis placed on people's livelihood, environment protection, scientific and technological innovation, and work-related safety. Meanwhile, financial and other resources are increasingly tilted toward fields that consolidate the foundation for long-term development, serve the country's long-term interests and benefit the general public, which in turn guides development back to its people-centered orientation.

A rational cognition of governance performance has gradually evolved into a core guiding principle for the evaluation of officials. Such cognition requires officials to consistently adhere to the people-centered orientation, regard the promotion of high-quality development as a core responsibility, proactively address the urgent difficulties encountered by the public, and deliver governance outcomes through solid and industrious work that can withstand the test of practice, public scrutiny and historical examination.

Since the beginning of the New Era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has launched a long-lasting anti-corruption initiative and explored a corruption governance path with distinctive Chinese characteristics. This path promotes integrated efforts to ensure that officials do not dare to engage in corruption, cannot do so and have no desire to do so, thereby establishing full and rigorous Party self-governance as a key institutional guarantee for ensuring that public power is consistently exercised for the fundamental interests of the people.

Essentially, corruption is a manifestation of public power alienation. Unconstrained power is likely to result in the misapplication of public resources that deviates from the orientation of public interests. In full recognition of the inherent logical connection between irregular power exercise and the distorted view of official governance performance, the CPC Central Committee has comprehensively advanced the anti-corruption campaign, and promoted the integrated construction of a system that combines deterrence for not daring to corrupt, institutional constraints for not being able to corrupt, and ideological prevention for not wanting to corrupt.

Regulating the operational mechanism of public power does not constitute the ultimate goal of Party governance. The fundamental value orientation lies in ensuring that development achievements are equitably shared by all people. The evaluation of governance performance should be based on tangible welfare gains delivered to the general public. The criteria for such evaluation are directly reflected in the sense of gain acquired by ordinary households, as well as the tangible improvements in key livelihood areas including employment, education, medical care and elderly care.

From the perspective of party politics globally, the long-term governance practice and sustained vitality of the CPC can find a fundamental explanation in this governance logic. The support and approval from the people constitute the most solid foundation for the Party's governance. Therefore, the practical experience accumulated by the CPC can provide valuable empirical reference for responding to the general question of how a long-governing political party can maintain its own vitality and continuous public support.

The upcoming fifth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee will introduce a series of new institutional measures for steadily advancing the full and rigorous Party governance. It should be emphasized that advancing the full and rigorous Party governance is a continuous long-term process that never ends. On the new journey of development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), the CPC will continue to make unremitting efforts to improve people's well-being, and strive to deliver governance outcomes that meet the people's expectations and stand the test of history.

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