Full text of Jiang Zemin's report at 16th Party Congress

Nguồn: Tân Hoa Xã 18/11/2002
Comrades,

　　Now I would like to make a report to the congress on behalf of the Fifteenth Central

Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

　　The Sixteenth National Congress of the CPC is the first of its kind held by our Party in the

new century. It is a very important congress convened by our Party in the new situation in

which we have begun to take the third step of the strategic plan for socialist modernization.

　　The theme of the congress is to hold high the great banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory, fully

act on the important thought of Three Represents, carry forward our cause into the future,

keep pace with the times, build a well-off society in an all-round way, speed up socialist

modernization and work hard to create a new situation in building socialism with Chinese

characteristics.

　　As human society entered the 21st century, we started a new phase of development for

building a well-off society in an all-round way and speeding up socialist modernization. The

international situation is undergoing profound changes. The trends toward world

multipolarization and economic globalization are developing amidst twists and turns. Science

and technology are advancing rapidly. Competition in overall national strength is becoming

increasingly fierce. Given this pressing situation, we must move forward, or we will fall

behind. Our Party must stand firm in the forefront of the times and unite with and lead the

Chinese people of all ethnic groups in accomplishing the three major historical tasks: to propel

the modernization drive, to achieve national reunification and to safeguard world peace and

promote common development, and in bringing about the great rejuvenation of the Chinese

nation on its road to socialism with Chinese characteristics. This is a grand mission history and

the era have entrusted to our Party. 　　

　　I. Work of the Past Five Years and Basic Experience of 13 Years 　　

　　The five years since the Fifteenth National Congress of the CPC have been a period in

which we have held high the great banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory and kept blazing new

trails in a pioneering spirit, and a period in which we have continued to forge ahead

triumphantly on the road to socialism with Chinese characteristics in spite of difficulties and

risks.

　　At the Fifteenth National Congress, Deng Xiaoping Theory was established as the Party's

guiding ideology, the Party's basic program for the primary stage of socialism was put

forward, and the objectives and tasks for China's cross-century development were specified.

Acting in the spirit of the congress, the Central Committee held seven plenary sessions at

which it made decisions and plans on such major issues as agriculture and rural work, the

reform and development of state-owned enterprises, the formulation of the Tenth Five-Year

Plan (2001-2005) and the improvement of the Party's work style. Over the past five years,

we have traversed an extraordinary course and scored tremendous achievements in reform,

development and stability, domestic and foreign affairs and national defense and in running the

Party, state and army.

　　The national economy has maintained a sustained, rapid and sound development. By

pursuing the principle of stimulating domestic demand and adopting the proactive fiscal policy

and the sound monetary policy in good time, we overcame the adverse effects the Asian

financial crisis and world economic fluctuations had on China, and maintained a relatively

rapid economic growth. The strategic adjustment of the economic structure has been

crowned with success. The position of agriculture as the foundation of the economy has been

strengthened. Traditional industries have been upgraded. High and new technology industries

and modern services have gained speed. A large number of infrastructure projects in such

areas as water conservancy, transportation, telecommunications, energy and environmental

protection have been completed. Significant headway has been made in the large-scale

development of China's western region. Economic returns have further improved. National

revenue has kept growing. The Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000) was fulfilled and the

Tenth Five-Year Plan has seen a good start.

    Reform and opening up have yielded substantial results. The socialist market economy has

taken shape initially. The public sector of the economy has expanded and steady progress has

been made in the reform of state-owned enterprises. Self-employed or private enterprises

and other non-public sectors of the economy have developed fairly fast. The work of building

up the market system has been in full swing. The macro-control system has improved

constantly. The pace of change in government functions has been quickened. Reform in

finance, taxation, banking, distribution, housing, government institutions and other areas has

continued to deepen. The open economy has developed swiftly. Trade in commodities and

services and capital flow have grown markedly. China's foreign exchange reserves have risen

considerably. With its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), China has entered

a new stage in its opening up.

　　Notable progress has been registered in improving socialist democracy and spiritual

civilization. Continued efforts have been made to improve democracy and the legal system.

New steps have been taken in political restructuring. The patriotic united front has grown

stronger. Further progress has been made in the work relating to ethnic, religious and

overseas Chinese affairs. Fresh progress has been made in keeping public order through

comprehensive measures. Science, technology, education, culture, health, sports, family

planning and other undertakings have moved ahead. The media and publicity work as well as

ideological and moral education have kept improving. The people's cultural life has become

increasingly rich and colorful.

　　New strides have been taken in strengthening national defense and army building. Efforts

have been redoubled to make the People's Liberation Army more revolutionary, modernized

and regularized. Our national defense capabilities and the army's defense and combat

effectiveness have further improved. The army, the armed police and the militia have played

an important role in defending and building up our motherland.

　　On the whole, the people have reached a well-off standard of living. The income of urban

and rural residents has gone up steadily. The urban and rural markets have been brisk, and

there has been an ample supply of goods. The quality of life of the residents has been on the

rise, with considerable improvement in food, clothing, housing, transport and daily necessities.

There has been marked progress in building the social security system. The seven-year

program to help 80 million people out of poverty has been in the main fulfilled.

　　Fresh progress has been made in the great cause of national reunification. The Chinese

Government has resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Macao. The principle of "one

country, two systems" has been implemented and the basic laws of Hong Kong and Macao

special administrative regions have been carried out to the letter. Hong Kong and Macao

enjoy social and economic stability. Personnel, economic and cultural exchanges across the

Taiwan Straits have kept increasing. The fight against "Taiwan independence" and other

attempts to split the country has been going on in depth.

    New prospects have been opened up in our external work. In light of the developments

and changes in the international situation, we have adhered to the correct foreign policy and

related principles. We have carried out both bilateral and multilateral diplomatic activities

extensively and taken an active part in international exchanges and cooperation. China's

international standing has risen still further.

　　Party building has been strengthened in an all-round way. All the Party members have

steadily intensified their study of Deng Xiaoping Theory. We have put forward and

expounded the important thought of Three Represents. Good results have been produced in

the intensive education in the need to stress study, political awareness and integrity and in the

study of the "Three Represents". An all-out endeavor has been made to build up the Party

ideologically, organizationally and in work style. Our ideological and political work has been

strengthened. New steps have been taken in the reform of the personnel system. The

endeavor to build a clean and honest government and combat corruption has been going on in

depth and yielding fresh notable results.

　　Facts prove that the major policy decisions taken by the Central Committee at and since

the Fifteenth National Congress are correct and accord with the fundamental interests of the

overwhelming majority of the people. Our achievements are the outcome of the united

endeavor of the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups of the country. They provide

a more solid foundation for the future development of the cause of the Party and state.

　　We must be clearly aware that there are still quite a few difficulties and problems in our

work. The income of farmers and some urban residents has increased only slowly. The

number of the unemployed has gone up. Some people are still badly off. Things have yet to

be straightened out in the matter of income distribution. The order of the market economy has

to be further rectified and standardized. Public order is poor in some places. Formalism, the

bureaucratic style of work, falsification, extravagance and waste are still serious problems

among some leading cadres in our Party, and corruption is still conspicuous in some places.

The Party's way of leadership and governance does not yet entirely meet the requirements of

the new situation and new tasks. Some Party organizations are feeble and lax. We must pay

close attention to these problems and continue to take effective measures to solve them.

　　Our achievements over the past five years have been scored through reform and opening

up, especially through our practice since the Fourth Plenary Session of the Thirteenth Central

Committee in 1989. These 13 years have witnessed a highly volatile international situation and

a magnificent upsurge of China's reform, opening up and modernization. From the late 1980s

to the early 1990s, there occurred serious political disturbances in China, drastic changes in

Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Socialism in the world suffered

serious setbacks. China was faced with unprecedented difficulties and pressure in its efforts

to develop the socialist cause. At this crucial historical juncture bearing on the destiny of the

Party and state, the Party Central Committee relied firmly on all the comrades in the Party

and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and unswervingly adhered to the line prevailing

since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, and thus successfully

brought the overall situation of reform and development under control and safeguarded the

great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. After Comrade Deng Xiaoping made

remarks on his tour of the South, the Fourteenth National Congress decided to establish a

socialist market economy as the goal of reform, thus ushering in a new stage for reform,

opening up and the modernization drive. To develop a market economy under socialism is a

great pioneering undertaking never tried before in history. It is a historic contribution of the

Chinese Communists to the development of Marxism. It has given expression to our Party's

tremendous courage to persist in making theoretical innovation and keeping pace with the

times. The shift from the planned economy to the socialist market economy represented a

new historic breakthrough in reform and opening up and brought about entirely new

prospects for China's economic, political and cultural progress. After the demise of Comrade

Deng Xiaoping, we held high the great banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory and made pioneering

efforts to advance the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics into the 21st century in

an all-round way.

    Over the past 13 years, with clearly defined objectives, we worked with one heart and one

mind and scored historic achievements. In 2001, China's GDP reached 9.5933 trillion yuan,

almost tripling that of 1989, representing an average annual increase of 9.3 percent. China

came up to the sixth place in the world in terms of economic aggregate. On the whole, the

people made a historic leap from having only adequate food and clothing to leading a well-off

life. As is universally recognized, the 13 years have been a period in which China's overall

national strength has risen by a big margin, the people have received more tangible benefits

than ever before, and China has enjoyed long-term social stability and solidarity and had a

good government and a united people. China's influence in the world has grown notably, and

the cohesion of the nation has increased remarkably. The hard work of our Party and people

and their great achievements have attracted worldwide attention and will surely go down as a

glorious page in the annals of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

　　A review of these 13 years shows that we have traversed a tortuous course and that our

achievements are hard won. We have responded confidently to a series of unexpected

international events bearing on China's sovereignty and security. We have surmounted

difficulties and risks arising from the political and economic spheres and from nature. We

have gone through one trial after another and removed all kinds of obstacles, thus ensuring

that our reform, opening up and modernization drive have been forging ahead in the correct

direction like a ship braving surging waves. We have attained these successes by relying on

the correct guidance of the Party's basic theory, line and program, on the high degree of unity

and solidarity of the Party and on the tenacious work of the whole Party and the people of all

ethnic groups around the country.

　　Here, on behalf of the CPC Central Committee, I wish to express our heartfelt thanks to

the people of all our ethnic groups, the democratic parties, people's organizations and patriots

from all walks of life, to our compatriots in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the

Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan as well as overseas Chinese, and to our

foreign friends who care about and support China's modernization drive!

　　The practice of the 13 years has helped us acquire a deeper understanding of what

socialism is, how to build it, and what kind of Party to build and how to build it, and we have

gained most valuable experience in this regard.

　　1. Uphold Deng Xiaoping Theory as our guide and constantly bring forth theoretical

innovation. Deng Xiaoping Theory is our banner, and the Party's basic line and program are

the fundamental guidelines for every field of our work. Whatever difficulties and risks we may

come up against, we must unswervingly abide by the Party's basic theory, line and program.

We should persist in arming the entire Party membership with Marxism-Leninism, Mao

Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory and using them to educate our people. We

should continue to emancipate our minds, seek truth from facts, keep pace with the times and

make innovations in a pioneering spirit. We should respect the creativity of the general public

and test and develop the Party's theory, line, principles and policies in practice.

　　2. Keep economic development as the central task and solve problems cropping up on

our way forward through development. Development is the fundamental principle. We must

seize all opportunities to accelerate development. Development calls for new ideas. We

should stick to the principle of expanding domestic demand and implement the strategy of

national rejuvenation through science and education and that of sustainable development.

While seeking speed, we should pay attention to structure, quality and efficiency, and while

propelling economic development, we should take into consideration population, resources

and the environment. On the basis of economic growth, we need to promote all-round social

progress, constantly better people's lives and ensure that all the people share the fruits of

development.


    3. Persevere in reform and opening up and keep improving the socialist market economy.

Reform and opening up are ways to make China powerful. We must press ahead with the

reform in all areas resolutely. The reform must be promoted realistically, comprehensively and

progressively with breakthroughs made in key areas and emphasis placed on institutional

improvement and innovation. We should follow the orientation of reform toward the socialist

market economy and make sure that the market forces playan essential role in the allocation

of resources under the state's macroeconomic control. By both "bringing in" and "going out",

we should actively participate in international economic and technological cooperation and

competition and open wider to the outside world.

　　4. Adhere to the Four Cardinal Principles (*Note 1) and develop socialist democracy.

The Four Cardinal Principles are the very foundation on which we build our country. We

must uphold leadership by the CPC and consolidate and improve the state system-a people's

democratic dictatorship and the system of political power - the people's congresses. We

should uphold and improve the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation led

by the Communist Party and the system of regional ethnic autonomy. We should promote

political restructuring, develop democracy, improve the legal system, rule the country by law,

build a socialist state under the rule of law and ensure that the people exercise their rights as

the masters of the country.

　　5. Attach equal importance to both material and spiritual civilization and run the country by

combining the rule of law with the rule of virtue. Socialist spiritual civilization is an important

attribute of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Basing ourselves on China's realities, we

must carry forward the fine tradition of our national culture and absorb the achievements of

foreign cultures in building socialist spiritual civilization. We should unceasingly upgrade the

ideological and ethical standards as well as the scientific and cultural qualities of the entire

people so as to provide a strong motivation and intellectual support for the modernization

drive.

　　6. Ensure stability as a principle of overriding importance and balance reform,

development and stability. Stability is a prerequisite for reform and development. We should

take into full consideration the momentum of reform, the speed of development and the

sustainability of the general public. Continued improvement of people's lives must be regarded

as an important link in balancing reform, development and stability. We should press ahead

with reform and development amidst social stability and promote social stability through

reform and development.

　　7. Persevere in the Party's absolute leadership over the army and take the road of fewer

but better troops with Chinese characteristics. The people's army is a staunch pillar of the

people's democratic dictatorship. It should meet the general requirements of being qualified

politically and competent militarily and having a fine style of work, strict discipline and

adequate logistic support, with a view to enabling itself to win battles and never degenerate,

paying attention to strengthening itself through science and technology and building itself into a

more revolutionary, modernized and regularized army. We must ensure that the army is

forever loyal to the Party, socialism, the motherland and the people.

　　8. Continue to unite with all forces that can be united with and increase the cohesion of the

Chinese nation. We should hold high the banners of patriotism and socialism, strengthen the

great solidarity of the people of all ethnic groups, and consolidate and develop the broadest

possible patriotic united front. We need to strengthen our solidarity with the democratic

parties and personages without party affiliation. We should handle well the work relating to

ethnic minorities, religions and overseas Chinese. We should adhere to the principle of "one

country, two systems" and bring into full play every positive factor in a common endeavor to

accomplish the grand cause of national reunification and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese

nation.


    9. Pursue the independent foreign policy of peace, safeguard world peace and promote

common development. We will, as always, attach paramount importance to our state

sovereignty and security. We will develop friendly relations and cooperation with all other

countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. We will oppose

hegemonism and power politics and promote the establishment of a fair and rational new

international political and economic order. In handling international affairs, we should observe

and cope with the situation cool-headedly, adhere to the principle of mutual respect and seek

common ground while shelving differences. We need to respect the diversity of the world,

promote democracy in international relations and strive for a peaceful international

environment and a good climate in areas around China.

　　10. Strengthen and improve the Party's leadership and propel the new great project of

Party building. To run the state well, we must run the Party well first. To do this, we must be

strict with the Party members. We must maintain the Party's nature and purposes, strengthen

and improve Party building in the spirit of reform, enhance the Party's art of leadership and

governance, increase its capability of fighting corruption and guarding against degeneration

and risks and make unremitting efforts to combat corruption. The Party must keep its flesh-

and-blood ties with the people as well as its progressiveness, purity, solidarity and unity.

　　The above-mentioned ten principles constitute the basic experience the Party must follow

as it leads the people in building socialism with Chinese characteristics. This experience and

the historical experience gained by the Party since its founding can be summarized as follows:

Our Party must always represent the development trend of China's advanced productive

forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the

overwhelming majority of the Chinese people. They are the inexorable requirements for

maintaining and developing socialism and the logical conclusion our Party has reached through

hard exploration and great practice.

II. Implement the Important Thought of Three Represents in an All-Round Way 　　

　　To open up new prospects for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we

must hold high the great banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory and implement the important

thought of Three Represents. As a continuation and development of Marxism-Leninism, Mao

Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory, this important thought reflects new requirements

for the work of the Party and state arising from the changes in China and other parts of the

world today. It is a powerful theoretical weapon for strengthening and improving Party

building and promoting self-improvement and development of socialism in China. It is the

crystallization of the Party's collective wisdom and a guiding ideology the Party must follow

for a long time to come. Persistent implementation of the "Three Represents" is the foundation

for building our Party, the cornerstone for its governance and the source of its strength.

　　The important thought of Three Represents has been put forward on the basis of a

scientific judgment of the Party's historical position. Having gone through the revolution,

reconstruction and reform, our Party has evolved from a party that led the people in fighting

for state power to a party that has led the people in exercising the power and has long

remained in power. It has developed from a party that led national reconstruction under

external blockade and a planned economy to a party that is leading national development

while the country is opening to the outside world and developing a socialist market economy.

Keeping in mind the past, present and future of China and other parts of the world, we must

accurately comprehend the characteristics of the times and the Party's tasks, scientifically

formulate and correctly implement the Party's line, principles and policies, and study and

settle questions concerning the promotion of China's social progress and the improvement of

Party building. We should neither approach questions out of their historical context nor lose

our bearings, and we should neither fall behind the times nor skip the stages, so as to ensure

that our cause will advance from victory to victory.

   The implementation of the important thought of Three Represents is, in essence, to keep

pace with the times, maintain the Party's progressiveness and exercise the state power in the

interest of the people. All Party members must be keenly aware of this basic requirement and

become more conscious and determined in implementing this important thought.

　　1. To carry out the important thought of Three Represents, the whole Party must maintain

the spirit of keeping pace with the times and blaze new trails for the development of the

Marxist theory. Upholding the Party's ideological line, emancipating the mind, seeking truth

from facts and keeping pace with the times are decisive factors for our Party to retain its

progressiveness and enhance its creativity. Keeping pace with the times means that all the

theory and work of the Party must conform to the times, follow the law of development and

display great creativity. Whether we can persist in doing this bears on the future and destiny

of the Party and state.

　　Innovation sustains the progress of a nation. It is an inexhaustible motive force for the

prosperity of a country and the source of the eternal vitality of a political party. The world is

changing, China's reform, opening up and modernization drive are advancing and our people's

great practice is progressing. All this urgently requires our Party to sum up new experience

from practice, draw on the achievements of modern human civilization, broaden its fields of

vision in theory and come up with new theses with the courage of the theory of Marxism.

Only thus can our Party's ideology and theory guide the whole Party and the entire people

forward and inspire them to push ahead the cause of building socialism with Chinese

characteristics. Theoretical innovation based on practice precedes social development and

changes. Bringing forth new ideas in institutions, science and technology, culture and other

fields through theoretical innovation, exploring the way forward in practice, never becoming

conceited and never slackening our effort - these are the ways of running the Party and state,

which we should follow for a long time to come.

　　Innovation requires emancipating our minds, seeking truth from facts and keeping pace

with the times. There is no limit to practice nor to innovation. We will surpass our

predecessors, and future generations will certainly surpass us. This is an inexorable law

governing social advancement. We must adapt ourselves to the progress of practice and test

all things in practice. We must conscientiously free our minds from the shackles of the

outdated notions, practices and systems, from the erroneous and dogmatic interpretations of

Marxism and from the fetters of subjectivism and metaphysics. While upholding the basic

tenets of Marxism, we must add new chapters of theory to it. While carrying forward the

revolutionary tradition, we must acquire new experience. We should be good at seeking unity

in thinking through the emancipation of our minds and guiding our new practice with the

developing Marxism.

　　2. To carry out the important thought of Three Represents, it is essential for the Party to

give top priority to development in governing and rejuvenating the country and open up new

prospects for the modernization drive. A Marxist ruling party must attach great importance to

the liberation and development of the productive forces. Without development, it would be

impossible to maintain the progressiveness of the Party, give play to the superiority of the

socialist system and make the people rich and the country strong. The progressiveness of the

Party is concrete and historical, and it must be judged by whether the Party promotes the

development of the advanced productive forces and culture in present-day China and works

to safeguard and realize the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people.

In the final analysis, it must be judged by the Party's role in propelling history forward.

    In China, a large developing country with a backward economy and culture, where our

Party is leading the people in the modernization drive, a good solution to the problem of

development has a direct bearing on the trend of popular sentiment and the success of our

cause. Shouldering the historical responsibility to propel the Chinese society, the Party must

always keep a firm grip on development -- the top priority for its governance and

rejuvenation of the country. It must maintain its progressiveness and give play to the

superiority of the socialist system by developing the advanced productive forces and culture

and realizing the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people, speeding

up all-round social progress and promoting the all-round development of people. So long as

the Party firmly grasps this point, it will have thoroughly understood the aspirations of the

people and the essence of the socialist modernization drive, and thus it will be able to keep

implementing the important thought of Three Represents and consolidating its position as the

ruling party and meet the requirement of making the country strong and the people rich.

　　Development requires that we always concentrate on economic growth, base ourselves on

China's realities, conform to the trend of the times and continue to explore new ways to

promote the progress of the advanced productive forces and culture. Development requires

that we uphold and deepen the reform. It requires that we do away with all notions which

hinder development, change all practices and regulations which impede it and get rid of all the

drawbacks of the systems which adversely affect it. Development requires that we trust and

rely on the people who are the motive force for pushing forward the advance of history. We

will pool the wisdom and strength of the people of the whole country and concentrate on

construction and development.

　　3. To carry out the important thought of Three Represents, it is essential to bring all

positive factors into full play and bring new forces to the great cause of rejuvenating the

Chinese nation. The interests of the overwhelming majority of the people and the initiative and

creativity of the whole society and the entire nation are always the most decisive factors for

advancing the cause of the Party and state. In the process of profound social changes in our

country and the rapid development of the cause of the Party and state, it is vitally important to

properly balance the interests of all quarters and fully mobilize and rally all positive factors.

　　With the deepening of reform and opening up and economic and cultural development, the

working class in China has expanded steadily and its quality improved. The working class,

with the intellectuals as part of it, and the farmers are always the basic forces for promoting

the development of the advanced productive forces and all-round social progress in our

country. Emerging in the process of social changes, entrepreneurs and technical personnel

employed by non-public scientific and technological enterprises, managerial and technical staff

employed by overseas-funded enterprises, the self-employed, private entrepreneurs,

employees in intermediaries, free-lance professionals and members of other social strata are

all builders of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We should unite with the people of all

social strata who help to make the motherland prosperous and strong, encouraging their

pioneering spirit, protecting their legitimate rights and interests and commending the

outstanding ones in an effort to create a situation in which all people are well positioned, do

their best and live in harmony.

　　We must respect work, knowledge, competent people and creation. This should be an

important policy of the Party and state to be conscientiously implemented in society at large.

We need to respect and protect all work that is good for the people and society. All work

that contributes to the socialist modernization drive in China, physical or mental and simple or

complicated, is glorious and should be acknowledged and respected. All investors at home or

from overseas should be encouraged to carry out business activities in China's development.

All legitimate income, from work or not, should be protected. It is improper to judge whether

people are politically progressive or backward simply by whether they own property or how

much property they own. But rather, we should judge them mainly by their political

awareness, state of mind and performance, by how they have acquired and used their

property, and by how they have contributed to the cause of building socialism with Chinese

characteristics through their work. It is necessary to foster notions and form a business

mechanism inconformity with the basic economic system in the primary stage of socialism and

create a social environment in which people are encouraged to achieve something and helped

to make a success of their career, so as to unleash all the vitality contained in work,

knowledge, technology, management and capital and give full play to all sources of social

wealth for the benefit of the people.

   In building socialism with Chinese characteristics, the fundamental interests of the people of

the whole country are identical, on the basis of which concrete interest relations and internal

contradictions can be adjusted. In the formulation and implementation of the Party's principles

and policies, a basic point of departure is that we should represent the fundamental interests

of the overwhelming majority of the people, and correctly reflect and take into account the

interests of different groups of people, enabling the whole people to advance steadily toward

the goal of common prosperity. We should protect the vitality for further growth of the

developed regions, strong industries and people who have become rich first through hard

work and lawful business operations and encouraging them to create social wealth. More

importantly, we must pay great attention to less developed areas and the industries and

people in straitened circumstances and show concern for them. In particular, we must see to

it that the people in financial difficulties have subsistence allowances, and we must take

effective measures to help them find jobs and improve their living conditions so that they will

truly feel the warmth of our socialist society.

　　4. To carry out the important thought of Three Represents, it is essential to push forward

Party building in a spirit of reform and instill new vitality in the Party. Attaching vital

importance to and strengthening Party building is a magic weapon with which our Party has

grown from a small and weak force to a large and strong one, risen in spite of setbacks and

matured gradually in surmounting difficulties. As the historical experience of the Party over the

past 80 years and more shows, the most important point is that we must build up the Party

according to its political line, central task and general goal for building it with a view to

enhancing its creativity, cohesion and fighting capacity.

　　Persisting in self-examination in compliance with the requirements of the times and

pursuing self-improvement in a spirit of reform are the fundamental guarantee that our Party

will always remain a Marxist party, will never be divorced from the people and will be full of

vitality. We must be good at both reviewing our useful experience and learning lessons from

our mistakes. We must be good at both leading the people ahead by putting forward and

implementing the correct theory and line and acquiring the motivation for progress from the

people's creations in practice and their desire for development. We must be good at both

understanding and changing the objective world and organizing and guiding cadres and other

Party members to strengthen their efforts to change their subjective world in practice. Bearing

these requirements in mind, we must integrate adherence to the basic tenets of Marxism with

efforts for theoretical innovation, maintenance of the fine tradition of the Party with promotion

of the spirit of the times, and consolidation of the Party's class base with expansion of its mass

base so that the Party serves as a strong core of leadership that is consolidated ideologically,

politically and organizationally and always stands in the forefront of the times leading the

people forward in solidarity.

　　All in all, the important thought of Three Represents is always in a process of development

and progress. The whole Party must continue to emancipate the mind, come up with new

ideas in respect of theory and create something new in practice. It must carry out the

important thought of Three Represents in all endeavors of the socialist modernization drive

and in all aspects of Party building so that it always advances with the times and shares weal

and woe with the people.

 III. Objectives of Building a Well-off Society in an All-Round Way 　　

　　Thanks to the joint efforts of the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups, we have

attained the objectives of the first two steps of the three-step strategy for China's

modernization drive, and by and large, the people have become well-off. This is a great

victory for the socialist system and a new milestone in the history of the development of the

Chinese nation.

　　 We must be aware that China is in the primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a

long time to come. The well-off life we are leading is still at a low level; it is not all-inclusive

and is very uneven. The principal contradiction in our society is still one between the ever-

growing material and cultural needs of the people and the backwardness of social production.

Our productive forces, science, technology and education are still relatively backward, so

there is still a long way to go before we achieve industrialization and modernization. The dual

structure in urban and rural economy has not yet been changed, the gap between regions is

still widening and there are still quite a large number of impoverished people. China's

population continues to grow, the proportion of the aged is getting larger, and the pressure on

employment and social security is mounting. The contradiction between the ecological

environment and natural resources on the one hand and economic and social development on

the other is becoming increasingly conspicuous. We still feel pressure from developed

countries as they have the upper hand in such fields as the economy, science and technology.

The economic structure and managerial systems in other fields remain to be perfected. There

are still some problems we cannot afford to overlook in improving democracy and the legal

system as well as the ideological and ethical standards. We need to work hard over a long

period of time to consolidate and uplift our current well-off standard of living.

　　An overview of the situation shows that for our country, the first two decades of the 21st

century are a period of important strategic opportunities, which we must seize tightly and

which offers bright prospects. In accordance with the development objectives up to 2010,

the centenary of the Party and that of New China, as proposed at the Fifteenth National

Congress, we need to concentrate on building a well-off society of a higher standard in an all

-round way to the benefit of well over one billion people in this period. We will further

develop the economy, improve democracy, advance science and education, enrich culture,

foster social harmony and upgrade the texture of life for the people. The two decades of

development will serve as an inevitable connecting link for attainting the third-step strategic

objectives for our modernization drive as well as a key stage for improving the socialist

market economy and opening wider to the outside world. Building on what is achieved at this

stage and continuing to work for several more decades, we will have in the main

accomplished the modernization program and turned China into a strong, prosperous,

democratic and culturally advanced socialist country by the middle of this century.

    The objectives of building a well-off society in an all-round way are as follows:

　　-- On the basis of optimized structure and better economic returns, efforts will be made to

quadruple the GDP of the year 2000 by 2020, and China's overall national strength and

international competitiveness will increase markedly. We will in the main achieve

industrialization and establish a full-fledged socialist market economy and a more open and

viable economic system. The proportion of urban population will go up considerably and the

trend of widening differences between industry and agriculture, between urban and rural areas

and between regions will be reversed step by step. We will have a fairly sound social security

system. There will be a higher rate of employment. People will have more family property and

lead a more prosperous life.

　　-- Socialist democracy and the legal system will be further improved. The basic principle

of ruling the country by law will be implemented completely. The political, economic and

cultural rights and interests of the people will be respected and guaranteed in real earnest.

Democracy at the grassroots level will be better practiced. People will enjoy a sound public

order and live and work in peace and contentment.

　　-- The ideological and ethical standards, the scientific and cultural qualities, and the health

of the whole people will be enhanced notably. A sound modern national educational system,

scientific, technological and cultural innovation systems as well as nationwide fitness and

medical and health systems will take shape. People will have access to better education. We

will make senior secondary education basically universal in the country and eliminate illiteracy.

A learning society in which all the people will learn or even pursue life-long education will

emerge to boost their all-round development.

　　-- The capability of sustainable development will be steadily enhanced. The ecological

environment will be improved. The efficiency of using resources will be increased significantly.

We will enhance harmony between man and nature to push the whole society onto a path to

civilized development featuring the growth of production, an affluent life and a sound

ecosystem.

     The objectives set at this congress for building a well-off society in an all-round way are

objectives of comprehensive economic, political and cultural development of socialism with

Chinese characteristics, objectives well geared to the efforts to speed up modernization. They

tally with the national conditions, the realities of the modernization drive and the people's

aspirations. They are of great significance. In order to attain the Party's objectives for the new

stage in the new century, it is imperative to come up with new ideas for development, make

new breakthroughs in reform, break new ground in opening up and take new moves in all

fields of endeavor. All localities and departments must proceed from their actual conditions

and take effective measures to attain the objectives. Places where conditions permit may

develop faster and take the lead in accomplishing modernization by and large on the basis of

building a well-off society in an all-round way. We are sure that after attaining the objectives

of building a well-off society in an all-round way, our motherland will become stronger and

more prosperous, the people will live a better and happier life, and socialism with Chinese

characteristics will further demonstrate its great superiority.

 IV. Economic Development and Restructuring　　
　　In building a well-off society in an all-round way, it is of vital importance to take economic

development as the central task and keep releasing and developing the productive forces. In

light of the new trends in the economy, science and technology of the world and the

requirements of our national economic development in the new period, we should undertake

the following main tasks for economic development and reform in the first two decades of this

century: to improve the socialist market economy, promote strategic adjustment of the

economic structure, basically accomplish industrialization, energetically apply IT, accelerate

modernization, maintain a sustained, rapid and sound development of the national economy

and steadily uplift the people's living standards. In the first decade, we will accomplish all the

objectives set in the Tenth Five-Year Plan and for the years up to 2010 so as to bring the

economic aggregate, overall national strength and the people's living standards up to a much

higher level and lay a solid foundation for even greater development in the second decade.

　　1. Take a new road to industrialization and implement the strategy of rejuvenating the

country through science and education and that of sustainable development. It remains an

arduous historical task in the process of our modernization drive to accomplish

industrialization. IT application is a logical choice if industrialization and modernization of our

country are to be accelerated. It is, therefore, necessary to persist in using IT to propel

industrialization, which will, in turn, stimulate IT application, blazing a new trail to

industrialization featuring high scientific and technological content, good economic returns, low

resources consumption, little environmental pollution and a full display of advantages in human

resources.

　　We must press ahead to optimize and upgrade the industrial structure so as to bring about

an industrial pattern with high and new technology industries as the leader, basic and

manufacturing industries as the kingpin and the service industry developing in all areas. We

must give priority to the development of the information industry and apply IT in all areas of

economic and social development. We must develop high and new technology industries to

provide breakthroughs in stimulating economic growth. It is necessary to transform traditional

industries with high and new technology and advanced adaptive technology and invigorate the

equipment manufacturing industry. We should continue to strengthen infrastructure. We

should accelerate the development of the modern service sector and raise the proportion of

the tertiary industry in the national economy. We must correctly handle the relationships of

development between the high and new technology industries and traditional industries,

between capital-and-technology-intensive industries and labor-intensive industries and

between virtual economy and real economy.

       In taking a new road to industrialization, we must give play to the important role of

science and technology as the primary productive force and pay close attention to improving

the quality and efficiency of economic growth by relying on scientific and technological

progress and raising the qualities of labor force. We must strengthen basic research and

research in high technology, promote key technological innovation and systems integration so

that technology will develop by leaps and bounds. We must encourage scientific and

technological innovation and acquire key technology and independent intellectual property

rights in key areas and a number of domains in frontier science and technology. We must

deepen the reform of the administration systems of science, technology and education,

strengthen the integration of science, technology and education with the economy, improve

the service system for the development of science and technology and quicken the pace of

translating research achievements into practical productive forces. We must press ahead with

the building of a national innovation system. We must give play to the role of venture capital

and develop a mechanism of capital operation and human capital pooling for promoting

scientific and technological innovation and start-ups. We must improve the system of

intellectual property rights protection. We must give top priority to sustainable development,

adhere to the basic state policies of family planning and environmental and resources

protection, keep the birthrate low and rationally develop and economically utilize all kinds of

natural resources. We must lose no time in solving the problem of water shortages in some

areas and build the south-to-north water diversion project. We should promote marine

development and do well in the comprehensive improvement of land and resources. It is

necessary to help the whole nation see the importance of environmental protection and do a

good job of ecological conservation and improvement.
　　2. Make the rural economy flourish and speed up urbanization. A major task for building a

well-off society in an all-round way is to make overall planning for urban and rural economic

and social development, build modern agriculture, develop the rural economy and increase

the income of farmers. We must strengthen the position of agriculture as the foundation of the

economy, carry on the restructuring of agriculture and the rural economy, protect and raise

the comprehensive grain production capacity, improve the system for ensuring the quality of

farm produce and enhance the competitiveness of agriculture in the market. We must push

forward the industrialized operation of agriculture, better organize farmers in their access to

the market and improve the overall efficiency of agriculture. We must develop farm produce

processing industry to boost the county economy. We must open up more rural markets and

enliven the distribution of farm produce by improving its market system.

　　It is an inevitable trend of industrialization and modernization for surplus rural labor to

move to non-agricultural industries and to cities and towns. It is essential to raise the level of

urbanization gradually and persist in the coordinated development of large, medium and small

cities and small towns along the path to urbanization with Chinese characteristics. We should

develop small towns on the basis of existing county seats and of organic towns where

conditions permit, make scientific planning and a rational layout, integrating their development

with the expansion of township and village enterprises and the rural service sector. All the

institutional and policy barriers to urbanization must be removed and the rational and orderly

flow of rural labor guided.

　　We must adhere to the basic rural policies of the Party and keep stabilizing and improving

the two-tier management system that integrates unified with separate management on the

basis of household contract management. Wherever conditions permit, the transfer of the

contractual right of land can be carried out according to law and on a voluntary and

compensatory basis so as to develop scale operation step by step. We must respect farmer

households as market players and encourage innovation in the rural management system. We

must enhance the economic strength of the collectives. We should establish and improve a

commercialized rural service system. We must invest more in agriculture, give it more support

and accelerate the progress of agricultural science and technology and the building of rural

infrastructure. We should improve financial services in rural areas. We must continue with the

reform in tax and fee in rural areas to lighten the burdens of farmers and protect their

interests.

    3. Advance the development of the western region and bring about a coordinated

development of regional economies. The implementation of the strategy for the development

of the western region bears on the overall situation of national development, the ethnic unity

and the stability in border areas. To lay a solid foundation and go ahead in a down-to-earth

manner, we must give priority to infrastructure and ecological environment improvement and

strive for breakthroughs in a decade. We must develop industries with local advantages and

propel the development of key areas. We should develop science, technology and education

and train and make the best use of all human resources. The state should provide the western

region with greater support in such areas as investment projects, tax policies and transfer

payments, gradually build up long-term and stable sources of funds for its development,

improve the investment environment, and guide foreign investment and domestic capital

toward that region. People there should further emancipate their minds, enhance their self-

development capabilities and explore a new path to accelerated development in reform and

opening up.
　　The central region should redouble its efforts toward structural adjustment, giving impetus

to industrialized operation of agriculture, transforming traditional industries, cultivating new

economic growth points and speeding up industrialization and urbanization. The eastern

region should quicken the pace of upgrading its industrial structure, develop modern

agriculture, high and new technology industries and high value-added processing and

manufacturing industries and further develop the outward-looking economy. We should

encourage the special economic zones and the Pudong New Area in Shanghai to spearhead,

among other things, institutional innovation and greater openness. We should support the

northeastern region and other old industrial bases in accelerating their adjustments and

transformation and support cities and areas mainly engaged in natural resources exploitation in

their efforts to develop alternative industries. We should support the old revolutionary base

areas and areas inhabited by ethnic minorities in expediting their development. The state

should give more support to main grain producing areas. The eastern, central and western

regions should strengthen economic exchanges and cooperation to complement one another

and secure common development so as to form a number of distinctive economic zones and

belts.

　　4. Stick to and improve the basic economic system and deepen the reform of the state

property management system. In line with the requirements of releasing and developing the

productive forces, we must uphold and improve the basic economic system, with public

ownership playing a dominant role and diverse forms of ownership developing side by side.

First, it is necessary to consolidate and develop unswervingly the public sector of the

economy. Expansion of the state sector and its control of the lifeline of the national economy

is of crucial importance in displaying the superiority of the socialist system and reinforcing the

economic strength, national defense capabilities and national cohesion. As an important

component of the public sector, the collective sector of the economy plays a significant role in

achieving common prosperity. Secondly, it is necessary to encourage, support and guide the

development of the non-public sectors of the economy. The non-public sector of self-

employed, private and other forms of ownership is an important component part of the

socialist market economy. They play an important role in mobilizing the initiative of all

quarters of the society to quicken the development of the productive forces. Thirdly, we must

stimulate the development of the non-public sectors while keeping the public sector as the

dominant player, incorporating both into the process of the socialist modernization drive

instead of setting them against each other. All sectors of the economy can very well display

their respective advantages in market competition and stimulate one another for common

development.

    Continuing to adjust the layout and structure of the state sector and reform the state

property management system is a major task for deepening economic restructuring. We

should give full play to the initiative of both the central and local authorities on the

precondition of upholding state ownership. The state should make laws and regulations and

establish a state property management system under which the Central Government and local

governments perform the responsibilities of investor on behalf of the state respectively,

enjoying owner's equity, combining rights with obligations and duties and administering assets,

personnel and other affairs. The Central Government should represent the state in performing

the functions as investor in large state-owned enterprises, infrastructure and important natural

resources that have a vital bearing on the lifeline of the national economy and state security

while local governments should represent the state in performing the functions as investors

with regard to other state property. The Central Government and the provincial and municipal

(prefectural) governments should set up state property management organizations. We should

continue to explore systems and modes for managing state property effectively. Governments

at all levels must strictly abide by the laws and regulations concerning the management of state

property, persisting in the separation of government functions from enterprise management

and separation of ownership from management so that enterprises can operate independently,

assume sole responsibility for their profits or losses and preserve and increase the value of

state property.
　　State-owned enterprises are the pillar of the national economy. We should deepen the

reform of state-owned enterprises and further explore diversified forms for effectively

realizing public ownership, especially state ownership. We should promote institutional,

technological and managerial innovations in enterprises. Except for a tiny number of

enterprises that must be funded solely by the state, all the others should introduce the joint-

stock system to develop a mixed sector of the economy. Sources of investment must be

diversified. The controlling shares in lifeline enterprises must be held by the state. Large and

medium state-owned enterprises must continue their reform to convert themselves into

standard companies in compliance with the requirements of the modern enterprise system and

improve their corporate governance. Monopoly industries should carry out reforms to

introduce competition mechanisms. We should form large internationally competitive

companies and enterprise groups through market forces and policy guidance. We should give

a freer rein to small and medium state-owned enterprises to invigorate themselves. We should

deepen the reform of collective enterprises and give more support and help to the growth of

the various forms of the collective sector of the economy.

　　We must give full scope to the important role of the non-public sector of self-employed,

private and other forms of ownership of the economy in stimulating economic growth,

creating more jobs and activating the market. We should expand the areas for the market

access of domestic nongovernmental capital and adopt measures with regard to investment,

financing, taxation, land use, foreign trade and other aspects to carry out fair competition. We

should strengthen the supervision and administration of the non-public sectors according to

law to promote their sound development. We should improve the legal system for protecting

private property.

　　5. Improve the modern market system and tighten and improve macroeconomic control.

We should give a fuller play to the basic role of the market in the allocation of resources and

build up a unified, open, competitive and orderly modern market system. We should go

ahead with reform, opening up, stability and development of the capital market. We should

develop markets for property rights, land, labor and technology and create an environment

for the equal use of production factors by market players. We must deepen the reform of the

distribution system and introduce modern ways of distribution. We must rectify and

standardize the order of the market economy and establish a social credit system compatible

with a modern market economy. We must get rid of trade monopolies and regional

blockades to allow free movement of goods and production factors on markets around the

country.

    We must improve the government functions of economic regulation, market supervision,

social administration and public services, and reduce and standardize administrative

procedures for examination and approval. We must stimulate economic growth, create more

jobs, stabilize prices and maintain balance of international payments as the main

macroeconomic control objectives. Stimulating domestic demand is an essential and long-

standing factor underlying China's economic growth. We must stick to the policy of

stimulating domestic demand and implement corresponding macroeconomic policies in light of

actual needs. We must adjust the relationship between investment and consumption to raise

the proportion of consumption in GDP gradually. We should improve the macroeconomic

control system featuring the coordination of state planning and fiscal and monetary policies to

give play to economic leverage. We should deepen the reform of the fiscal, taxation, banking,

investment and financing systems. We should improve the budgetary decision-making and

management system, step up the supervision of revenue and expenditures and intensify tax

administration. We should carry out the reform steadily to deregulate interest rates to leave

them to market forces, optimize the allocation of financial resources, strengthen regulation and

prevent and defuse financial risks so as to provide better banking services for economic and

social development.

　　6. Deepen the reform of the income distribution system and improve the social security

system. Rationalizing the relations of income distribution bears on the immediate interests of

the general public and the display of their initiative. We should adjust and standardize the

relations of distribution among the state, enterprises and individuals. We should establish the

principle that labor, capital, technology, managerial expertise and other production factors

participate in the distribution of income in accordance with their respective contributions,

thereby improving the system under which distribution according to work is dominant and a

variety of modes of distribution coexist. We should give priority to efficiency with due

consideration to fairness, earnestly implementing the distribution policy while advocating the

spirit of devotion and guarding against an excessive disparity in income while opposing

equalitarianism. In primary distribution, we should pay more attention to efficiency, bringing

the market forces into play and encouraging part of the people to become rich first through

honest labor and lawful operations. In redistribution, we should pay more attention to fairness

and strengthen the function of the government in regulating income distribution to narrow the

gap if it is too wide. We should standardize the order of income distribution, properly regulate

the excessively high income of some monopoly industries and outlaw illegal gains. Bearing in

mind the objective of common prosperity, we should try to raise the proportion of the

middle-income group and increase the income of the low-income group.

　　Establishing and improving a social security system compatible with the level of economic

development constitutes an important guarantee for social stability and long-term peace and

order in the country. We should stick to and improve the basic old-age pension and medical

insurance systems for urban workers, combining socially pooled funds with personal

contributions. We should improve the systems of unemployment insurance and subsistence

allowances for urban residents. We should try various channels to raise and accumulate social

security funds. Reasonable standards for social security benefits should be set in light of local

conditions. We should develop social relief and welfare programs in urban and rural areas.

Wherever conditions permit, we should try to establish systems of old-age pensions, medical

insurance and subsistence allowances in rural areas.

　　7. Do a better job in opening up by "bringing in" and "going out". In response to the new

situation of economic globalization and China's entry into the WTO, we should take part in

international economic and technological cooperation and competition on a broader scale, in

more spheres and on a higher level, make the best use of both international and domestic

markets, optimize the allocation of resources, expand the space for development and

accelerate reform and development by opening up.

    We should expand trade in goods and services. We should implement the strategy of

market diversification, bring into play our comparative advantages, consolidate our existing

markets and open new ones in an effort to increase exports. We should sharpen the

competitive edge of our goods and services for export by ensuring good quality. We should

optimize our import mix and focus on bringing in advanced technology and key equipment.

We should deepen the reform of the system of trade and economic relations with other

countries, encouraging more enterprises to engage in foreign trade and improving relevant

taxation systems and the trade financing mechanism.

　　We should attract more foreign direct investment and use it more effectively. We will open

the service sector to the outside world step by step. We will utilize medium- and long-term

foreign investment in many ways, combining it with the domestic economic restructuring and

the reorganization and transformation of state-owned enterprises and encouraging

multinational corporations to invest in agriculture and manufacturing and high and new

technology industries. We should try to bring in from overseas large numbers of professionals

and other intellectual resources in various areas. We should improve the environment for

investment, grant national treatment to foreign investors and make relevant policies and

regulations more transparent. Implementation of the strategy of "going out" is an important

measure taken in the new stage of opening up. We should encourage and help relatively

competitive enterprises with various forms of ownership to invest abroad in order to increase

export of goods and labor services and bring about a number of strong multinational

enterprises and brand names. We should take an active part in regional economic exchanges

and cooperation. In opening wider to the outside world, we must pay great attention to

safeguarding our national economic security.

　　8. Do everything possible to create more jobs and improve the people's lives.

Employment has a vital bearing on the people's livelihood. The task of increasing employment

is arduous now and will remain so for a long time to come. It is a long-term strategy and

policy of the state to expand employment. Party committees and governments at all levels

must take it as their major obligation to improve the business environment and create more

jobs. We should open up more avenues for employment and develop labor-intensive

industries. We should give policy support to enterprises that increase jobs or reemploy laid-

off workers. We should help the general public to change their mentality about employment,

introduce flexible and diverse forms of employment and encourage people to find jobs on

their own or become self-employed. We should improve the system of pre-job training and

employment services and raise workers' skills for new jobs. We should strengthen

employment management in accordance with law, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests

of workers, pay great attention to safety at work and protect the safety of state property and

people's life.

　　The fundamental goal of economic development is to uplift the living standards and quality

of life of the people. As the economy develops, we should increase the income of urban and

rural residents, expand the scope of their consumption and optimize the consumption

structure so as to meet the people's multifarious material and cultural needs. Further efforts

should be made to develop public service facilities, better people's living environment and

expand community services in order to make life easier for the people. We should establish a

medical service and health care system that meets the requirements of the new situation. We

should improve medical and health conditions in rural areas and the medical and health care

for urban and rural residents. We should build up various programs to help the handicapped.

We should intensify our efforts to fight poverty through development, build on the

achievements we have scored in this regard, strive to accomplish the task of providing

adequate food and clothing for the impoverished rural population and gradually enable them

to lead a well-off life.

　　Accomplishing the tasks set for economic development and restructuring is of decisive

significance to accelerating our socialist modernization. So long as the whole Party and the

people of all ethnic groups work hard with one heart and one mind, we will definitely establish

a mature socialist market economy and maintain a sustained, rapid and sound development of

the national economy at the new stage in the new century.

 V. Political Development and Restructuring 　　
　　Developing socialist democracy and establishing a socialist political civilization are an

important goal for building a well-off society in an all-round way. Adhering to the Four

Cardinal Principles, we must go on steadily and surely with political restructuring, extend

socialist democracy and improve the socialist legal system in order to build a socialist country

under the rule of law and consolidate and develop the political situation characterized by

democracy, solidarity, liveliness, stability and harmony.

　　Our Party has always deemed it its duty to realize and develop people's democracy. Since

the beginning of reform and opening up, we have pressed on with political restructuring and

improved socialist democracy. The key to developing socialist democracy is to combine the

need to uphold the Party's leadership and to ensure that the people are the masters of the

country with the need to rule the country by law. Leadership by the Party is the fundamental

guarantee that the people are the masters of the country and that the country is ruled by law.

The people being the masters of the country constitutes the essential requirement of socialist

democracy. Ruling the country by law is the basic principle the Party pursues while it leads

the people in running the country. The CPC is the core of leadership for the cause of

socialism with Chinese characteristics. Governance by the Communist Party means that it

leads and supports the people in acting as the masters of the country and mobilizes and

organizes them on a most extensive scale to manage state and social affairs and economic and

cultural undertakings according to law, safeguarding and realizing their fundamental interests.

The Constitution and other laws embody the unity of the Party's views and the people's will.

All organizations and individuals must act in strict accordance with the law, and none of them

are allowed to have the privilege to overstep the Constitution and other laws.

　　Political restructuring is the self-improvement and development of the socialist political

system. It must help enhance the vitality of the Party and state, demonstrate the features and

advantages of the socialist system, give full scope to the initiative and creativity of the people,

safeguard national unity, ethnic solidarity and social stability and promote economic

development and social progress. We must always proceed from our national conditions,

review our experience gained in practice and at the same time learn from the achievements of

political civilization of mankind. We should never copy any models of the political system of

the West. We must concentrate on institutional improvement and ensure that socialist

democracy is institutionalized and standardized and has its procedures.

　　1. Uphold and improve the systems of socialist democracy. It is essential to improve the

systems of democracy, develop diverse forms of democracy, expand citizens' participation in

political affairs in an orderly way, and ensure that the people go in for democratic elections

and decision-making, exercise democratic management and supervision according to law and

enjoy extensive rights and freedoms, and that human rights are respected and guaranteed. We

should uphold and improve the system of people's congresses and ensure that the congresses

and their standing committees exercise their functions according to law and that their

legislation and policy decisions better embody the people's will. We should optimize the

composition of the standing committees. We should uphold and improve the system of

multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party.

We should uphold the principle of "long-term coexistence, mutual supervision, treating each

other with all sincerity and sharing weal and woe", step up our cooperation with the

democratic parties and better display the features and advantages of the Chinese socialist

system of political parties. We will ensure that the Chinese People's Political Consultative

Conference (CPPCC) plays its role in political consultation, democratic supervision and

participation in and deliberation of state affairs. We will consolidate and develop the broadest

possible patriotic united front. We will fully implement the Party's policy toward ethnic

minorities, uphold and improve the system of regional ethnic autonomy, consolidate and

enhance socialist ethnic relations of equality, solidarity and mutual assistance and promote

common prosperity and progress for all our ethnic groups. We will implement the Party's

policy toward the freedom of religious belief, handle religious affairs according to law,

encourage the adaptability of religions to the socialist society and uphold the principle of self

-administration and running religious affairs independently. We will conscientiously carry out

the Party's policy toward overseas Chinese affairs.

    Extending democracy at the grassroots level is the groundwork for developing socialist

democracy. We will improve grassroots self-governing organizations, their democratic

management system and the system of keeping the public informed of matters being handled,

and ensure that the people directly exercise their democratic rights according to law, manage

grassroots public affairs and programs for public good and exercise democratic supervision

over the cadres. We will improve self-governance among villagers and foster a mechanism of

their self-governance full of vitality under the leadership of village Party organizations. We will

improve self-governance among urban residents and build new-type and well-managed

communities featuring civility and harmony. We will uphold and improve the system of

workers' conferences and other democratic management systems in enterprises and

institutions and protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers.

　　2. Improve the socialist legal system. We must see to it that there are laws to go by, the

laws are observed and strictly enforced, and law-breakers are prosecuted. To adapt to the

new situation characterized by the development of a socialist market economy, all-round

social progress and China's accession to the WTO, we will strengthen legislation and improve

its quality and will have formulated a socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics by

the year 2010. We must see to it that all people are equal before the law. We should tighten

supervision over law enforcement, promote the exercise of administrative functions according

to law, safeguard judicial justice and raise the level of law enforcement so that laws are

strictly implemented. We must safeguard the uniformity and sanctity of the legal system and

prevent or overcome local and departmental protectionism. We will extend and standardize

legal services and provide effective legal aid. We should give more publicity to the legal

system so that the people are better educated in law. In particular, we will enhance the public

servants' awareness of law and their ability to perform their official duties according to law.

Party members and cadres, especially leading cadres, should play an exemplary role in

abiding by the Constitution and other laws.

　　3. Reform and improve the Party's style of leadership and governance. This is a matter of

overall significance to improving socialist democracy. Leadership by the Party mainly refers to

its political, ideological and organizational leadership. The Party exercises leadership over the

state and society by formulating major principles and policies, making suggestions on

legislation, recommending cadres for important positions, conducting ideological publicity,

giving play to the role of Party organizations and members and persisting in exercising state

power according to law. Party committees, playing the role as the core of leadership among

all other organizations at corresponding levels, should concentrate on handling important

matters and support those organizations in assuming their responsibilities independently and

making concerted efforts in their work. We will further reform and improve the Party's

working organs and mechanisms. Acting on the principle that the Party commands the overall

situation and coordinates the efforts of all quarters, we will standardize relations between

Party committees on the one hand and people's congresses, governments, CPPCC

committees and mass organizations on the other. We will support people's congresses in

performing their functions as organs of state power according to law, in ensuring that the

Party's views become the will of the state and that candidates recommended by Party

organizations become leading cadres of the organs of state power through legal procedures,

and in exercising supervision over them. We will support the government in fulfilling its legal

functions and performing its official duties according to law. We will support CPPCC

committees in performing their functions by centering on the two major subjects of unity and

democracy. We will strengthen the Party's leadership over trade unions, the Communist

Youth League organizations, women's federations and other mass organizations and support

them in working according to law and their own constitutions and acting as a bridge between

the Party and the people.

    4. Reform and improve the decision-making mechanism. Correct decision-making is an

important prerequisite for success in all work. We will improve the decision-making

mechanism by which decision-makers will go deep among the people and get to know how

they are faring, reflect their will, pool their wisdom and value their resources, putting decision

-making on a more scientific and democratic basis. Decision-making organs at all levels

should improve the rules and procedures for taking major policy decisions, establish a system

of reporting social conditions and public opinion, a system of keeping the public informed and

a system of public hearings on major issues closely related to the interests of the people,

perfect the expert consulting system and implement a verification system and a responsibility

system in making policy decisions with a view to preventing arbitrary decision-making.

　　5. Deepen administrative restructuring. We should further change the functions of the

government, improve the methods of management, introduce e-government, uplift

administrative efficiency and reduce costs so as to form an administrative system featuring

standardized behaviors, coordinated operation, fairness and transparency, honesty and high

efficiency. We should standardize the functions and powers of the Central Government and

local authorities according to law and properly handle relations between the departments

directly under the Central Government and the local governments. Following the principle of

simplification, uniformity and efficiency and meeting the requirements of coordination in

decision-making, execution and supervision, we will continue to promote the restructuring of

government departments, standardize their functions in a scientific manner, rationalize their

set-ups, and optimize their composition in order to delimit the structures and sizes statutorily

and solve the problems of too many levels, overlapping functions, overstaffing, divorce

between powers and responsibilities and duplicate law enforcement. We will reform the

management system of institutions in accordance with the principle of separating the functions

of government from those of institutions.

　　6. Promote the reform of the judicial system. A socialist judicial system must guarantee

fairness and justice in the whole society. In accordance with the requirements of judicial

justice and strict law enforcement, we should improve the setups of judicial organs, the

delimitation of their functions and powers and their management systems so as to form a

sound judicial system featuring clearly specified powers and responsibilities, mutual

coordination and restraint and highly efficient operation. We should institutionally ensure that

the judicial and procuratorial organs are in a position to exercise adjudicative and

procuratorial powers independently and impartially according to law. We should improve

judicial proceedings and protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens and legal

persons. We should solve the problem of difficult enforcement of judgments. We should

reform the working mechanisms of judicial organs and the management system of their

human, financial and material resources and gradually separate their judicial adjudication and

procuratorial work from their administrative affairs. We will tighten supervision over the

judicial work and punish corruption in this field. We will build up a contingent of judicial

personnel who are politically steadfast and professionally competent, have a fine style of

work and enforce laws impartially.

    7. Deepen the reform of the cadre and personnel system. Efforts should be made to form a

vigorous personnel mechanism under which we can gather large numbers of talented people,

put them to the best use and get them prepared for both promotion and demotion, calling

them to the service of the Party and state. In reforming and perfecting the cadre and

personnel system and improving the system of public servants, we should focus on

establishing a sound mechanism of selection, appointment, management and supervision, with

a view to making it scientific, democratic and institutionalized. In the matter of cadre selection

and appointment, Party members and ordinary people should have more right to know, to

participate, to choose and to supervise. With regard to leading cadres of the Party and

government, it is necessary to implement the system of fixed tenures, the system of resignation

and the system of accountability for neglect of supervisory duty or the use of the wrong

person. It is necessary to improve the system of giving cadres both positions and ranks and

establish an incentive and guarantee mechanism for them. We should explore and improve the

system of classified management of cadres and personnel in Party and government organs,

institutions and enterprises. We should reform and improve the system of dual control over

cadres. We should break with the notions and practices of overstressing seniority in the

matter of selection and appointment, encourage the rational flow of trained people and create

a sound environment which makes it possible for outstanding people to come to the fore in all

fields.

　　8. Tighten the restraint on and supervision over the use of power. We should establish a

mechanism for the exercise of power featuring reasonable structure, scientific distribution,

rigorous procedures and effective restraint so as to tighten supervision over power in terms of

decision-making, execution and other links and ensure that the power entrusted to us by the

people is truly exercised for their benefits. We should focus on tightening supervision over

leading cadres and especially principal ones, stepping up supervision over the management

and use of human, financial and material resources. We should tighten internal supervision of

leading groups and improve the procedures for deciding on important matters and the

appointment or dismissal of cadres in important positions. We should reform and improve the

system of Party discipline inspection and introduce and improve the system of inspection

tours. We should give play to the role of judicial, administrative supervision and auditing

organs and other functional departments. We should implement the system under which

leading cadres report in various ways on their work and their efforts to perform their duties

honestly, and improve the systems of reporting on important matters, of making inquiries and

of democratic appraisal. We should conscientiously implement the system of making

government affairs known to the public. We should tighten organizational and democratic

supervision and give play to the supervisory function of the media.

　　9. Maintain social stability. To accomplish the heavy tasks of reform and development, we

must have a harmonious and stable social climate for a long time to come. Party committees

and governments at all levels should enthusiastically help the people solve practical problems

they may confront in their work and life. They must carry out in-depth investigations and

study, strengthen ideological and political work in light of different cases, and employ

economic, administrative and legal means to handle the contradictions among the people

properly, those involving their immediate interests in particular, so as to maintain stability and

unity. It is essential to improve procuratorial, judicial and public security work, cracking down

on criminal activities according to law, guarding against and punishing crimes committed by

evil cult gangs and eliminating social evils so as to ensure the safety of the lives and property

of the people. We must combine punishment and prevention, with emphasis on the latter, take

comprehensive measures to maintain law and order and improve social management so as to

keep public order. We must strengthen state security, keeping vigilance against infiltrative,

subversive and separatist activities by hostile forces at home and abroad.

　　Socialist democracy enjoys strong vitality and superiority. The CPC and the Chinese

people have full confidence in the road to political development they have chosen and will

press ahead with political development under socialism with Chinese characteristics.

 VI. Cultural Development and Restructuring 　　
　　To build a well-off society in an all-round way calls for major efforts to develop socialist

culture and spiritual civilization. In the present-day world, culture is interactive with economic

and political activities, and its status and functions are becoming more and more outstanding

in the competition in overall national strength. The power of culture is deeply rooted in the

vitality, creativity and cohesion of a nation. All Party members must fully understand the

strategic significance of cultural development and make socialist culture develop and flourish.

　　1. Keep the orientation of advanced culture firmly in hand. In contemporary China, to

develop advanced culture means to develop national, scientific and popular socialist culture

geared to the needs of modernization, of the world and of the future so as to enrich people's

mental world and reinforce their mental strength. We must uphold Marxism-Leninism, Mao

Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory as our guidelines in the realm of ideology and

have the important thought of Three Represents in command of the development of socialist

culture. We must keep to the orientation of serving the people and socialism and the principle

of letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend and highlight

the themes of the times while encouraging diversity. We should continue to arm people with

scientific theory, provide them with correct media guidance, imbue them with lofty ideals, and

inspire them with excellent works of literature and art. We must exert ourselves to develop

advanced culture and support healthy and useful culture, changing what is backward and

resisting what is decadent. Literary and art workers should go deep among the masses and

into the thick of life so as to contribute to the people more works worthy of the times. The

press, publishing, radio, film and television must give correct guidance to the public, and

Internet web sites should serve as important fronts for spreading advanced culture. Basing

ourselves on the practice of reform, opening up and modernization and keeping abreast of the

latest developments in world culture, we must carry forward the fine tradition of our national

culture, draw on the strong points of other nations and make innovations in content and form

so as to enhance the attraction and appeal of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics.

　　2. Continue to carry forward and cultivate the national spirit. National spirit is the moral

kingpin on which a nation relies for survival and development. Without an inspiring spirit and

lofty character, it is impossible for a nation to stand proudly in the family of nations. For more

than 5,000 years, the Chinese nation has evolved a great national spirit centering on

patriotism and featuring unity and solidarity, love of peace, industry, courage and ceaseless

self-improvement. This national spirit has been enriched in light of the requirements of the

times and social development by the people under the leadership of our Party over along

period of practice. Confronted with interaction of different thoughts and cultures in the world,

we must take it as a crucial task in our cultural development to carry forward and cultivate the

national spirit and incorporate it into our national education and the entire process of building

spiritual civilization so that the entire people are always filled with an enterprising spirit.

　　3. Promote ideological and ethical progress. Ruling the country by law and ruling the

country by virtue complement each other. It is necessary to establish a socialist ideological

and ethical system compatible with the socialist market economy and the socialist legal

standard and consistent with the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. We must carry out

intensive publicity and education in the Party's basic theory, line and program and in the

important thought of Three Represents, and guide people in fostering a common ideal for

socialism with Chinese characteristics, correct world outlook, views on life and values. We

must carry out the Program for Improving Civic Morality, promote patriotism and, with

serving the people at the core, collectivism as the principle and honesty as a priority, intensify

education in social and professional ethics and family virtues and especially intensify the

ideological and ethical improvement among youth so as to guide people in their pursuit of

higher ideological and ethical standards on the basis of observing the basic code of conduct.

We must strengthen and improve ideological and political work and encourage popular

participation in building spiritual civilization.

    4. Develop education and science. Education is the foundation for scientific and

technological advancement and personnel training. Playing a vanguard role and having an

overall bearing on the modernization drive, education must be placed on our development

agenda as a strategic priority. We must carry out the Party's education policy that education

should serve socialist modernization and the people and integrate itself with productive labor

and social practice so as to train socialist builders and successors featuring an all-round

development in morality, intelligence, physique and art. We should encourage innovation in

education, deepen its reform, optimize its structure, allocate its resources rationally, raise its

quality and management levels and promote quality-oriented education to cultivate hundreds

of millions of high-quality workers, tens of millions of specialized personnel and a great

number of top-notch innovative personnel. We should build up the ranks of teachers and

raise their professional ethics and competence. We should continue to make nine-year

compulsory education universal across the country, intensify vocational education and

training, develop continued education and set up a system of life-long education. We should

increase input in education, give more support to rural education, and encourage

nongovernmental sectors to run schools. We should improve the state policy and system for

aiding students in straitened circumstances. We should formulate a long-term program for

scientific and technological development. We should step up the development of

infrastructure for research. We should disseminate science and promote the scientific spirit.

We must lay equal stress on social sciences and natural sciences and give full play to the

important role of philosophy and other social sciences in economic and social development. It

is essential to create an atmosphere in society at large favorable for respecting and promoting

science, encouraging innovation and opposing superstition and pseudo-science.

　　5. Develop cultural undertakings and industry. In developing cultural undertakings and

industry, it is imperative to meet the requirements of developing advanced culture and always

place social effects in the first place. The state supports and protects public cultural

undertakings and encourages them to enhance their vigor for self-development. We must

continue to improve the policies and measures for the development of public cultural

undertakings. We must give our support to the major news media and research institutions of

social sciences of the Party and state, to the major cultural projects and art schools and

troupes that are up to national standards and embody national characteristics, to the

protection of major cultural heritage and outstanding folk arts, and to the cultural development

in the old revolutionary base areas, areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, remote areas,

impoverished areas and the central and western regions of the country. We should strengthen

cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture. We should promote the

reform and development of health and sports undertakings and carry on the nationwide fitness

campaign to improve the physique of the entire people. We should make the 2008 Olympics

a success. Developing the cultural industry is an important avenue to enriching socialist culture

in the market economy and to meeting the spiritual and cultural needs of the people. It is

essential to improve policies toward the cultural industry, support its development and

enhance its overall strength and competitiveness.

    6. Continue to deepen cultural restructuring. It is necessary to push forward cultural

restructuring in light of the characteristics of the development of socialist spiritual civilization

and laws governing it and in response to the needs of the growing socialist market economy.

We must lose no time in working out overall planning for cultural restructuring. We must

integrate the deepening of reform with structural adjustment and promotion of development

and straighten out the relationship between the government and cultural enterprises and

institutions. We must build up a legal system concerning culture and intensify macro-control.

We should deepen the internal reform of cultural enterprises and institutions and gradually

establish a management system and operational mechanism favorable to arousing the initiative

of cultural workers, encouraging innovation and bringing forth more top-notch works and

more outstanding personnel. In compliance with the principle of both enriching culture and

intensifying management, we should improve the system of markets for cultural products and

their management mechanism to create a social climate favorable for a flourishing socialist

culture.

　　The Chinese civilization, extensive and profound, and with a long history behind it, has

contributed tremendously to the progress of human civilization. We will surely have a new

upsurge in building socialist culture and create an even more splendid advanced culture in the

great struggle of the Chinese people in the contemporary era.

VII. National Defense and Army Building
　　Strengthening our national defense is a strategic task in our modernization drive and an

important guarantee for safeguarding our national security and unity and building a well-off

society in an all-round way. We must uphold the principle of coordinated development of

national defense and the economy and push forward the modernization of national defense

and the army on the basis of economic growth.

　　The army must take Mao Zedong's military thinking and Deng Xiaoping's thinking on army

building in the new period as the guide to action and fully implement the important thought of

Three Represents. It must persist in taking the road of fewer but better troops with Chinese

characteristics and become more revolutionary, modernized and regularized in compliance

with the general requirements of being qualified politically and competent militarily and having

a fine style of work, strict discipline and adequate logistic support and in close connection

with the two historic objectives of being capable of winning battles and never degenerating.

　　The army should give first priority to ideological and political development in all its

endeavors and retain the nature, quality and style of work worthy of a people's army. The

Party's absolute leadership over the army is the eternal soul of the army. There must be no

wavering in upholding the fundamental principle and system that the Party leads the people's

army.

　　The army must implement the military strategic principle of active defense and raise its

defense capabilities and combat effectiveness under high-tech conditions. In response to the

trend of military changes in the world, it must carry out the strategy of building a strong army

through science and technology and improve its qualities. It should attach strategic importance

to education and training, carry on intensive science- and technology-related military training

and strengthen the building of military academies and schools so as to bring up a large number

of high-quality military personnel of a new type. It is necessary to innovate and develop

military theories. Efforts should be made to accomplish the historical tasks of mechanization

and IT application, thereby bringing about leapfrog development in the modernization of our

army.

    It is necessary to explore the characteristics and laws for running the army under the new

historical conditions and press ahead with reforms in the building of national defense and the

army. The formation and structure of the army must be optimized and the related policies and

systems should be adjusted and improved. The army must be strict with itself and improve the

system of military rules and regulations so as to raise the level of handling its affairs according

to law. It is essential to persist in building the army through diligence and thrift and establishing

and improving an integrated logistic support system for the three armed services, for both

military and civilian purposes and for both peacetime and wartime. It is necessary to deepen

the restructuring of defense-related science, technology and industry, combine military efforts

with civilian support, establish and improve the mechanism of competition, appraisal,

supervision and incentives and enhance the capabilities of independent innovation so as to

speed up the development of defense-related science and technology as well as arms and

equipment. It is necessary to improve the mobilization system for national defense, strengthen

the militia and reserves and develop strategies and tactics of the people's war under high-tech

conditions. The armed police should strive for all-round improvement and be loyal guards of

the Party and the people forever.

　　Party organizations and governments at all levels and the people should be concerned with

and support the building of national defense and the army. The army should support and take

an active part in national construction. We should strengthen education in national defense to

enhance the entire people's awareness of its importance. The government and the people

should support the army and give preferential treatment to the families of servicemen and

martyrs, and the army should support the government and cherish the people so as to

consolidate the solidarity between the army and the government and between the army and

the people.

 VIII. "One Country, Two Systems" and Complete National Reunification 　　
　　To achieve complete reunification of the motherland is a common aspiration of all sons

and daughters of the Chinese nation both at home and abroad. We have successfully resolved

the questions of Hong Kong and Macao and are striving for an early settlement of the

question of Taiwan and for the accomplishment of the great cause of national reunification.

　　The return of Hong Kong and Macao to the motherland has enriched the concept of "one

country, two systems" in both theory and practice. Facts prove that "one country, two

systems" is a correct policy and has strong vitality. We will resolutely implement this policy

and act in strict accordance with the basic laws of Hong Kong and Macao special

administrative regions. We will render full support to the chief executives and governments of

the two regions in their work and unite with people from all walks of life there in a joint effort

to maintain and promote the prosperity, stability and development of Hong Kong and Macao.

　　We will adhere to the basic principles of "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two

systems" and the eight-point proposal on developing cross-straits relations and advancing the

process of peaceful national reunification at the present stage. We will work with our

compatriots in Taiwan to step up personnel exchanges and promote economic, cultural and

other interflows between the two sides and firmly oppose the Taiwan separatist forces. The

basic configuration and development trend of the cross-straits relations remain unchanged.

The desire of our Taiwan compatriots for peace, stability and development is growing

stronger day by day. The splitting activities by the Taiwan separatist forces are unpopular.

    Adherence to the one-China principle is the basis for the development of cross-straits

relations and the realization of peaceful reunification. There is but one China in the world, and

both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China. China's sovereignty and territorial

integrity brook no division. We firmly oppose all words and deeds aimed at creating "Taiwan

independence", "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan". The future of Taiwan lies in the

reunification of the motherland. To conduct dialogue and hold negotiations on peaceful

reunification has been our consistent position. Here we repeat our appeal: On the basis of the

one-China principle, let us shelve for now certain political disputes and resume the cross-

straits dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible. On the premise of the one-China

principle, all issues can be discussed. We may discuss how to end the cross-straits hostility

formally. We may also discuss the international space in which the Taiwan region may

conduct economic, cultural and social activities compatible with its status, or discuss the

political status of the Taiwan authorities or other issues. We are willing to exchange views

with all political parties and personages of all circles in Taiwan on the development of cross-

straits relations and the promotion of peaceful reunification.

　　We place our hopes on the people in Taiwan for the settlement of the Taiwan question

and the realization of the complete reunification of China. Our compatriots in Taiwan have a

glorious patriotic tradition and are an important force in developing cross-straits relations. We

fully respect their life style and their wish to be the masters of our country. The two sides

should expand mutual contacts and exchanges and work together to carry forward the fine

tradition of the Chinese culture. As the direct links of mail, air and shipping services, and

trade across the Taiwan Straits serve the common interests of the compatriots on both sides,

there is every reason to take practical and positive steps to promote such direct links and

open up new prospects for cross-straits economic cooperation.

　　"One country, two systems" is the best way for the reunification between the two sides.

After its reunification with the mainland, Taiwan may keep its existing social system

unchanged and enjoy a high degree of autonomy. Our Taiwan compatriots may keep their

way of life unchanged, and their vital interests will be fully guaranteed. They will enjoy a

lasting peace. Taiwan may then truly rely on the mainland as its hinterland for economic

growth and thus get broad space for development. Our Taiwan compatriots may join the

people on the mainland in exercising the right to administer the country and sharing the dignity

and honor of the great motherland in the international community.

　　The 23 million Taiwan compatriots are our brothers and sisters of the same blood. No

one is more eager than we are to resolve the Taiwan question through peaceful means. We

will continue to implement the basic principles of "peaceful reunification" and "one country,

two systems" and act on the eight-point proposal. We will work in utmost sincerity and do all

we can to strive for a peaceful reunification. Our position of never undertaking to renounce

the use of force is not directed at our Taiwan compatriots. It is aimed at the foreign forces'

attempts to interfere in China's reunification and the Taiwan separatist forces' schemes for

"Taiwan independence". To safeguard national unity bears on the fundamental interests of the

Chinese nation. We Chinese people will safeguard our state sovereignty and territorial

integrity with firm resolve. We will never allow anyone to separate Taiwan from China in any

way.

　　China will be reunified, and the Chinese nation will be rejuvenated. The Taiwan question

must not be allowed to drag on indefinitely. We are convinced that with the concerted efforts

of all sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, the complete reunification of the motherland

will be achieved at an early date.

IX. The International Situation and Our External Work 　　
　　Peace and development remain the themes of our era. To preserve peace and promote

development bears on the well-being of all nations and represents the common aspirations of

all peoples. It is an irresistible trend of history. The growing trends toward world

multipolarization and economic globalization have brought with them opportunities and

favorable conditions for world peace and development. A new world war is unlikely in the

foreseeable future. It is realistic to bring about a fairly long period of peace in the world and a

favorable climate in areas around China.

　　However, the old international political and economic order, which is unfair and irrational,

has yet to be changed fundamentally. Uncertainties affecting peace and development are on

the rise. The elements of traditional and non-traditional threats to security are intertwined, and

the scourge of terrorism is more acutely felt. Hegemonism and power politics have new

manifestations. Local conflicts triggered by ethnic or religious contradictions and border or

territorial disputes have cropped up from time to time. The North-South gap is widening. The

world is far from being tranquil and mankind is faced with many grave challenges.

　　No matter how the international situation changes, we will, as always, pursue the

independent foreign policy of peace. The purpose of China's foreign policy is to maintain

world peace and promote common development. We are ready to work with all nations to

advance the lofty cause of world peace and development.

　　We stand for going along with the historical tide and safeguarding the common interests of

mankind. We are ready to work with the international community to boost world

multipolarization, promote a harmonious coexistence of diverse forces and maintain stability in

the international community. We will promote the development of economic globalization in a

direction conducive to common prosperity, draw on its advantages and avoid its

disadvantages so that all countries, particularly developing countries, can benefit from the

process.

　　We stand for establishing a new international political and economic order that is fair and

rational. Politically all countries should respect and consult one another and should not seek

to impose their will on others. Economically they should complement one another and pursue

common development and should not create a polarization of wealth. Culturally they should

learn from one another and work for common prosperity and should not exclude cultures of

other nations. In the area of security, countries should trust one another and work together to

maintain security, foster a new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality

and coordination, and settle their disputes through dialogue and cooperation and should not

resort to the use or threat of force. We oppose all forms of hegemonism and power politics.

China will never seek hegemony and never go in for expansion.

　　We stand for maintaining the diversity of the world and are in favor of promoting

democracy in international relations and diversifying development models. Ours is a colorful

world. Countries having different civilizations and social systems and taking different roads to

development should respect one another and draw upon one another's strong points through

competition and comparison and should develop side by side by seeking common ground

while shelving differences. The affairs of each country should be left to the people of that

country to decide. World affairs should be determined by all countries concerned through

consultations on the basis of equality.

　　We stand for fighting against terrorism of all forms. It is imperative to strengthen

international cooperation in this regard, address both the symptoms and root causes of

terrorism, prevent and combat terrorist activities and work hard to eliminate terrorism at root.

　　We will continue to improve and develop relations with the developed countries.

Proceeding from the fundamental interests of the people of all countries concerned, we will

broaden the converging points of common interests and properly settle differences on the

basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, notwithstanding the differences in social

system and ideology.

    We will continue to cement our friendly ties with our neighbors and persist in building a

good-neighborly relationship and partnership with them. We will step up regional cooperation

and bring our exchanges and cooperation with our surrounding countries to a new height.

　　We will continue to enhance our solidarity and cooperation with other third world

countries, increase mutual understanding and trust and strengthen mutual help and support.

We will enlarge areas of cooperation and make it more fruitful.

　　We will continue to take an active part in multilateral diplomatic activities and play our role

in the United Nations and other international or regional organizations. We will support other

developing countries in their efforts to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

　　We will continue to develop exchanges and cooperation with political parties and

organizations of all countries and regions on the principles of independence, complete

equality, mutual respect and noninterference in each other's internal affairs.

　　We will continue to carry out extensive people-to-people diplomacy, expand cultural

exchanges with the outside world, enhance the friendship between peoples and propel the

development of state-to-state relations.

　　The world is marching toward brightness and progress. The road is tortuous, but the

future is bright. The forces for peace, justice and progress are invincible after all.

X. Strengthen and Improve Party Building 　　
　　In a large multi-ethnic developing country like ours, we must spare no efforts to strengthen

and improve the Party's leadership and fully advance the great new undertaking of Party

building if we are to rally the entire people to work heart and soul in building a well-off

society in an all-round way and speed up the socialist modernization drive.

　　To strengthen and improve Party building, we must hold high the great banner of Deng

Xiaoping Theory, implement the important thought of Three Represents in a comprehensive

way and ensure that the Party's line, principles and policies fully reflect the fundamental

interests of the people and the requirements of development of our times. We must adhere to

the principle that the Party exercises self-discipline and is strict with its members, and further

address the two major historical subjects of how to enhance the Party's art of leadership and

governance and how to raise the Party's capacity to resist corruption, prevent degeneration

and withstand risks. We must acquire an accurate understanding of social progress in

contemporary China, and reform and improve the Party's way of leadership and governance

and its leadership and working systems so that the Party will be full of vigor and vitality in its

work. We must proceed with Party building ideologically, organizationally and in work style

in parallel with institutional improvement, not only ensuring a good performance of our day-

to-day work, but also tackling prominent issues in good time. Unyielding efforts will be made

to ensure that our Party is forever the vanguard both of the Chinese working class and of the

Chinese people and the Chinese nation as well as the core of leadership in building socialism

with Chinese characteristics and that it always represents the development trend of China's

advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and the fundamental

interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people.

　　1. Study and implement the important thought of Three Represents intensively and raise all

Party members' level of the Marxist theory. The rise in the Party's ideological and theoretical

level is an ideological guarantee for continued progress of the cause of our Party and state.

We must highlight the Party's ideological and theoretical building. We must continue to arm all

Party members with Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thoughtand Deng Xiaoping Theory

and usher in a new upsurge in the study and implementation of the important thought of Three

Represents. Party members and cadres, particularly senior and middle-rank cadres, should

take the lead in studying and acting on the important thought of Three Represents. They

should play an exemplary role in studying diligently, using their brains, emancipating their

minds, keeping pace with the times and boldly engaging in practice and innovation. We will

carry out an intensive education among all Party members in the history of development of

Marxism and promote the truth-seeking and pioneering spirit. We will deepen our

understanding of the laws on governance by the Communist Party, on building socialism and

on development of human society and constantly enrich and develop Marxism.

    2. Build up the Party's governing capacity and improve its art of leadership and

governance. Faced with profound changes in the conditions of governance and social

environment, Party committees and leading cadres at all levels must, in response to the

requirements of the new situation and new tasks, acquire new knowledge, accumulate new

experience and develop new abilities in practice, thus living up to the mission assigned to them

and the full trust placed on them. They must view the world with broad vision, acquire a

correct understanding of the requirements of the times and be good at thinking on a

theoretical plane and in a strategic perspective so as to improve their ability of sizing up the

situation in a scientific way. They must act in compliance with objective and scientific laws,

address promptly the new situation and problems in reform and development, know how to

seize opportunities to accelerate development and enhance their abilities of keeping the

market economy well in hand. They must correctly understand and handle various social

contradictions, know how to balance the relations among different interests, overcome

difficulties and go on improving their ability of coping with complicated situations. They must

enhance their awareness of law and know how to integrate the adherence to Party leadership

and the people being the masters of the country with ruling the country by law and improve

their abilities of exercising state power according to law. They must base themselves on the

overall interests of the work of the entire Party and the whole country, firmly implement the

Party's line, principles and policies, work creatively in light of realities and keep enhancing

their ability of commanding the whole situation.

　　3. Adhere to and improve democratic centralism and enhance the Party's vitality, solidarity

and unity. Democratic centralism is a system that integrates centralism on the basis of

democracy with democracy under centralized guidance. Inner-Party democracy is the life of

the Party and plays an important exemplary and leading role in people's democracy. We

should establish and improve an inner-Party democratic system that fully reflects the will of

Party members and organizations, starting with the reform of the relevant systems and

mechanisms on the basis of guaranteeing the democratic rights of Party members and giving

priority to improving the systems of Party congresses and of Party committees. The system of

Party congresses with regular annual conferences should be tried out in more cities and

counties. We should explore ways to give play to the role of delegates when Party

congresses are not in session. In accordance with the principle of collective leadership,

democratic centralism, individual consultations and decision by meetings, we should improve

the rules of procedure and decision-making mechanism within Party committees in order to

give fuller play to the role of plenary sessions of Party committees. We need to reform and

improve the inner-Party electoral system. We should establish and improve inner-Party

information sharing and reporting systems and the system of soliciting opinions concerning

major policy decisions. The centralization and unity of the Party and state are where the

fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups lie. The whole Party and the entire

nation must maintain a high degree of unity with regard to the guiding ideology, line, principles

and policies and major questions of principle. All Party members must consciously abide by

the principle that individual Party members are subordinate to the organization, that the

minority is subordinate to the majority, that lower Party organizations are subordinate to the

higher ones and that all the constituent organizations and members of the Party are

subordinate to its National Congress and Central Committee. They must safeguard the

authority of the Central Committee and ensure that its decisions are carried out without fail.

Party organizations at all levels and all Party members, leading cadres in particular, must

strictly abide by Party discipline. Under no circumstances should they be allowed to go their

own ways in disregard of orders and prohibitions.

    4. Build a contingent of high-caliber leading cadres and form an energetic and promising

leadership. It is a matter of vital importance for maintaining prolonged stability of the Party

and state to build a contingent of high-caliber leading cadres capable of assuming heavy

responsibilities and withstanding the test of trials and tribulations, and especially to train a

large number of outstanding leading cadres for the mission of running the Party, state and

army in accordance with the principle of bringing up more revolutionary, younger, better

educated and more professionally competent cadres. We should conscientiously implement

the regulations on the selection and appointment of leading cadres and make a point of testing

and identifying cadres in the practice of reform and development so as to promote to leading

positions in good time those who are accredited with ability, integrity and outstanding

performance and enjoy popular support. We should make greater efforts to train and select

outstanding young cadres, helping them cultivate their Party spirit, pursue theoretical study

and gain practical experience so that they will improve in all respects. We should do a better

job of training and selecting women cadres, cadres from among ethnic minorities and non-

Party cadres. We should continue to do well the work related to retired cadres. We should

turn the leading bodies of the Party at all levels into staunch collectives that firmly implement

the important thought of Three Represents mainly by improving their qualities, optimizing their

composition, refining their work style and enhancing solidarity. We should train more and

more successors to the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics so that the cause of

the Party and people will be carried forward.

　　5. Build the Party well at the primary level, reinforce its class foundation and expand its

mass base. The primary organizations of the Party constitute its foundation for doing all its

work and building up its combat effectiveness. They should organize, motivate and practice

the implementation of the important thought of Three Represents. We should, by focusing on

the central task and serving the overall interests, broaden the fields of our endeavor, intensify

our functions and expand the coverage of the Party's work so as to increase the rallying

power and combat effectiveness of primary organizations. We should strengthen the building

of village-level supporting organizations which rally around village Party organizations, and

explore effective ways that will enable cadres to receive education regularly and farmers to

get long-term tangible benefits. In order that state-owned and collective enterprises operate

well, we must persistently rely on the working class wholeheartedly, and Party organizations

in those enterprises should take an active part in the decision-making on major issues and

give full play to their role as the political core. We should strengthen Party building in

enterprises of the non-public sectors. Party organizations in enterprises must carry out the

Party's principles and policies, and provide guidance to and supervise the enterprises in

observing the laws and regulations of the state. They should exercise leadership over trade

unions, the Communist Youth League and other mass organizations, rally the workers around

them, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all quarters and stimulate the healthy

development of the enterprises. We should attach great importance to Party building in

communities, striving to bring about a new pattern in Party building in urban communities, with

the focus on serving the people. We should intensify our efforts to establish Party

organizations in mass organizations and intermediaries. We should fully carry out Party

building in Party and government organs as well as schools, research institutions, cultural

groups and other institutions.

    Party members must play their vanguard and exemplary role, foster the lofty ideal of

communism, fortify their conviction in socialism with Chinese characteristics and work hard to

realize the Party's basic program for the current stage. We need to carry out Party-wide

education to maintain the progressiveness of Party members mainly by putting the important

thought of Three Represents into practice. We should recruit Party members mainly from

among workers, farmers, intellectuals, servicemen and cadres, thus expanding the basic

components and backbone of the Party. We should make a point of recruiting Party

members from among those in the forefront of work and production and from among the

prominent intellectuals and young people. We should admit into the Party advanced elements

of other social strata who accept the Party's program and Constitution, work for the

realization of the Party's line and program consciously and meet the qualifications of Party

membership following a long period of test, in order to increase the influence and rallying

force of the Party in society at large. We must, in light of the new situation, seek new

mechanisms and methods for the management of Party membership.

　　6. Strengthen and improve the Party's style of work and intensify the struggle against

corruption. The key to improving the Party's style of work lies in keeping the flesh-and-blood

ties between the Party and the people. The biggest political advantage of our Party lies in its

close ties with the masses while the biggest potential danger for it as a ruling party comes

from its divorce from them. We must at all times and under all circumstances adhere to the

Party's mass line, and to the purpose of serving the people heart and soul and regard the

people's interests as the starting point and goal of all our work. We must carry forward the

fine tradition and style of our Party, bearing in mind the fundamental principle that the Party is

built for the public and that it exercises state power for the people. We must make effective

efforts to resolve the outstanding issues in respect of the way of thinking, study and work of

our Party, its style of leadership and its cadres' way of life and especially to prevent and

overcome formalism and bureaucracy by acting on the principle of the "eight do's" and "eight

don'ts" (*Note 2) put forward by the Party Central Committee, by resorting to both

educational and institutional means and by correctly conducting criticism and self-criticism.

Closely following the new changes in social activities and carefully studying the new features

of our mass work, we must strengthen and improve such work throughout the process of

building the Party and political power. All Party members, primarily leading cadres at all

levels, must do mass work well in light of the new situation and, by persuading, setting

examples and providing services, unite and lead the masses in making progress.

　　To combat and prevent corruption resolutely is a major political task of the whole Party. If

we do not crack down on corruption, the flesh-and-blood ties between the Party and the

people will suffer a lot and the Party will be in danger of losing its ruling position, or possibly

heading for self-destruction. Against the background of its long-term governance and China's

opening up and development of the socialist market economy, the Party must be on full alert

against corrosion by all decadent ideas and maintain the purity of its membership. Party

committees at all levels must fully recognize the urgency as well as the protracted nature of the

fight against corruption. They should enhance confidence, do a solid job, take a clear-cut

stand and never waver in carrying on the fight in depth. We should work still harder to make

sure that our leading cadres are clean, honest and self-disciplined, and see to it that major

corruption cases are investigated and dealt with. Malpractices in departments and trades and

services must be corrected. We must adhere to the principle of addressing both symptoms

and root causes of corruption and taking comprehensive measures to rectify both while

devoting greater efforts gradually to tackling the latter. We must strengthen education,

develop democracy, improve the legal system, tighten supervision, make institutional

innovation and incorporate counter-corruption in all our major policy measures so as to

prevent and tackle corruption at its source. We must uphold and improve the leadership

system and working mechanism against corruption and earnestly implement the responsibility

system for improving the Party's work style and building clean government, in a concerted

effort to prevent and punish corruption. Leading cadres, particularly senior ones, should play

an exemplary role in exercising the power in their hands correctly. They must always be

honest and upright and take the initiative to crack down on all forms of corruption. All

corruptionists must be thoroughly investigated and punished without leniency.

　　So long as all Party comrades always maintain the vigor and vitality, dashing spirit and

integrity as Communists and have the people at heart, the foundation of our Party's

governance will remain rock solid.

　　Comrades,

　　To build a well-off society in an all-round way and create a new situation in building

socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is essential, under the firm leadership of the CPC, to

develop a socialist market economy, socialist democracy and an advanced socialist culture,

keep the coordinated development of the socialist material, political and spiritual civilizations,

and bring about the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

　　The CPC is deeply rooted in the Chinese nation. Since the very day of its founding, it has

been the vanguard of the Chinese working class and also of the Chinese people and the

Chinese nation, shouldering the grand mission of realizing the great rejuvenation of the

Chinese nation. During the new-democratic revolution, our Party united and led the Chinese

people of all ethnic groups in fulfilling the historic task of winning national independence and

people's liberation, thus laying the groundwork for our great national rejuvenation. After the

founding of New China, our Party creatively completed the transition from New Democracy

to socialism, the greatest and most profound social transformation ever in China's history, and

embarked on a socialist road and the historical journey to the great rejuvenation of the

Chinese nation. Since the Third Plenary Session of its Eleventh Central Committee, our Party

has found the correct road to socialism with Chinese characteristics, injecting new and greater

vitality into our drive for national rejuvenation. Splendid prospects present themselves before

the great cause of rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

　　To build a well-off society in an all-round way, step up the socialist modernization drive

and make socialist China a stronger and more prosperous country, thus contributing still more

to the cause of human progress - this is a historical mission our Party must take on with

courage. The fulfillment of this mission inevitably depends on the solidarity of the Party and

that of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups. Solidarity means strength; solidarity means

victory. After going through all the hardships and setbacks, our Party and people have gained

rich experience and become increasingly mature. In the face of a world that is far from being

tranquil and the formidable tasks before us, all Party members must be mindful of the

potential danger and stay prepared against adversities in times of peace. We must be keenly

aware of the rigorous challenges brought about by the ever-sharpening international

competition as well as risks and difficulties that may arise on our road ahead. We must bear

in mind the overall interests of our Party all the more deeply, cherish the solidarity all the more

dearly and safeguard stability all the more firmly.

　　All Party comrades and the people of all ethnic groups of the country, let us rally closely

around the Party Central Committee and work with one heart and one mind in a joint and

unyielding effort to advance the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and

create a happier life and a better future for us all!

　　

　　*Note 1 - The Four Cardinal Principles are: to keep to the socialist road and to uphold

the people's democratic dictatorship, leadership by the Communist Party, and Marxism-

Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought.

　　*Note 2 - The "eight do's" and "eight don'ts" are:

　　1. Emancipate the mind and seek truth from facts; do not stick to old ways and make no

progress.

　　2. Combine theory with practice; do not copy mechanically or take to book worship.

　　3. Keep close ties with the people; do not go in for formalism and bureaucracy.

　　4. Adhere to the principle of democratic centralism; do not act arbitrarily or stay feeble

and lax.

　　5. Abide by Party discipline; do not pursue liberalism.

　　6. Be honest and upright; do not abuse power for personal gains.

　　7. Work hard; do not indulge in hedonism.

    8. Appoint people on their merits; do not resort to malpractice in personnel placement.

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