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People's well-being is of utmost importance in Chinese modernization. The Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development emphasizes intensified efforts to ensure and improve public well-being as well as to promote common prosperity for all. Looking back, we mobilized resources across the country to achieve a "sweeping victory" in the fight against poverty during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20). Meanwhile, we reinforced support for the public well-being and consolidated and expanded our achievements in poverty alleviation during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25). As we move into the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), we will consolidate and build on our strengths, remove development bottlenecks and shore up areas of weakness, thereby laying a firmer foundation for realizing socialist modernization.

China has strived to promote high-quality and full employment amid uncertainty. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, challenges to high-quality full employment may arise from international trade barriers, geopolitical factors and artificial intelligence. Improving related support mechanisms and making our development model more employment-friendly are priority tasks for the government, market and society to advance together. Thus, we need to foster greater synergy between industry and employment. We should promote the sharing of data platforms for industry and employment, coordinate both domestic and international markets, and foster coordination among technology, industry and employment innovation. In the context of disruptive innovations in AI and embodied robots, we will provide training for new employment opportunities generated by these technologies. 

China has made efforts to improve the income distribution system with a focus on increasing household income. Boosting the share and fairness of work remuneration in primary distribution is key to achieving social justice. Under the basic principle of market exchange, workers receive remuneration for their labor and participate in the distribution of national income, as long as the market price mechanism remains undistorted. With the platform economy serving as a main employment channel, the power of platforms to determine working hours and remuneration is crucial for deepening income distribution reform. While fully acknowledging the employment value created by platforms, we must guard against algorithmic "management" of workers. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we should explore collective wage negotiation systems in key industries and encourage platform companies to take the lead in carrying out reforms that reflect the value orientation of common prosperity in corporate compensation distribution. We will also innovate the system for asset and wealth accumulation and open new paths to improve people's livelihoods. Data assets have become a new form of assets across various industries, while ecological assets have emerged as a significant source of wealth in poverty-alleviation areas.

We should strengthen human capital investment guided by the transformations of the intelligent era. Adhering to long-termism has been key to China's sustained and rapid development since the launch of reform and opening-up in 1978. China gradually evolved into the world's second-largest economy and achieved the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects through rural reforms, industrialization, urbanization and deep engagement in economic globalization, among others. Today, the rise of AI and cutting-edge technologies is spurring the emergence of new and future industries. This process demands a comprehensive upgrade of human capital: not only are innovative talents needed, but also a new generation of industrial workers capable of collaborating with intelligent machines. In this new round of technological revolution, original innovation and breakthroughs in key core technologies are vital, which necessitate systematic adjustments and upgrades in preschool education, compulsory education, higher education and vocational education. The 15th Five-Year Plan period will be a critical phase for the transformation of China's educational and scientific research, as AI drives profound changes in research paradigms. 

People's health should be continuously improved with the support of big data in healthcare. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China aims to raise the average life expectancy of its people to around 80 years. The continuous improvement of livelihoods is manifested not only in increased longevity but also in enhanced social inclusivity, better mental health, and a richer experience of the world for individuals. These are important indicators of people's free and well-rounded development, embodying the essential requirements of the CPC and the intrinsic attributes of the socialist system. Over the past decade, China has built an inclusive healthcare system with measures such as improving medical and health conditions in impoverished areas, strengthening healthcare security, implementing tiered diagnosis and treatment, and enhancing public health capabilities. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, people's demands for medical care and health will further increase. The cross-provincial medical expense settlement will provide convenience for the mobile population.

More equitable access to basic public services should be ensured at the county level. One of the challenges in achieving common prosperity is the regional and urban-rural disparity in public services. Strengthening the dynamic monitoring of basic public service provision levels across regions and counties and improving the monitoring-provision-evaluation system will contribute to realizing the goal of the equalization of basic public services. Implementing improvement projects for counties with weak public services in specific types of regions can help narrow regional gaps in the short term. The structure of central government fiscal expenditures should be optimized, with enhanced transfer payment mechanisms to increase fund allocation for underdeveloped areas such as old revolutionary base areas, border areas and ethnic minority areas, thereby narrowing the gap with the national average. Digital practices like the "one map" for basic public services and "one-stop government services" should be promoted to drive the reengineering of public service processes and improve user experience.

The immutable goal of our modernization drive is to meet the people's aspirations for a better life. Amid profound and complex changes in the development environment, China remains committed to a people-centered approach, high-quality growth, and continuous institutional and technological innovation. By strengthening inclusive social safeguards, addressing people's pressing concerns and steadfastly advancing common prosperity, China ensures that more benefits of modernization are shared more fairly among all people. Moreover, China's practical and theoretical innovations in promoting common prosperity offer valuable solutions and wisdom for global shared prosperity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The author is a professor of the Institute for Six Sector Economy at Fudan University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn