Interpretation of “Construction of Ecological Civilization Issues at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), held in October 2022, was a conference that "carries on the past and forges ahead" in a dual sense. From the perspective of the central leadership, after two terms, the new leadership with Xi Jinping as the core has entered a new cycle of governance. In other words, the "new era" that began ten years ago has entered a new stage and the mission and task of the ruling leadership of the CPC has shifted from "building a moderately prosperous society" set by the 13th National Congress in 1987 to "building a modern socialist country in all aspects. The discussion and strategic deployment of the construction of ecological civilization as laid out at the 20th National Congress should also be understood in this context.

 

Like the 18th Party Congress in 2012 and the 19th Party Congress in 2017, the discussion on the construction of ecological civilization in the 20th National Congress Report includes a separate chapter in the "sub-discussion" section, that is, Chapter 10, and relevant content is also featured in earlier "General Theory" section. Chapter 10, "Promoting Green Development and Harmonious Coexistence between Man and Nature, " contains six distinct segments, the first two of which lay out broader principles, while the last four present specific policy strategies. These strategic requirements not only exhibit clear continuity with the reports of the 18th and 19th National Congresses, but also provide some completely new content. The relevant content of ecological civilization in the "General Theory" part includes two points. One is the evaluation of the effectiveness of ecological civilization construction in the past five and ten years, which commends a "historic transformation in ecological environmental protection, bluer skies, greener mountains, and cleaner water for our motherland", but also clearly points out that "the task of ecological environmental protection is still arduous". Second, it systematically expounds the "Chinese-style modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature" concepts, emphasizing that it is not only one of the five unique characteristics¹ of "Chinese-style modernization", but also a contemporary Chinese manifestation of the general laws of world modernization. Finally, it clearly outlines the phased goals of ecological civilization construction under the “new two-step strategy” (2020-2035, 2035-2049) in the next 30 years.

 

The main feature of the 18th National Congress Report on the construction of ecological civilization is to show a "new theoretical breakthrough" - absorbing many environmental and even ecological discourses into the CPC's political ideology and governance strategy system. The main feature of the 19th National Congress Report regarding the construction of ecological civilization is to show a "new theoretical vision" whereby the CPC' s gradually formed political ideology and governance strategy on ecological environmental protection and governance are clearly defined as the "Party's innovative theory" in the new era. The main feature of the 20th National Congress report's discussion on the construction of ecological civilization is to show a "universal outlook methodology" of Chinese-style modernization committed to building a harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

 

First, adhere to the "Chinese-style modern ecological view" which conforms to the general trend of ecological civilization development. The theme of the second chapter of the 20th National Congress Report is "Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era", and the promotion of the theoretical innovation via the "Party's innovative theory" on the basis of practice is heavily emphasized. First of all, we must grasp the universal outlook and methodology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, while adhering to and applying the positions and viewpoints and methods that comprise it.

 

Xi Jinping Ecological Civilization Thought" is also a specific feature of the ecological civilization dimension of the "Party's Innovation Theory". This chapter also raises the question of understanding its scientific theoretical system and the implications of its universal methodology. Academic theorists are encouraged to take initiative to explain the significance of the scientific system of the ecological civilization dimension for building the "party's innovation theory", especially to carry out in-depth academic rational research, academic expression and systematic construction of "Xi Jinping Ecological Civilization Thought". Beyond just academia, all sectors of society should be guided, especially the party's leading cadres, to more consciously understand and apply the party's innovation theory from the perspective of a universal methodology.

 

At present, there is no unified view on the theoretical system or an all-encompassing (“universal”) methodology of ecological civilization thinking. Regarding the former, the "six principles"² proposed by President Xi Jinping in his speech at the National Eco-environmental Protection Conference on May 18, 2018 are common "blueprints", but official media organizations also focus on explaining and systematically constructing an expanded set of policy content, namely the "eight core views" or "ten theoretical points" (based on the expanded interpretation of the six principles). The academic theoretical community focuses more on the core concepts, basic propositions, and systems formed behind these principles or, as a form of academic support, strives to construct an academic discourse system as a green theory. Regarding the latter, the subjective view of the academic community is that the universal and methodological implications of “Xi Jinping Ecological Civilization Thought" are inevitable results and requirements as a system theory or academic discourse system. In the words of the 20th National Congress Report, the unique "ecological view" contained in "Chinese-style modernization" not only refers to a different approach or style of modernization but also to a wholly new view of modernization.

 

Second, it is important to scientifically understand the goals, characteristics and overall requirements of harmonious coexistence between man and nature and Chinese-style modernization.The third chapter of the 20th National Congress Report focuses on the theme of "Chinese-style modernization" and sequentially discusses its "central tasks",³"five characteristics"⁴, "essential requirements",⁵ and phased goals for the next 30 years. For the construction of ecological civilization, "beauty" has become a key term and an organic component of the overall goal of comprehensively building a modern socialist country (ie. "prosperity, democracy, civilization, harmony and beauty")."Harmonious coexistence between man and nature" has become one of the unique characteristics of Chinese-style modernization and "promoting harmonious coexistence between man and nature" has become one of the essential requirements for building Chinese-style modernization. These views—and the subsequent elaboration of goals and tasks—are not only a concrete application of the "Chinese-style modernization ecological view" as a universal methodology, but also constitute a systematic theoretical exposition of the ecological modernization view.

 

The reason why the 20th National Congress Report devoted a large amount of space to "Chinese-style modernization" and "modernization in which man and nature live in harmony" is mainly because the theme of the congress is "Building a Modern Socialist Country in all aspects". Therefore, although the 19th National Congress Report has clearly pointed out that "the modernization we are building is the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature", the report of the 20th National Congress still provides a more systematic and complete theoretical basis with the new modernization concept of "Chinese-style modernization". However, it must be made clear that the discourse of green modernization has not become a high-level discourse above the discourse of ecological civilization, but is sometimes used interchangeably, due to the fact that the construction of ecological civilization in contemporary China is an organic part of the development of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics.

 

Another problem highlighted by the expression "Chinese-style modernization in harmony between man and nature" is the similarities and differences between this view of ecological modernization and the theory and practice of "ecological modernization" in Europe and the United States. On the one hand, what they have in common is that both consider the governance of ecological environmental protection as a component of the overall goal and context of modernization. With the continuous advancement of China's modernization process, the position of this policy issue on the agenda of the Party and government will continue to improve. On the other hand, the obvious difference is that "Chinese-style modernization in which man and nature live in harmony" or "ecological civilization construction" places more emphasis on the potential for green change under the discourse and policy of "development" or "modernization" and is therefore more of a developing country and humanistic position.

 

Third, continuously improve the overall coordination mechanism in the field of ecological civilization. Chapter 10 of the report of the 20th National Congress is a concentrated display of the universal scope and methodology of "the party's innovation theory" in the field of ecological civilization construction and the role of that scope and methodology in the process of promoting green development, promoting harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and constantly improving the overall coordination mechanism of institutional policies in the field of ecological civilization. The first paragraph is a logical syllogism, and its core point is to establish and practice the concept of "green water and mountains of gold and silver ", as well as to plan and develop from the perspective of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. The second paragraph further clarifies the four levels of institutional policies that need to achieve an overarching and coordinated ecological civilization construction: the integrated protection and governance of the natural ecosystem as a whole, the coordinated and overall governance of ecological environmental protection, the coordinated promotion of ecological environmental protection and economic development, and the overall promotion of ecological, high-priority green development. The fourth to sixth paragraphs specifically elaborate on the four key thematic areas that need to be promoted in the current and future period of ecological civilization construction, namely, accelerating the green transformation of development; further promote the prevention and control of environmental pollution; enhance ecosystem diversity, stability and sustainability; actively and steadily promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Modifiers in these paragraphs like "accelerate", "further advance", "improve" and "positive and prudent" all have clear methodological meanings.

 

Therefore, the exposition of the 20th National Congress on the construction of ecological civilization is not only an example of the universal methodology of the "party's innovation theory" in the new era, but also indicates the focus of the theory and practice of ecological civilization with Chinese characteristics in the new era. At the theoretical level, it will shift from the high-level statements that focused on core ideas and principles in the past decade to a more rational and academic systematic generalization. At the practical level, it will shift from the more top-down implementation of the past decade to independent innovation following the mastery of theoretical methods.

 

Of course, from the perspective of the narrow socialist ecological civilization theory or “green left” politics, the report of the 20th National Congress does have some points of concern in terms of rhetoric, especially that it does not explicitly use important concepts such as “socialist ecological civilization” and “(global) ecological security” as in the reports of the 18th and 19th National Congresses. If the latter is more of an accident in the purely formal sense of expression – using many figurative forms but ignoring this more comprehensive concept, then the former undergirds the political expression of the entire report. In any case, the revised Party Constitution does not change the explicit statement that "the Communist Party of China leads the people to build a socialist ecological civilization".