Counterpart Support: China's Experience in Great Power Governance. The book analyzes counterpart support as a whole, discusses five different types of counterpart support cases, analyzes the model characteristics, operation mechanism and basic functions of counterpart support, and reveals the internal mechanism of the major progress made in China's national governance since the reform and opening up, especially after socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. Photo courtesy of Anhui People's Publishing House.
China is a "big country", a "super-large country" with a vast territory, a large population, diverse ethnic groups and diverse cultures, and it is also the "longest-lasting form of government" in the world. Historian Fairbank called the two changes that took place in the 18th century "determined the change in the fate of China's history thereafter": the doubling of China's historical territory and the doubling of the Han population. The expansion of China's territory and population has formed the basis for China's transformation to modernization, and has also determined that contemporary China's modernization is facing the double test of social stability and economic development.
On the one hand, the coupling of the unitary system with the super-large-scale national space leads to "scale pressure" or forms a "governance load", and the governance capacity is facing severe challenges. **Carrying the multiple missions of maintaining social stability, seeking regional balance, and promoting economic development. Because of the vast territory, significant regional differences, and complex ethnic composition, the burden of national governance is correspondingly huge. In the process of promoting modernization, the scale of governance and the resulting scale of governance burden constitute a practical problem that China's modernization needs to face.
On the other hand, the People's Republic of China was poor and weak when it was founded, and it was urgent to realize the transformation from an agricultural country to an industrialized country. However, this transformation is profoundly constrained by the reality of "non-equilibrium". Not only does the geographical concentration and diffusion trend of China's economic activities show the characteristics of "east-west duality", but also the urban-rural areas are quite different, showing the characteristics of "urban-rural duality". The uneven development between urban and rural areas and between regions has brought great challenges to the scale governance of the country. Whether it is the "heterogeneous" society proposed by scholar Tang Huangfeng or the super-large-scale "heterogeneous aggregate" described by scholar Wu Jiaxiang, they are both high-level generalizations of the characteristics of non-equilibrium in China's state governance. Due to the huge size of the Chinese population and the modernization based on the socialist system, seeking balanced development is an inherent requirement for Chinese modernization to achieve common prosperity. Therefore, the limited total amount of resources, diverse and complex ethnic groups, and the balanced demand for spatial governance together form the basis of China's governance as a major country. Therefore, it is necessary to consciously take the initiative to rationally utilize and coordinate the allocation of resources, adjust the disparities between regions, between urban and rural areas, and between income distribution, and promote the increase of the total amount of social wealth, and at the same time make income tend to be fair through rational and fair distribution. In this sense, Chinese-style modernization is not only to "seek balance in development", but also to seek "development in balance".
The conservative and unbalanced nature of the endogenous scale structure of super-large countries are intertwined to constitute the Chinese context and the Chinese problem in the modernization process. Strengthened governance can reduce systemic risk, but may inhibit vitality;Unleashing vitality requires less restraint and can lead to loss of control. It is particularly crucial to find a balance between universal national interests and decentralized local interests, and to establish a modern governance system that is both orderly and vigorous. Chinese modernization needs to find a Chinese solution that can not only solve the burden of scale governance, but also solve the problem of uneven development. Practical exploration and institutional innovation of counterpart support are the "key" to explain the mystery that China's rapid economic growth and sustained social stability can go hand in hand.
First, from the perspective of the operational mechanism of counterpart support to achieve large-scale governance, the organic combination of the fourfold mechanism ensures the effective operation of counterpart support. The first is the ideological mobilization mechanism formed based on the long-term accumulation of cultural traditionsThe second is the dynamic mechanism formed based on the vertical "administrative contracting system" and the horizontal "competitive championship" incentive policyThe third is the institutional evolution mechanism formed based on the requirements of refined governanceFourth, the organization and coordination mechanism formed based on the centralized and unified leadership system. The components, links and elements of the counterpart support operation system are interconnected, divided and organically combined with each other in the movement in accordance with their internal laws, so as to ensure that the two enthusiasm of the first and the local form a joint force.
Second, from the perspective of the institutional function of counterpart support to achieve scale governance, under the unified deployment, counterpart support has six main functions: risk dispersion, cost sharing, effective pooling of resources, formation of synergy, coordinated development, and promotion of unity. Counterpart support is an important way to realize the transformation of geographic space into governance space, and an important institutional innovation to promote balanced development. When the country's "intermediate region" enjoys better public goods and policies by virtue of its "unique" geographical advantages, it is one of the new development concepts advocated by the party to realize the sharing of "development dividends" in the marginal areas. After a long period of exploration and practice, China has now formed a counterpart support system with counterpart assistance to Xinjiang and Tibet as the main line, and counterpart assistance to migrants from the Three Gorges Reservoir area and counterpart assistance for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction, thus promoting balanced development among regions. In regional governance, counterpart support can play a role that cannot be replaced by other administrative means and measures.
Third, from the perspective of the far-reaching significance of counterpart support to achieve scale governance, the counterpart support system can effectively transform the scale governance burden into scale governance effect. This transformation has further strengthened the national identity, especially the recognition and confidence of the two sides in the country and the socialist system, and cultivated a sense of "community with a shared future" in which ethnic groups in different regions share weal and woe and help each otherIt has reshaped inter-governmental relations, not only strengthened the leading role and hierarchical control, but also strengthened the interaction and cooperation between different levels and subordinate localities, and cultivated a partnership to jointly solve national problems under the leadershipIt promotes spatial equilibrium, which not only solves the problem of unbalanced regional development, but also helps to cultivate a unified market and promote the complementary advantages of regions.
Overall, after more than 40 years of practical exploration and the gradual improvement and development of relevant policies, as an important policy tool for large-scale governance, counterpart assistance has demonstrated excellent governance performance and has become a distinctive and successful governance experience in contemporary China. By studying this unprecedented large-scale, all-round and high-intensity institutional innovation since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and summarizing the elements of the system and mechanism that can be promoted, replicated and standardized, it will undoubtedly provide valuable experience for many realistic situations of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics. At the same time, as an effective method with Chinese characteristics to solve border governance, unbalanced regional development, and achieve spatial justice (not only in the form of horizontal transfer payments), counterpart support can provide useful reference for other developing countries. Of course, there is still a lot of room for theoretical expansion in how to understand such a way to solve the spatial imbalance. By focusing on the internal mechanism of the counterpart support system to solve the problem of scale governance, we may be able to perceive, understand and describe the practical exploration and future direction of China's modernization path as a large developing country.
The author, Zhou Guanghui, is a professor at the School of Administration and the Center for Social Justice and Governance at Jilin University, vice chairman of the Political Science Teaching Steering Committee of Colleges and Universities of the Ministry of Education, and a researcher at the Institute of National Governance of Peking UniversityWang Hongwei is a doctor of law and a postdoctoral fellow of Dingxin Scholar of Jilin University. This article is excerpted with permission from Section 5 of Chapter 1 of the book Counterpart Assistance: China's Experience in Great Power Governance
*: China Youth Daily client.