Comrades,

On behalf of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, I will now deliver a report to the 19th National Congress.

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is a meeting of great importance taking place during the decisive stage in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and at a critical moment as socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era.

The theme of the Congress is: Remain true to our original aspiration and keep our mission firmly in mind, hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, strive for the great success of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, and work tirelessly to realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

Never forget why you started, and you can accomplish your mission. The original aspiration and the mission of Chinese Communists is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. This original aspiration, this mission, is what inspires Chinese Communists to advance. In our Party, each and every one of us must always breathe the same breath as the people, share the same future, and stay truly connected to them. The aspirations of the people to live a better life must always be the focus of our efforts. We must keep on striving with endless energy toward the great goal of national rejuvenation.

Both China and the world are in the midst of profound and complex changes. China is still in an important period of strategic opportunity for development; the prospects are bright but the challenges are severe. All comrades must aim high and look far, be alert to dangers even in times of calm, have the courage to pursue reform and break new ground, and never become hardened to change or inactive. We will unite the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and lead them to a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and in the drive to secure the success of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era.

I. The Past Five Years: Our Work and Historic Change

The five years since the 18th National Congress have been a truly remarkable five years in the course of the development of the Party and the country. Outside China, we have been confronted with sluggish global economic recovery, frequent outbreaks of regional conflicts and disturbances, and intensifying global issues. At home, we have encountered profound changes as China has entered a new normal in economic development. We have upheld the underlying principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, risen to challenges, pioneered and pushed ahead, and made historic achievements in reform, opening up, and socialist modernization.

To put the guiding principles from our 18th National Congress into action, the Party Central Committee has held seven plenary sessions. There, decisions and plans were made on issues of major importance, from reforming the institutions and transforming the functions of government to deepening reform in all areas, advancing law-based governance, formulating the 13th Five-Year Plan, and seeing governance over the Party is exercised fully and with rigor. In the past five years, we have implemented the five-sphere integrated plan and the four-pronged comprehensive strategy, fulfilled the goals of the 12th Five-Year Plan, and made smooth progress in implementing the 13th Five-Year Plan. On all fronts new advances have been made for the cause of the Party and the country.

* We have made major achievements in economic development.

We have remained committed to the new development philosophy, adopted the right approach to development, and endeavored to transform the growth model. The result has been a constant improvement in the quality and effect of development. The economy has maintained a medium-high growth rate, making China a leader among the major economies. With the gross domestic product rising from 54 trillion to 80 trillion yuan, China has maintained its position as the world’s second largest economy and contributed more than 30 percent of global economic growth. Supply-side structural reform has made further headway, bringing a steady improvement in the economic structure. Emerging industries like the digital economy are thriving; the construction of high-speed railways, highways, bridges, ports, airports, and other types of infrastructure has picked up pace. Agricultural modernization has steadily advanced, with annual grain production reaching 600 million metric tons. The level of urbanization has risen by an annual average of 1.2 percentage points, and more than 80 million people who have moved from rural to urban areas have gained permanent urban residency. Regional development has become more balanced; the Belt and Road Initiative, the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the development of the Yangtze Economic Belt have all made notable progress. Through devoting great energy to implementing the innovation-driven development strategy, we have seen much accomplished toward making China a country of innovators, with major advances made in science and technology, including the successful launch of Tiangong-2 space lab, the commissioning of the deep-sea manned submersible Jiaolong and of the five-hundred-meter aperture spherical telescope (FAST) Tianyan, the launch of the dark matter probe satellite Wukong and the quantum science satellite Mozi, and the test flight of the airliner C919. Construction on islands and reefs in the South China Sea has seen steady progress. The new institutions of the open economy have been steadily improved. China now leads the world in trade, outbound investment, and foreign exchange reserves.

* We have made major breakthroughs in deepening reform.

We have taken comprehensive steps to deepen reform swiftly but steadily, and worked with resolve to remove institutional barriers in all areas. We have taken moves across the board, achieved breakthroughs in many areas, and made further progress in reform. We have pursued reform in a more systematic, holistic, and coordinated way, increasing its coverage and depth. Thanks to the launch of over 1,500 reform measures, breakthroughs have been made in key areas, and general frameworks for reform have been established in major fields. The system of socialism with Chinese characteristics has been further improved, with notable progress made in modernizing China’s system and capacity for governance. Throughout society, development is full of vitality and is driven by greater creativity.

* We have taken major steps in developing democracy and the rule of law.

We have actively developed socialist democracy and advanced law-based governance. We have stepped up institution building across the board to make integrated advances in Party leadership, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance; and we have continuously improved the institutions and mechanisms by which the Party exercises leadership. Steady progress has been made in enhancing socialist democracy; intraparty democracy has been expanded, and socialist consultative democracy is flourishing. The patriotic united front has been consolidated and developed, and new approaches have been adopted for work related to ethnic and religious affairs. Further progress has been made in ensuring our legislation is sound, law enforcement is strict, the administration of justice is impartial, and the law is observed by everyone. Our efforts to build a country, government, and society based on the rule of law have been mutually reinforcing; the system of distinctively Chinese socialist rule of law has been steadily improved; and public awareness of the rule of law has risen markedly. Good progress has been made in piloting the reform of the national supervision system, and effective measures have been taken to reform the system of government administration and the judicial system, and to develop systems to apply checks and oversight over the exercise of power.

* We have made significant advances on the theoretical and cultural fronts.

We have strengthened Party leadership over ideological work and explored new ground in advancing Party related theories. The importance of Marxism as a guiding ideology is better appreciated. Socialism with Chinese characteristics and the Chinese Dream have been embraced by our people. Core socialist values and fine traditional Chinese culture are alive in the people’s hearts. Initiatives to improve public etiquette and ethical standards have proved successful. Public cultural services have been improved; art and literature are thriving, and cultural programs and industries are going strong. The development, administration, and functioning of internet services have been enhanced. Fitness-for-All programs and competitive sports have seen extensive development. Our country’s underlying values hold greater appeal than ever before, and the wave of positive energy felt throughout society is building. We, the Chinese people, have greater confidence in our own culture. China’s cultural soft power and the international influence of Chinese culture have increased significantly. There is greater unity in thinking both within the Party and throughout society.

* We have steadily improved living standards.

Our vision of making development people-centered has been acted on, a whole raft of initiatives to benefit the people has seen implementation, and the people’s sense of fulfillment has grown stronger. Decisive progress has been made in the fight against poverty: more than 60 million people have been lifted out of poverty, and the poverty headcount ratio has dropped from 10.2 percent to less than 4 percent. All-round progress has been made in the development of education, with remarkable advances made in the central and western regions and in rural areas. Employment has registered steady growth, with an average of over 13 million urban jobs created each year. Growth of urban and rural personal incomes has outpaced economic growth, and the middle-income group has been expanding. A social security system covering both urban and rural residents has taken shape; both public health and medical services have improved markedly. Solid progress has been made in building government-subsidized housing projects to ensure basic needs are met. Social governance systems have been improved; law and order has been maintained; and national security has been fully enhanced.

* We have made notable progress in building an ecological civilization.

We have devoted serious energy to ecological conservation. As a result, the entire Party and the whole country have become more purposeful and active in pursuing green development, and there has been a clear shift away from the tendency to neglect ecological and environmental protection. Efforts to develop a system for building an ecological civilization have been accelerated; the system of functional zoning has been steadily improved; and progress has been made in piloting the national park system. Across-the-board efforts to conserve resources have seen encouraging progress; the intensity of energy and resource consumption has been significantly reduced. Smooth progress has been made in major ecological conservation and restoration projects; and forest coverage has been increased. Ecological and environmental governance has been significantly strengthened, leading to marked improvements in the environment. Taking a driving seat in international cooperation to respond to climate change, China has become an important participant, contributor, and torchbearer in the global endeavor for ecological civilization.

* We have initiated a new stage in strengthening and revitalizing the armed forces.

With a view to realizing the Chinese Dream and the dream of building a powerful military, we have developed a strategy for the military under new circumstances, and have made every effort to modernize national defense and the armed forces. We convened the Gutian military political work meeting to revive and pass on the proud traditions and fine conduct of our Party and our armed forces, and have seen a strong improvement in the political ecosystem of the people’s forces. Historic breakthroughs have been made in reforming national defense and the armed forces: a new military structure has been established with the Central Military Commission exercising overall leadership, the theater commands responsible for military operations, and the services focusing on developing capabilities. This represents a revolutionary restructuring of the organization and the services of the people’s armed forces. We have strengthened military training and war preparedness, and undertaken major missions related to the protection of maritime rights, countering terrorism, maintaining stability, disaster rescue and relief, international peacekeeping, escort services in the Gulf of Aden, and humanitarian assistance. We have stepped up weapons and equipment development, and made major progress in enhancing military preparedness. The people’s armed forces have taken solid strides on the path of building a powerful military with Chinese characteristics.

* We have made fresh progress in work related to Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

We have fully and faithfully implemented the principle of “one country, two systems,” and ensured that the central government exercises its overall jurisdiction over Hong Kong and Macao as mandated by China’s Constitution and the basic laws of the two special administrative regions. We have thus boosted exchanges and cooperation between the mainland and the two regions and maintained prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao. We have upheld the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, promoted the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations, strengthened cross-Straits economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation, and held a historic meeting between the leaders of the two sides. We have responded as appropriate to the political developments in Taiwan, resolutely opposed and deterred separatist elements advocating “Taiwan independence,” and vigorously safeguarded peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits.

* We have made further progress in China’s diplomacy on all fronts.

We have made all-round efforts in the pursuit of major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, thus advancing China’s diplomatic agenda in a comprehensive, multilevel, multifaceted way and creating a favorable external environment for China’s development. We have jointly pursued the Belt and Road Initiative, initiated the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, set up the Silk Road Fund, and hosted the First Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the 22nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, the G20 2016 Summit in Hangzhou, the BRICS Summit in Xiamen, and the Fourth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. China champions the development of a community with a shared future for mankind, and has encouraged the evolution of the global governance system. With this we have seen a further rise in China’s international influence, ability to inspire, and power to shape; and China has made great new contributions to global peace and development.

* We have achieved remarkable outcomes in ensuring full and strict governance over the Party.

We have made sweeping efforts to strengthen Party leadership and Party building, and taken strong action to transform lax and weak governance over the Party. We encourage all Party members to hold the Party Constitution in great esteem. We urge them to strengthen their consciousness of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the leadership core, and keep in alignment, and to uphold the authority of the Central Committee and its centralized, unified leadership. We have tightened political discipline and rules to ensure that political responsibility for governance over the Party is fulfilled at each level of the Party organization. We have committed to “examining ourselves in the mirror, tidying our attire, taking a bath, and treating our ailments,” launched activities to see members command and act on the Party’s mass line, and initiated a campaign for the observance of the Three Stricts and Three Earnests.1 We have regularized and institutionalized the requirement for all Party members to have a solid understanding of the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and related major policy addresses and to meet Party standards. As a result, the ideals and convictions of all Party members have been strengthened and their sense of Party consciousness has deepened. We have adopted standards fitting for a new era to assess the caliber of officials, and achieved a notable improvement in the way officials are selected and appointed. Further advances have been made in the reform of the institutional framework for Party building, and continuous improvements have been made to the system of Party regulations. We have given top priority to ensuring compliance with Party discipline, and tackled the prominent problems that prompt the strongest public reaction and that threaten to erode the very foundation of the Party’s governance. We adopted the eight-point decision on improving Party and government conduct, have taken tough action against the practice of formalities for formalities’ sake, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, and have staunchly opposed privilege seeking. Disciplinary inspections have cut like a blade through corruption and misconduct; they have covered every Party committee in all departments at the central and provincial levels. No place has been out of bounds, no ground left unturned, and no tolerance shown in the fight against corruption. We have taken firm action to”take out tigers,” “swat flies,” and “hunt down foxes.” The goal of creating a deterrent against corruption has been initially attained; the cage of institutions that prevents corruption has been strengthened; and moral defenses against corruption are in the making. The anti-corruption campaign has built into a crushing tide, and is being consolidated and developed.

The achievements of the past five years have touched every area and broken new ground; the changes in China over the past five years have been profound and fundamental. For five years, our Party has demonstrated tremendous political courage and a powerful sense of mission as it has developed new ideas, new thinking, and new strategies, adopted a raft of major principles and policies, launched a host of major initiatives, and pushed ahead with many major tasks. We have solved many tough problems that were long on the agenda but never resolved, and accomplished many things that were wanted but never got done. With this, we have prompted historic shifts in the cause of the Party and the country. These historic changes will have a powerful and far-reaching effect on the development of this cause.

Over the past five years, we have acted with courage to confront major risks and tests facing the Party and to address prominent problems within the Party itself. With firm resolve, we have tightened discipline and improved Party conduct, fought corruption and punished wrongdoing, and removed serious potential dangers in the Party and the country. As a result, both the intraparty political atmosphere and the political ecosystem of the Party have improved markedly. The Party’s ability to innovate, power to unite, and energy to fight have all been significantly strengthened; Party solidarity and unity have been reinforced, and our engagement with the people has been greatly improved. Revolutionary tempering has made our Party stronger and it now radiates with great vitality. With this, efforts to develop the cause of the Party and the country have gained a strong political underpinning.

But we must be very clear: There are still many inadequacies in our work and many difficulties and challenges to face. The main ones are as follows. Some acute problems caused by unbalanced and inadequate development await solutions; and the quality and effect of development are not what they should be. China’s ability to innovate needs to be stronger, the real economy awaits improvement, and we have a long way to go in protecting the environment. In work on public wellbeing there are still many areas where we fall short; and poverty alleviation remains a formidable task. There are still large disparities in development between rural and urban areas, between regions, and in income distribution; and our people face many difficulties in employment, education, healthcare, housing, and elderly care. The level of civic-mindedness needs further improvement. Social tensions and problems are intertwined, much remains to be done in seeing the country’s governance is based in law, and China’s system and capacity for governance need to be further strengthened. Ideological struggle is still complicated, and in national security we face new developments. Some reform plans and major policies and measures need to be better implemented. Many dimensions of Party building remain weak. These are all problems that demand our full attention to resolve.

The achievements of the past five years are the result of the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee, and, more importantly, the result of all Party members and all the Chinese people pulling together in their pursuit. On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, I express our heartfelt thanks to the people of all ethnic groups, to all other political parties, to people’s organizations, and patriotic figures from all sectors of society, to our fellow countrymen and women in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and in Taiwan, to overseas Chinese, and to all our friends from around the world who have shown understanding and support for China’s modernization.

Comrades! In the early days of reform and opening up, the Party made a clarion call for us to take a path of our own and build socialism with Chinese characteristics. Since that time, the Party has united and led all the Chinese people in a tireless struggle, propelling China into a leading position in terms of economic and technological strength, defense capabilities, and composite national strength. China’s international standing has risen as never before. Our Party, our country, our people, our forces, and our nation have changed in ways without precedent. The Chinese nation, with an entirely new posture, now stands tall and firm in the East.

With decades of hard work, socialism with Chinese characteristics has crossed the threshold into a new era. This is a new historic juncture in China’s development.

This is what socialism with Chinese characteristics entering a new era means: The Chinese nation, which since modern times began had endured so much for so long, has achieved a tremendous transformation: it has stood up, grown rich, and is becoming strong; it has come to embrace the brilliant prospects of rejuvenation. It means that scientific socialism is full of vitality in 21st century China, and that the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics is now flying high and proud for all to see. It means that the path, the theory, the system, and the culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics have kept developing, blazing a new trail for other developing countries to achieve modernization. It offers a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence; and it offers Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to solving the problems facing mankind.

This new era will be an era of building on past successes to further advance our cause, and of continuing in a new historical context to strive for the success of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It will be an era of securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and of moving on to all-out efforts to build a great modern socialist country. It will be an era for the Chinese people of all ethnic groups to work together and work hard to create a better life for themselves and ultimately achieve common prosperity for everyone. It will be an era for all of us, the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, to strive with one heart to realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. It will be an era that sees China moving closer to center stage and making greater contributions to mankind.

As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, the principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved. What we now face is the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. China has seen the basic needs of over a billion people met, has basically made it possible for people to live decent lives, and will soon bring the building of a moderately prosperous society to a successful completion. The needs to be met for the people to live better lives are increasingly broad. Not only have their material and cultural needs grown; their demands for democracy, rule of law, fairness and justice, security, and a better environment are increasing. At the same time, China’s overall productive forces have significantly improved and in many areas our production capacity leads the world. The more prominent problem is that our development is unbalanced and inadequate. This has become the main constraining factor in meeting the people’s increasing needs for a better life.

We must recognize that the evolution of the principal contradiction facing Chinese society represents a historic shift that affects the whole landscape and that creates many new demands for the work of the Party and the country. Building on continued efforts to sustain development, we must devote great energy to addressing development’s imbalances and inadequacies, and push hard to improve the quality and effect of development. With this, we will be better placed to meet the ever-growing economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological needs of our people, and to promote well-rounded human development and all-round social progress.

We must recognize that the evolution of the principal contradiction facing Chinese society does not change our assessment of the present stage of socialism in China. The basic dimension of the Chinese context—that our country is still and will long remain in the primary stage of socialism—has not changed. China’s international status as the world’s largest developing country has not changed. The whole Party must be completely clear about this fundamental dimension of our national context, and must base our work on this most important reality—the primary stage of socialism. We must remain fully committed to the Party’s basic line as the source that keeps the Party and the country going and that brings happiness to the people. We must lead and unite the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in fulfilling the central task of economic development. We must uphold the Four Cardinal Principles, continue to reform and open up, be self-reliant, hardworking, and enterprising, and strive to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful. Comrades,

Chinese socialism’s entrance into a new era is, in the history of the development of the People’s Republic of China and the history of the development of the Chinese nation, of tremendous importance. In the history of the development of international socialism and the history of the development of human society, it is of tremendous importance. Our entire Party should develop unshakeable confidence, work hard and work well to see socialism with Chinese characteristics display even stronger vitality.

II. The New Era: The Historic Mission of the Communist Party of China

A hundred years ago, the salvoes of the October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China. In the scientific truth of Marxism-Leninism, Chinese progressives saw a solution to China’s problems. With the advent of modern times, Chinese society became embroiled in intense upheavals; this was a time of fierce struggle as the Chinese people resisted feudal rule and foreign aggression. It was in the midst of this, in 1921, as Marxism-Leninism was integrated with the Chinese workers’ movement, that the Communist Party of China was born. From that moment on, the Chinese people have had in the Party a backbone for their pursuit of national independence and liberation, of a stronger and more prosperous country, and of their own happiness; and the mindset of the Chinese people has changed, from passivity to taking the initiative.

With a history of more than 5,000 years, our nation created a splendid civilization, made remarkable contributions to mankind, and became one of the world’s great nations. But with the Opium War of 1840, China was plunged into the darkness of domestic turmoil and foreign aggression; its people, ravaged by war, saw their homeland torn apart and lived in poverty and despair. With tenacity and heroism, countless dedicated patriots fought, pressed ahead against the odds, and tried every possible means to seek the nation’s salvation. But despite their efforts, they were powerless to change the nature of society in old China and the plight of the Chinese people.

National rejuvenation has been the greatest dream of the Chinese people since modern times began. At its founding, the Communist Party of China made realizing Communism its highest ideal and its ultimate goal, and shouldered the historic mission of national rejuvenation. In pursuing this goal, the Party has united the Chinese people and led them through arduous struggles to epic accomplishments.

Our Party was deeply aware that, to achieve national rejuvenation, it was critical to topple the three mountains of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism that were oppressing the Chinese people, and realize China’s independence, the people’s liberation, national reunification, and social stability. Our Party united the people and led them in embarking on the right revolutionary path, using rural areas to encircle the cities and seizing state power with military force. We completed the New Democratic Revolution through 28 years of painful struggle, and founded the People’s Republic of China in 1949, thus marking China’s great transition from a millennia-old feudal autocracy to a people’s democracy.

Our Party was deeply aware that, to achieve national rejuvenation, it was essential to establish an advanced social system that fits China’s reality. It united the people and led them in completing socialist revolution, establishing socialism as China’s basic system, and advancing socialist construction. This completed the broadest and most profound social transformation in the history of the Chinese nation. It created the fundamental political conditions and the institutional foundation for achieving all development and progress in China today. Thus was made a great transition: The Chinese nation reversed its fate from the continuous decline of modern times to steady progress toward prosperity and strength.

Our Party was deeply aware that, to achieve national rejuvenation, it was imperative to follow the tide of the times, respond to the wishes of the people, and have the courage to reform and open; and this awareness created a powerful force for advancing the cause of the Party and the people. Our Party united the people and led them in launching the great new revolution of reform and opening up, in removing all ideological and institutional barriers to our country and nation’s development, and in embarking on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Thus was China able to stride ahead to catch up with the times.

Over the past 96 years, to accomplish the historic mission of national rejuvenation, whether in times of weakness or strength, whether in times of adversity or smooth sailing, our Party has never forgotten its founding mission, nor wavered in its pursuit. It has united the people and led them in conquering countless challenges, making enormous sacrifices, meeting setbacks squarely, and courageously righting wrongs. Thus we have, time and again, overcome the seemingly insurmountable and created miracle upon miracle.

Comrades! Today, we are closer, more confident, and more capable than ever before of making the goal of national rejuvenation a reality.

As the Chinese saying goes, the last leg of a journey marks the halfway point. Achieving national rejuvenation will be no walk in the park; it will take more than drum beating and gong clanging to get there. Every one of us in the Party must be prepared to work even harder toward this goal.

Realizing our great dream demands a great struggle. It is in the movement of contradictions that a society advances; where there is contradiction there is struggle. If our Party is to unite and lead the people to effectively respond to major challenges, withstand major risks, overcome major obstacles, and address major conflicts, it must undertake a great struggle with many new contemporary features. All thinking and behavior in the vein of pleasure seeking, inaction and sloth, and problem avoidance are unacceptable. Every one of us in the Party must do more to uphold Party leadership and the Chinese socialist system, and resolutely oppose all statements and actions that undermine, distort, or negate them. We must do more to protect our people’s interests, and firmly oppose all moves that damage their interests or put distance between the Party and the people. We must do more to channel our energies toward the contemporary current of reform and innovation, and resolvedly address deep-rooted problems. We must do more to safeguard China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests, and staunchly oppose all attempts to split China or undermine its ethnic unity and social harmony and stability. We must do more to guard against all kinds of risks, and work determinedly to prevail over every political, economic, cultural, social, and natural difficulty and challenge. Every Party member must fully appreciate the long-term, complex, and onerous nature of this great struggle; we must be ready to fight, build our ability, and keep striving to secure new victories in this great struggle.

Realizing our great dream demands a great project. This project is the great new project of Party building that is just getting into full swing. As history has shown and will continue to bear witness to, without the leadership of the Communist Party of China, national rejuvenation would be just wishful thinking. To remain the vanguard of the times, the backbone of the nation, and a Marxist governing party, our Party must always hold itself to the highest standards. Every Party member must be more actively involved in enhancing Party consciousness, and demonstrate commitment to Party principles. We must have the courage to face problems squarely, be braced for the pain, act to remove whatever undermines the Party’s purity and advanced nature, and rid ourselves of any virus that erodes the Party’s health. We must keep on strengthening the Party’s ability to lead politically, to guide through theory, to organize the people, and to inspire society, thus ensuring that the Party’s great vitality and strong ability are forever maintained.

Realizing our great dream demands a great cause. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has been the focus of all of the Party’s theories and practice since reform and opening up began. It is the fundamental achievement of our Party and our people made through countless hardships at enormous cost. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the only path to socialist modernization and a better life for the people. The theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the right theory to guide the Party and people to realize national rejuvenation. The system of socialism with Chinese characteristics provides the fundamental institutional guarantee for progress and development in contemporary China. The culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a powerful source of strength that inspires all members of the Party and the people of all ethnic groups in China. Our whole Party must strengthen our confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must neither retrace our steps to the rigidity and isolation of the past, nor take the wrong turn by changing our nature and abandoning our system. We must maintain our political orientation, do the good solid work that sees our country thrive, and continue to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics.

This great struggle, great project, great cause, and great dream are closely connected, flow seamlessly into each other, and are mutually reinforcing. Among them, the great new project of Party building plays the decisive role. All work to advance this project must go hand in hand with that geared toward the struggle, the cause, and the dream. We must see that as history progresses and the world undergoes profound changes, the Party remains always ahead of the times; that as history progresses and we respond to risks and tests at home and abroad, the Party remains always the backbone of the nation; and that as history progresses and we continue to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, the Party remains always a powerful leadership core.

Comrades! Our mission is a call to action; our mission steers the course to the future. We must live up to the trust the people have placed in us and prove ourselves worthy of history’s choice. In the great endeavors of building socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, let us get behind the strong leadership of the Party and engage in a tenacious struggle. Let all of us, the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, come together, keep going, and create a mighty force that enables us to realize the Chinese Dream.

III. The Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the Basic Policy

Since our 18th National Congress, changes both in and outside China, and the progress made in all areas of China’s endeavors, have presented us with a profound question—the question of an era. Our answer must be a systematic combination of theory and practice and must address what kind of socialism with Chinese characteristics the new era requires us to uphold and develop, and how we should go about doing it. This involves fundamental issues like the overarching objectives, tasks, plan, and strategy for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era; like the direction, model, and driving force of development, and the strategic steps, external conditions, and political guarantees. As well as this, to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, we should, based on new practice, undertake theoretical analysis and produce policy guidance on the economy, political affairs, rule of law, science and technology, culture, education, the wellbeing of our people, ethnic and religious affairs, social development, ecological conservation, national security, defense and the armed forces, the principle of “one country, two systems” and national reunification, the united front, foreign affairs, and Party building.

In answering this question, our Party has been guided by Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development. It has continued to free our minds, seek truth from facts, move with the times, and apply a realistic and pragmatic approach. In answering this question, our Party has continued to uphold dialectical and historical materialism; has considered carefully the new conditions of the era and the new requirements of practice; and has adopted an entirely new perspective to deepen its understanding of the laws that underlie governance by a Communist party, the development of socialism, and the evolution of human society. It has worked hard to undertake theoretical explorations, and has achieved major theoretical innovations, ultimately giving shape to the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

The Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era makes the following things clear: It makes clear that the overarching goal of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics is to realize socialist modernization and national rejuvenation, and, that on the basis of finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, a two-step approach should be taken to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by the middle of the century. It makes clear that the principal contradiction facing Chinese society in the new era is that between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. We must therefore continue commitment to our people-centered philosophy of development, and work to promote well-rounded human development and common prosperity for everyone. It makes clear that the overall plan for building socialism with Chinese characteristics is the five-sphere integrated plan, and the overall strategy is the four-pronged comprehensive strategy. It highlights the importance of fostering stronger confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It makes clear that the overall goal of deepening reform in every field is to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and modernize China’s system and capacity for governance. It makes clear that the overall goal of comprehensively advancing law-based governance is to establish a system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and build a country of socialist rule of law. It makes clear that the Party’s goal of building a strong military in the new era is to build the people’s forces into world-class forces that obey the Party’s command, can fight and win, and maintain excellent conduct. It makes clear that major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics aims to foster a new type of international relations and build a community with a shared future for mankind. It makes clear that the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China; the greatest strength of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China; the Party is the highest force for political leadership. It sets forth the general requirements for Party building in the new era and underlines the importance of political work in Party building.

The Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era builds on and further enriches Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development. It represents the latest achievement in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and encapsulates the practical experience and collective wisdom of our Party and the people. It is an important component of the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and a guide to action for all our members and all the Chinese people as we strive to achieve national rejuvenation. This Thought must be adhered to and steadily developed on a long-term basis.

Everyone in the Party should develop a good grasp of the essence and rich implications of the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and fully and faithfully apply it in all our work.

1. Ensuring Party leadership over all work

The Party exercises overall leadership over all areas of endeavor in every part of the country. We must strengthen our consciousness of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the leadership core, and keep in alignment. We must work harder to uphold the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the Central Committee, and closely follow the Central Committee in terms of our thinking, political orientation, and actions. We must improve the institutions and mechanisms for upholding Party leadership, remain committed to the underlying principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, and ensure coordinated implementation of the five-sphere integrated plan and the four-pronged comprehensive strategy. We must strengthen the Party’s ability and resolve to chart our course, craft overall plans, design policy, and promote reform; and we must ensure the Party always provides overall leadership and coordinates the efforts of all involved.

2. Committing to a people-centered approach

The people are the creators of history; they are the fundamental force that determines our Party and country’s future. We must ensure the principal status of the people, and adhere to the Party’s commitment to serving the public good and exercising power in the interests of the people. We must observe the Party’s fundamental purpose of wholeheartedly serving the people, and put into practice the Party’s mass line in all aspects of governance. We must regard as our goal the people’s aspirations to live a better life, and rely on the people to move history forward.

3. Continuing to comprehensively deepen reform

Only with socialism can we save China; only with reform and opening can we develop China, develop socialism, and develop Marxism. We must uphold and improve the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and continue to modernize China’s system and capacity for governance. We must have the determination to get rid of all outdated thinking and ideas and all institutional ailments, and to break through the blockades of vested interests. We should draw on the achievements of other civilizations, develop a set of institutions that are well conceived, fully built, procedure based, and efficiently functioning, and do full justice to the strengths of China’s socialist system.

4. Adopting a new vision for development

Development is the underpinning and the key for solving all our country’s problems; our development must be sound development. We must pursue with firmness of purpose the vision of innovative, coordinated, green, and open development that is for everyone. We must uphold and improve China’s basic socialist economic system and socialist distribution system. There must be no irresolution about working to consolidate and develop the public sector; and there must be no irresolution about working to encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public sector. We must see that the market plays the decisive role in resource allocation, the government plays its role better, and new industrialization, IT application, urbanization, and agricultural modernization go hand in hand. We must actively participate in and promote economic globalization, develop an open economy of higher standards, and continue to increase China’s economic power and composite strength.

5. Seeing that the people run the country

Commitment to the organic unity of Party leadership, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance is a natural element of socialist political advancement. We must keep to the path of socialist political advancement with Chinese characteristics; uphold and improve the system of people’s congresses, the system of Party-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of community-level self-governance; and consolidate and develop the broadest possible patriotic united front. We should develop socialist consultative democracy, improve our democratic institutions, diversify our forms of democracy, and establish more democratic channels. We must see to it that the principle of the people running the country is put into practice in China’s political and social activities.

6. Ensuring every dimension of governance is law-based

Law-based governance is an essential requirement and important guarantee for socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must exercise Party leadership at every point in the process and over every dimension of law-based governance, and be fully committed to promoting socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. We must improve the Chinese socialist system of laws, at the heart of which is the Constitution; establish a Chinese system of socialist rule of law; build a socialist country based on the rule of law; and develop Chinese socialist rule of law theory. We must pursue coordinated progress in law-based governance, law-based exercise of state power, and law-based government administration, and promote the integrated development of rule of law for the country, the government, and society. We must continue to promote a combination of rule of law and rule of virtue, and combine law-based governance of the country and rule-based governance over the Party. We must further the reform of the judicial system, and strengthen rule of law awareness among all our people while also enhancing their moral integrity.

7. Upholding core socialist values

Cultural confidence represents a fundamental and profound force that sustains the development of a country and a nation. We must uphold Marxism, firm up and further build the ideal of Communism and a shared ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and nurture and practice core socialist values, while making continued and greater efforts to maintain the initiative and ensure we have our say in the realm of ideology. We must promote the creative evolution and development of fine traditional Chinese culture, see our revolutionary culture remains alive and strong, and develop an advanced socialist culture. We should cherish our cultural roots, draw on other cultures, and be forward-thinking. We should do more to foster a Chinese spirit, Chinese values, and Chinese strength to provide a source of cultural and moral guidance for our people.

8. Ensuring and improving living standards through development

The wellbeing of the people is the fundamental goal of development. We must do more to improve the lives and address the concerns of the people, and use development to strengthen areas of weakness and promote social fairness and justice. We should make steady progress in ensuring people’s access to childcare, education, employment, medical services, elderly care, housing, and social assistance. We will intensify poverty alleviation, see that all our people have a greater sense of fulfillment as they contribute to and gain from development, and continue to promote well-rounded human development and common prosperity for everyone. We will continue the Peaceful China initiative, strengthen and develop new forms of social governance, and ensure social harmony and stability. We must work hard to see that our country enjoys enduring peace and stability and our people live and work in contentment.

9. Ensuring harmony between human and nature

Building an ecological civilization is vital to sustain the Chinese nation’s development. We must realize that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets and act on this understanding, implement our fundamental national policy of conserving resources and protecting the environment, and cherish the environment as we cherish our own lives. We will adopt a holistic approach to conserving our mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands, implement the strictest possible systems for environmental protection, and develop eco-friendly growth models and ways of life. We must pursue a model of sustainable development featuring increased production, higher living standards, and healthy ecosystems. We must continue the Beautiful China initiative to create good working and living environments for our people and play our part in ensuring global ecological security.

10. Pursuing a holistic approach to national security

We should ensure both development and security and be ever ready to protect against potential dangers in time of peace. This is a major principle underlying the Party’s governance. We must put national interests first, take protecting our people’s security as our mission and safeguarding political security as a fundamental task, and ensure both internal and external security, homeland and public security, traditional and non-traditional security, and China’s own and common security. We will improve our systems and institutions and enhance capacity-building for national security, and resolutely safeguard China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests.

11. Upholding absolute Party leadership over the people’s armed forces

Building people’s forces that obey the Party’s command, can fight and win, and maintain excellent conduct is strategically important to achieving the two centenary goals and national rejuvenation. To realize the Party’s goal of building a powerful military in the new era, we must fully implement the fundamental principles and systems of Party leadership over the military, and see that Party strategy on strengthening military capabilities for the new era guides work to build national defense and the armed forces. We must continue to enhance the political loyalty of the armed forces, strengthen them through reform and technology, and run them in accordance with law. We must place greater focus on combat, encourage innovation, build systems, increase efficacy and efficiency, and further military-civilian integration.

12. Upholding the principle of “one country, two systems” and promoting national reunification

Maintaining lasting prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao and achieving China’s full reunification are essential to realizing national rejuvenation. We must ensure both the central government’s overall jurisdiction over the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and a high degree of autonomy in the two regions. We should ensure that the principle of “one country, two systems” remains unchanged, is unwaveringly upheld, and in practice is not bent or distorted. We must uphold the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, promote the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations, deepen economic cooperation and cultural exchange between the two sides of the Straits, and encourage fellow Chinese on both sides to oppose all separatist activities and work together to realize Chinese national rejuvenation.

13. Promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind

The dream of the Chinese people is closely connected with the dreams of the peoples of other countries; the Chinese Dream can be realized only in a peaceful international environment and under a stable international order. We must keep in mind both our internal and international imperatives, stay on the path of peaceful development, and continue to pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. We will uphold justice while pursuing shared interests, and will foster new thinking on common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security. We will pursue open, innovative, and inclusive development that benefits everyone; boost cross-cultural exchanges characterized by harmony within diversity, inclusiveness, and mutual learning; and cultivate ecosystems based on respect for nature and green development. China will continue its efforts to safeguard world peace, contribute to global development, and uphold international order.

14. Exercising full and rigorous governance over the Party

To have the courage to carry out self-reform and conduct strict self-governance: this is the most distinctive part of our Party’s character. We must uphold the Party Constitution as our fundamental rules, give top priority to the political work of the Party, combine efforts on ideological work and institution building, and strengthen Party competence in all respects. We must focus on oversight over the “key few,” by which we mean leading officials, and see that the principle of Three Stricts and Three Earnests are observed. We must uphold democratic centralism, ensure that intraparty political activities are carried out in earnest, impose strict Party discipline, and strengthen internal oversight. We must develop a positive and healthy political culture in the Party and improve the Party’s political ecosystem, resolutely correct misconduct in all its forms, and show zero tolerance for corruption. We will continue to strengthen the Party’s ability to purify, improve, and reform itself, and forever maintain its close ties with the people.

The above 14 points form the basic policy that underpins our endeavors to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. All our members must fully implement the Party’s basic theory, line, and policy so as to better steer the development of the Party and people’s cause.

Just as there are no bounds to practice, there is no end to theoretical exploration. The world is changing with every second, every moment; and China, too, is changing with every second, every moment. We must ensure our theory evolves with the times, deepen our appreciation of objective laws, and advance our theoretical, practical, institutional, cultural, and other explorations.

Comrades! The era is the mother of thought; practice is the fount of theory. If we respond to the call of our times and have the courage to uphold truth and correct errors, the Marxism of 21st century China will, without a doubt, emanate more mighty, more compelling power of truth.

IV. Securing a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Embarking on a Journey to Fully Build a Modern Socialist China

After adopting the policy of reform and opening up, our Party laid out three strategic goals for achieving socialist modernization in China. The first two—ensuring that people’s basic needs are met and that their lives are generally decent—have been accomplished ahead of time. Building on this, our Party then developed the vision that by the time we celebrate our centenary, we will have developed our society into a moderately prosperous one with a stronger economy, greater democracy, more advanced science and education, thriving culture, greater social harmony, and a better quality of life. After this, with another 30 years of work, and by the time we celebrate the centenary of the People’s Republic of China, we will have basically achieved modernization and turned China into a modern socialist country.

The period between now and 2020 will be decisive in finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. We must follow the requirements on building this society set out at our 16th, 17th, and 18th National Congresses, act in response to the evolution of the principal contradiction in Chinese society, and promote coordinated economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological advancement. We must show firm resolve in implementing the strategy for invigorating China through science and education, the strategy on developing a quality workforce, the innovation-driven development strategy, the rural vitalization strategy, the coordinated regional development strategy, the sustainable development strategy, and the military-civilian integration strategy. We must focus on priorities, address inadequacies, and shore up points of weakness. In this regard, I want to stress that we must take tough steps to forestall and defuse major risks, carry out targeted poverty alleviation, and prevent and control pollution, so that the moderately prosperous society we build earns the people’s approval and stands the test of time.

The period between the 19th and the 20th National Congress is the period in which the timeframes of the two centenary goals converge. In this period, not only must we finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieve the first centenary goal; we must also build on this achievement to embark on a new journey toward the second centenary goal of fully building a modern socialist country.

Based on a comprehensive analysis of the international and domestic environments and the conditions for China’s development, we have drawn up a two-stage development plan for the period from 2020 to the middle of this century.

In the first stage from 2020 to 2035, we will build on the foundation created by the moderately prosperous society with a further 15 years of hard work to see that socialist modernization is basically realized. The vision is that by the end of this stage, the following goals will have been met: China’s economic and technological strength has increased significantly. China has become a global leader in innovation. The rights of the people to participate and to develop as equals are adequately protected. The rule of law for the country, the government, and society is basically in place. Institutions in all fields are further improved; the modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance is basically achieved. Social etiquette and civility are significantly enhanced. China’s cultural soft power has grown much stronger; Chinese culture has greater appeal. People are leading more comfortable lives, and the size of the middle-income group has grown considerably. Disparities in urban-rural development, in development between regions, and in living standards are significantly reduced; equitable access to basic public services is basically ensured; and solid progress has been made toward prosperity for everyone. A modern social governance system has basically taken shape, and society is full of vitality, harmonious, and orderly. There is a fundamental improvement in the environment; the goal of building a Beautiful China is basically attained.

In the second stage from 2035 to the middle of the 21st century, we will, building on having basically achieved modernization, work hard for a further 15 years and develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful. By the end of this stage, the following goals will have been met: New heights are reached in every dimension of material, political, cultural and ethical, social, and ecological advancement.  Modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance is achieved. China has become a global leader in terms of composite national strength and international influence. Common prosperity for everyone is basically achieved. The Chinese people enjoy happier, safer, and healthier lives. The Chinese nation will become a proud and active member of the community of nations.

Comrades! This is our strategic vision for developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era: Finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, move on to basically realizing modernization, and then turn to making China a great modern socialist country in every dimension. We must work with resolve and tenacity and strive to write a brilliant chapter on our new journey to socialist modernization.

V. Applying a New Vision of Development and Developing a Modernized Economy

To deliver on the two centenary goals, realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, and steadily improve our people’s lives, we must continue to pursue development as the Party’s top priority in governance; we must unleash and develop productive forces, continue reforms to develop the socialist market economy, and promote sustained and sound economic growth.

China’s economy has been transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development. This is a pivotal stage for transforming our growth model, improving our economic structure, and fostering new drivers of growth. It is imperative that we develop a modernized economy. This is both an urgent requirement for getting us smoothly through this critical transition and a strategic goal for China’s development. We must put quality first and give priority to performance. We should pursue supply-side structural reform as our main task, and work hard for better quality, higher efficiency, and more robust drivers of economic growth through reform. We need to raise total factor productivity and accelerate the building of an industrial system that promotes coordinated development of the real economy with technological innovation, modern finance, and human resources. We should endeavor to develop an economy with more effective market mechanisms, dynamic micro-entities, and sound macro-regulation. This will steadily strengthen the innovation capacity and competitiveness of China’s economy.

1. Furthering supply-side structural reform

In developing a modernized economy, we must focus on the real economy, give priority to improving the quality of the supply system, and enhance our economy’s strength in terms of quality. We will work faster to build China into a manufacturer of quality and develop advanced manufacturing, promote further integration of the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence with the real economy, and foster new growth areas and drivers of growth in medium-high end consumption, innovation-driven development, the green and low-carbon economy, the sharing economy, modern supply chains, and human capital services. We will support traditional industries in upgrading themselves and accelerate development of modern service industries to elevate them to international standards. We will move Chinese industries up to the medium-high end of the global value chain, and foster a number of world-class advanced manufacturing clusters. We will strengthen infrastructure networks for water conservancy, railways, highways, waterways, aviation, pipelines, power grids, information, and logistics. We will continue efforts to cut overcapacity, reduce excess inventory, deleverage, lower costs, and strengthen areas of weakness, and work to achieve a dynamic balance between supply and demand by improving the allocation of available resources and increasing high-quality supply. We will inspire and protect entrepreneurship, and encourage more entities to make innovations and start businesses. We will build an educated, skilled, and innovative workforce, foster respect for model workers, promote quality workmanship, and see that taking pride in labor becomes a social norm and seeking excellence is valued as a good work ethic.

2. Making China a country of innovators

Innovation is the primary driving force behind development; it is the strategic underpinning for building a modernized economy. We should aim for the frontiers of science and technology, strengthen basic research, and make major breakthroughs in pioneering basic research and groundbreaking and original innovations. We will strengthen basic research in applied sciences, launch major national science and technology projects, and prioritize innovation in key generic technologies, cutting-edge frontier technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technologies. These efforts will provide powerful support for building China’s strength in science and technology, product quality, aerospace, cyberspace, and transportation; and for building a digital China and a smart society. We will improve our national innovation system and boost our strategic scientific and technological strength. We will further reform the management system for science and technology, and develop a market-oriented system for technological innovation in which enterprises are the main players and synergy is created through the joint efforts of enterprises, universities, and research institutes. We will support innovation by small and medium-sized enterprises and encourage the application of advances in science and technology. We will foster a culture of innovation, and strengthen the creation, protection, and application of intellectual property. We should cultivate a large number of world-class scientists and technologists in strategically important fields, scientific and technological leaders, and young scientists and engineers, as well as high-performing innovation teams.

3. Pursuing a rural vitalization strategy

Issues relating to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people are fundamental to China as they directly concern our country’s stability and our people’s wellbeing. Addressing these issues should have a central place on the work agenda of the Party, and we must prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas. To build rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity, we need to put in place sound systems, mechanisms, and policies for promoting integrated urban-rural development, and speed up the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. We will consolidate and improve the basic rural operation system, advance reform of the rural land system, and improve the system for separating the ownership rights, contract rights, and management rights for contracted rural land. Rural land contracting practices will remain stable and unchanged on a long-term basis; the current round of contracts will be extended for another 30 years upon expiration. We will press ahead with reform of the rural collective property rights system, safeguard the property rights and interests of rural people, and strengthen the collective economy. We must ensure China’s food security so that we always have control over our own food supply. We will establish industrial, production, and business operation systems for modern agriculture, and improve the systems for supporting and protecting agriculture. We will develop appropriately scaled agricultural operations of various forms, cultivate new types of agribusiness, improve specialized agricultural services, and encourage small household farmers to become involved in modern agriculture. We will promote the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas, support and encourage employment and business startups there, and open up more channels to increase rural incomes. We will strengthen basic services in rural communities, and improve the rural governance model which combines self-governance, rule of law, and rule of virtue. We will train professional rural service personnel who have a good knowledge of agriculture, love our rural areas, and care about rural people.

4. Implementing the coordinated regional development strategy

We will devote more energy to speeding up the development of old revolutionary base areas, areas with large ethnic minority populations, border areas, and poor areas. We will strengthen measures to reach a new stage in the large-scale development of the western region; deepen reform to accelerate the revitalization of old industrial bases in the northeast and other parts of the country; help the central region rise by tapping into local strengths; and support the eastern region in taking the lead in pursuing optimal development through innovation. To this end, we need to put in place new, effective mechanisms to ensure coordinated development of different regions. We will create networks of cities and towns based on city clusters, enabling the coordinated development of cities of different sizes and small towns, and speed up work on granting permanent urban residency to people who move from rural to urban areas. We will relieve Beijing of functions nonessential to its role as the capital and use this effort to drive the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region; and we will develop forward-looking plans and adopt high standards for building the Xiongan New Area. We will facilitate the development of the Yangtze Economic Belt by promoting well-coordinated environmental conservation and avoiding excessive development. Support will be given to resource-depleted areas in their economic transformation. We will accelerate development in the border areas, and ensure their stability and security. We will pursue coordinated land and marine development, and step up efforts to build China into a strong maritime country.

5. Accelerating efforts to improve the socialist market economy

In our economic reforms, we must concentrate on improving the property rights system and ensuring the market-based allocation of factors of production, so that property rights act as effective incentives. We should ensure free flows of factors, flexible prices, fair and orderly competition, and that business survival is determined by competition. We will improve the systems for managing different types of state assets, and reform the system of authorized operation of state capital. In the state-owned sector, we will step up improved distribution, structural adjustment, and strategic reorganization. We will work to see that state assets maintain and increase their value; we will support state capital in becoming stronger, doing better, and growing bigger, and take effective measures to prevent the loss of state assets. We will further reform of state-owned enterprises, develop mixed-ownership economic entities, and turn Chinese enterprises into world-class, globally competitive firms. We will introduce a negative list for market access nationwide, sort through and do away with regulations and practices that impede the development of a unified market and fair competition, support the growth of private businesses, and stimulate the vitality of various market entities. We will deepen reforms in the business sector, break administrative monopolies, preclude the forming of market monopolies, speed up the reform of market-based pricing of factors of production, relax control over market access in the service sector, and improve market oversight mechanisms. We will develop new methods to improve macro-regulation, give full play to the strategic guidance of national development plans, and improve mechanisms for coordinating fiscal, monetary, industrial, regional, and other economic policies. We will improve systems and mechanisms for stimulating consumer spending, and leverage the fundamental role of consumption in promoting economic growth. We will deepen reform of the investment and financing systems, and enable investment to play a crucial role in improving the supply structure. We will expedite the creation of a modern public finance system, and establish a fiscal relationship between the central and local governments built upon clearly defined powers and responsibilities, appropriate financial resource allocation, and greater balance between regions. We will put in place a comprehensive, procedure-based, transparent budget system that uses well-conceived standards and imposes effective constraints; and we will implement performance-based management nationwide. We will deepen reform of the taxation system, and improve the local tax system. We will deepen institutional reform in the financial sector, make it better serve the real economy, increase the proportion of direct financing, and promote the healthy development of a multilevel capital market. We will improve the framework of regulation underpinned by monetary policy and macro-prudential policy, and see that interest rates and exchange rates become more market-based. We will improve the financial regulatory system to forestall systemic financial risks.

6. Making new ground in pursuing opening up on all fronts

Openness brings progress, while self-seclusion leaves one behind. China will not close its door to the world; we will only become more and more open. We should pursue the Belt and Road Initiative as a priority, give equal emphasis to “bringing in” and “going global,” follow the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration, and increase openness and cooperation in building innovation capacity. With these efforts, we hope to make new ground in opening China further through links running eastward and westward, across land and over sea. We will expand foreign trade, develop new models and new forms of trade, and turn China into a trader of quality. We will adopt policies to promote high-standard liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment; we will implement the system of pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list across the board, significantly ease market access, further open the service sector, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors. All businesses registered in China will be treated equally. We will improve the balance in opening our different regions, and open the western region wider. We will grant more powers to pilot free trade zones to conduct reform, and explore the opening of free trade ports. We will develop new ways of making outbound investments, promote international cooperation on production capacity, form globally-oriented networks of trade, investment and financing, production, and services, and build up our strengths for international economic cooperation and competition.

Comrades, unlocking and developing the productive forces is a fundamental task of socialism. We must inspire creativity and vitality throughout society, and strive to achieve better quality, more efficient, fairer, and more sustainable development.

VI. Improving the System of Institutions through Which the People Run the Country and Developing Socialist Democracy

China is a socialist country of people’s democratic dictatorship under the leadership of the working class based on an alliance of workers and farmers; it is a country where all power of the state belongs to the people. China’s socialist democracy is the broadest, most genuine, and most effective democracy to safeguard the fundamental interests of the people. The very purpose of developing socialist democracy is to give full expression to the will of the people, protect their rights and interests, spark their creativity, and provide systemic and institutional guarantees to ensure the people run the country.

The path of socialist political advancement with Chinese characteristics is the logical outcome of the evolution of history, theory, and practice as the Chinese people have long engaged in struggles since the advent of modern times. It is a requisite for maintaining the very nature of the Party and fulfilling its fundamental purpose. No two political systems are entirely the same, and a political system cannot be judged in abstraction without regard for its social and political context, its history, and its cultural traditions. No one political system should be regarded as the only choice; and we should not just mechanically copy the political systems of other countries. We must uphold long term and steadily strengthen China’s socialist democracy, make active and prudent efforts to advance the reform of the political system, and improve the institutions, standards, and procedures of socialist democracy. We should ensure that people participate, in accordance with law and in various ways and forms, in the management of state, economic, cultural, and social affairs, and consolidate and enhance political stability, unity, and vitality.

1. Upholding the unity of Party leadership, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance

Party leadership is the fundamental guarantee for ensuring that the people run the country and governance in China is law-based; that the people run the country is an essential feature of socialist democracy; and law-based governance is the basic way for the Party to lead the people in governing the country. These three elements are integral components of socialist democracy. In China’s political life, our Party exercises leadership. Strengthening the centralized, unified leadership of the Party on the one hand and, on the other, supporting the people’s congresses, governments, committees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), courts, and procuratorates in performing their functions and playing their roles in accordance with the law and their charters, form a unified pair. We will improve the way the Party exercises leadership and governance to ensure that it leads the people in effectively governing the country. We will expand the people’s orderly political participation to see that in accordance with law they engage in democratic elections, consultations, decision-making, management, and oversight. We should uphold the unity, sanctity, and authority of China’s legal system, and strengthen legal protection for human rights to ensure that the people enjoy extensive rights and freedoms as prescribed by law. We should both consolidate government and improve the institutions of democracy at the primary level to ensure the people’s rights to be informed, to participate, to be heard, and to oversee. We will improve mechanisms for law-based decision-making, and put in place mechanisms for the exercise of power that ensure sound decision-making, resolute execution, and effective oversight. Officials at all levels must deepen their understanding of democracy, be democratic in their conduct, willingly accept public oversight, and perform as they should in their role as public servants.

2. Strengthening institutional guarantees to ensure the people run the country

We must uphold long term and steadily improve the system of people’s congresses, a political system fundamental to the Party’s leadership, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance. We should support and ensure the people’s exercise of state power through people’s congresses. We should see to it that people’s congresses and their standing committees play the leading role in lawmaking, and improve the organizational and working systems of people’s congresses to support and ensure the exercise of their statutory powers of enacting laws, conducting oversight, making decisions, and appointing and removing officials. We should give better play to the role of deputies to people’s congresses, and enable people’s congresses at all levels and their standing committees to fully perform their functions as stipulated in the Constitution and the law, and to truly represent the people and maintain close ties with them. We should improve the setup of special committees of people’s congresses and the composition of their standing committees and special committees.

3. Giving play to the important role of socialist consultative democracy

The essence of the people’s democracy is that the people get to discuss their own affairs. Consultative democracy is an important way of effecting Party leadership and a model and strength unique to China’s socialist democracy. We will advance extensive, multilevel, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy, and adopt a coordinated approach to promoting consultations carried out by political parties, people’s congresses, government departments, CPPCC committees, people’s organizations, communities, and social organizations. We will strengthen the institutions of consultative democracy and develop complete procedures and practices to enable the people’s broad, continuous, and intensive participation in day-to-day political activities.

The CPPCC, as a distinctively Chinese political institution, is a major channel for socialist consultative democracy, and its committees are specialist consultative bodies. The CPPCC committees should focus on the Party and the country’s key tasks. With the themes of unity and democracy in mind, they should exercise consultative democracy throughout the whole process of political consultation, democratic oversight, and participation in the deliberation and administration of state affairs; and they should improve the content and forms of consultation and deliberation to build consensus and promote unity. They should strengthen democratic oversight, focusing on the implementation of the major principles, policies, decisions, and plans of the Party and the state. They should better represent the different social sectors and strengthen the competence of their members.

4. Advancing law-based governance

Advancing law-based governance in all fields is a profound revolution in China’s governance. We must promote the rule of law and work to ensure sound lawmaking, strict law enforcement, impartial administration of justice, and the observance of law by everyone. A central leading group for advancing law-based governance in all areas will be set up to exercise unified leadership over the initiative to build rule of law in China. We will strengthen oversight to ensure compliance with the Constitution, advance constitutionality review, and safeguard the authority of the Constitution. We will carry out lawmaking in a well-conceived and democratic way and in accordance with law, so that good laws are made to promote development and ensure good governance. We will build a rule of law government, promote law-based government administration, and see that law is enforced in a strict, procedure-based, impartial, and non-abusive way. We will carry out comprehensive and integrated reform of the judicial system and enforce judicial accountability in all respects, so that the people can see in every judicial case that justice is served. We will redouble efforts to raise public awareness of the law, develop a socialist culture of rule of law, and increase public awareness of the principle underlying rule of law that the Constitution and the law are above everything else and that everyone is equal before the law. Every Party organization and every Party member must take the lead in respecting, learning about, observing, and applying the law. No organization or individual has the power to overstep the Constitution or the law; and no one is allowed in any way to override the law with his or her own orders, place his or her authority above the law, violate the law for personal gain, or abuse the law.

5. Deepening reform of Party and government institutions and the system of government administration

We will adopt a comprehensive approach to the setup of Party and government institutions, and ensure that powers are designated properly and functions and duties are defined clearly both for the institutions themselves and their internal bodies. We will use various types of staffing resources in a coordinated way, develop a sound system of administration, and improve the organic law for state institutions. The government needs to transform its functions, further streamline administration and delegate powers, develop new ways of regulation and supervision, and strengthen its credibility and administrative capacity, building itself into a service-oriented government able to satisfy the needs of the people. More decision making power should be given to governments at and below the provincial level, and ways should be explored to merge Party and government bodies with similar functions at the provincial, prefectural, and county levels or for them to work together as one office while keeping separate identities. We will deepen the reform of public institutions to see that they focus on serving public interests, relieve them of government functions, keep them away from business activities, and let them run their own day-to-day operations while maintaining supervision over them.

6. Consolidating and developing the patriotic united front

The united front is an important way to ensure the success of the Party’s cause, and we must maintain commitment to it long term. We must uphold the banner of patriotism and socialism, strive to achieve great unity and solidarity, balance commonality and diversity, and expand common ground and the convergence of interests. In handling its relationships with other Chinese political parties, the Communist Party of China is guided by the principles of long-term coexistence, mutual oversight, sincerity, and sharing the rough times and the smooth, and it supports these parties in performing their duties in accordance with the requirements of the Chinese socialist system for their participation in governance. We will fully implement the Party’s policies concerning ethnic groups, heighten public awareness of ethnic unity and progress, and create a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. We will encourage more exchanges and interactions among different ethnic groups, helping them remain closely united like the seeds of a pomegranate that stick together, and work jointly for common prosperity and development. We will fully implement the Party’s basic policy on religious affairs, uphold the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation and provide active guidance to religions so that they can adapt themselves to socialist society. We will encourage intellectuals who are not Party members and people belonging to new social groups to play the important roles they have in building socialism with Chinese characteristics. We should form a new type of cordial and clean relationship between government and business, promote healthy growth of the non-public sector of the economy, and encourage those working in this sector to achieve success. We will maintain extensive contacts with overseas Chinese nationals, returned Chinese and their relatives and unite them so that they can join our endeavors to revitalize the Chinese nation.

Comrades! The political system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a great creation of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people. We have every confidence that we can give full play to the strengths and distinctive features of China’s socialist democracy, and make China’s contribution to the political advancement of mankind.

VII. Building Stronger Cultural Confidence and Helping Socialist Culture to Flourish

Culture is a country and nation’s soul. Our country will thrive only if our culture thrives, and our nation will be strong only if our culture is strong. Without full confidence in our culture, without a rich and prosperous culture, the Chinese nation will not be able to rejuvenate itself. We must develop a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, inspire the cultural creativity of our whole nation, and develop a great socialist culture in China.

Socialist culture with Chinese characteristics is derived from China’s fine traditional culture, which was born of the Chinese civilization and nurtured over more than 5,000 years; it has grown out of the revolutionary and advanced socialist culture that developed over the course of the Chinese people’s revolution, construction, and reform under the Party’s leadership; and it is rooted in the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics. To develop socialist culture with Chinese characteristics means to develop a socialist culture for our nation—a culture that is sound and people-oriented, that embraces modernization, the world, and the future, and that both promotes socialist material wellbeing and raises socialist cultural-ethical standards. In developing this culture, we must follow the guidance of Marxism, base our efforts on Chinese culture, and take into account the realities of contemporary China and the conditions of the present era. We should ensure that this culture serves the people and serves socialism. We should follow the principle of letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, and encourage creative transformation and development, so as to add new luster to Chinese culture.

1. Holding firmly the leading position in ideological work

Ideology determines the direction a culture should take and the path it should follow as it develops. We must continue to adapt Marxism to China’s conditions, keep it up-to-date, and enhance its popular appeal. We will develop socialist ideology that has the ability to unite and the power to inspire the people to embrace shared ideals, convictions, values, and moral standards. We will better arm ourselves with theory and increase the public appeal of the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We will work harder to study and develop Marxist theory, work faster to develop philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, and develop new types of think tanks with distinctive Chinese features. We will maintain the right tone in public communication, give priority to improving means of communication and to creating new ones, and strengthen the penetration, guidance, influence, and credibility of the media. We will provide more and better online content and put in place a system for integrated internet management to ensure a clean cyberspace. We will implement the system of responsibility for ideological work, and further consolidate our positions and improve management in this field. We will distinguish between matters of political principle, issues of understanding and thinking, and academic viewpoints, but we must oppose and resist various erroneous views with a clear stand.

2. Cultivating and observing core socialist values

Core socialist values represent the contemporary Chinese spirit and are a crystallization of the values shared by all Chinese people. We will focus on fostering a new generation capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation; we will offer them better guidance, expose them to practice, and provide institutional guarantees. We will draw on core socialist values to guide education, efforts to raise cultural-ethical standards, and the creation, production, and distribution of cultural and intellectual products, and see that all areas of social development are imbued with these values and that they become part of people’s thinking and behavior. To this end, we will encourage extensive public involvement, making our officials take the lead and starting with families and children. We will draw on China’s fine traditional culture, keep alive and develop its vision, concepts, values, and moral norms, and do so in a way that responds to the call of our era. With this we will see that Chinese culture maintains its appeal and evolves with the times.

3. Raising intellectual and moral standards

When the people have ideals, their country will have strength, and their nation will have a bright future. We will help our people raise their political awareness and moral standards, foster appreciation of fine culture, and enhance social etiquette and civility. We will undertake extensive public awareness activities to help the people develop firm ideals and convictions, build their awareness of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the Chinese Dream, foster a Chinese ethos and a readiness to respond to the call of our times, strengthen the guiding role of patriotism, collectivism, and socialism, and see that the people develop an accurate understanding of history, ethnicity, country, and culture. We will launch a civic morality campaign to raise public ethical standards, and enhance work ethics, family virtues, and personal integrity. We will encourage our people to strive for excellence and to develop stronger virtues, respect the elderly, love families, and be loyal to the country and the people. We will improve and strengthen our ideological and political work, and launch initiatives to raise the public’s cultural-ethical standards. We will promote the spirit of science and make scientific knowledge widely attainable; we will work to see the back of outdated social mores and to promote good and up-to-date practices and trends; and we will resist the corrosive influence of backward and decadent culture. We will promote credibility building, institutionalize volunteer services, and heighten people’s sense of social responsibility, awareness of rules, and sense of dedication.

4. Seeing socialist literature and art thrive

Socialist literature and art are for the people: Writers and artists should take a people-centered approach and draw inspiration from everyday life and the experiences of the people to produce works that do justice to our times. We encourage them to create fine works that are thought provoking and of a high artistic standard, that reflect real life, and that extol our Party, our country, our people, and our heroes. We will foster democracy in academic research and artistic pursuit, and encourage originality and experimentation with new approaches in the creation of literature and art. We encourage the cultivation of fine tastes, style, and a sense of responsibility, and reject vulgarity and kitsch in literary and artistic creation. We will strengthen the professional standards of artists and writers to see the emergence of a large number of eminent figures who have moral integrity and outstanding artistic appeal, and creators of inspiring works.

5. Promoting the development of cultural programs and industries

To meet the people’s new aspirations for a better life, we must provide them with rich intellectual nourishment. We need to deepen structural reform of the cultural sector, improve the cultural management system, and accelerate the establishment of systems and mechanisms that put social benefits first while pursuing economic returns. We will improve the public cultural service system, carry out public-interest cultural programs, and launch more popular cultural activities. We will strengthen protection and utilization of cultural relics, and better preserve and carry forward our cultural heritage. We will improve modern systems for cultural industries and markets, explore new mechanisms for cultural production and operation, improve economic policy on the development of the cultural sector, and develop new forms of business in this sector. We will carry out extensive Fitness-for-All programs, speed up efforts to build China into a country strong on sports, and make smooth preparations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. We will strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges with other countries, giving prominence to Chinese culture while also drawing on other cultures. We will improve our capacity for engaging in international communication so as to tell China’s stories well, present a true, multi-dimensional, and panoramic view of China, and enhance our country’s cultural soft power.

Comrades! Since its founding, the Communist Party of China has actively guided and promoted China’s advanced culture while keeping China’s fine traditional culture alive and strong. Today, we Chinese Communists and the Chinese people should and can shoulder our new cultural mission, make cultural creations through practice, and promote cultural advancement along with the progress of history.

VIII. Growing Better at Ensuring and Improving People’s Wellbeing and Strengthening and Developing New Approaches to Social Governance

Everyone in the Party must keep firmly in mind that the nature of a political party and of a government is determined by those whom they serve. To lead the people to a better life is our Party’s abiding goal. We must put the people’s interests above all else, see that the gains of reform and development benefit all our people in a fair way, and strive to achieve shared prosperity for everyone.

As we work to ensure and improve people’s wellbeing, we must focus on the most pressing, most immediate issues that concern the people the most. We will do everything in our capacity, and work away at issue by issue, year in and year out. We will see that everyone performs their duties and shares in the benefits. We will see basic needs are met, prioritize key areas, improve institutions, and guide public expectations. We will improve the public service system, ensure people’s basic quality of life, and keep up with people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. We will continue to promote social fairness and justice, develop effective social governance, and maintain public order. With this we should see that our people will always have a strong sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security.

1. Giving priority to developing education

Strengthening education is fundamental to our pursuit of national rejuvenation. We must give priority to education, further reform in education, speed up its modernization, and develop education that people are satisfied with. We should fully implement the Party’s education policy, foster virtue through education, enhance our students’ well-rounded development, promote fairness in education, and nurture a new generation of capable young people who have a good and all-round moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetical grounding and are well-prepared to join the socialist cause. We will promote the coordinated development of compulsory education in urban and rural areas, while giving particular attention to rural areas. We will improve preschool education, special needs education, and online education, make senior secondary education universally available, and strive to see that each and every child has fair access to good education. We will improve the system of vocational education and training, and promote integration between industry and education and cooperation between enterprises and colleges. We will move faster to build Chinese universities into world-class universities and develop world-class disciplines as we work to bring out the full potential of higher education. We will improve the system of financial aid to students, and work to see that the vast majority of the new members of the urban and rural labor force have received senior secondary education, and that more and more of them receive higher education. We will support the well-regulated development of private schools. We will strengthen the professional ethics and competence of teachers, and encourage public respect for educators and public support for education. We will improve continuing education, step up efforts to build a learning society, and promote the well-rounded development of all our people.

2. Improving the quality of employment and raising incomes

Employment is pivotal to people’s wellbeing. We must give high priority to employment and pursue a proactive employment policy, striving to achieve fuller employment and create better quality jobs. We will launch vocational skills training programs on a big scale, give particular attention to tackling structural unemployment, and create more jobs by encouraging business startups. We will provide extensive public employment services to open more channels for college graduates and other young people as well as migrant rural workers to find jobs and start their own businesses. We must remove institutional barriers that block the social mobility of labor and talent and ensure that every one of our people has the chance to pursue career through hard work. We will improve mechanisms for joint discussion and mediation involving government, trade unions, and employers in an effort to ensure harmonious labor relations. We will continue to follow the principle of distribution according to one’s work while improving our institutions and mechanisms for distribution based on factors of production, so as to make income distribution fairer and more orderly. We will encourage people to make their money through hard work and legal means. We will expand the size of the middle-income group, increase income for people on low incomes, adjust excessive incomes, and prohibit illicit income. We will work to see that individual incomes grow in step with economic development, and pay rises in tandem with increases in labor productivity. We will expand the channels for people to make work-based earnings and property income. We will see that government plays its function of adjusting redistribution, move faster to ensure equitable access to basic public services and narrow the gaps in incomes.

3. Strengthening the social security system

We will act on the policy requirements to help those most in need, to build a tightly woven safety net, and to build the necessary institutions, as we work to develop a sustainable multi-tiered social security system that covers the entire population in both urban and rural areas, with clearly defined rights and responsibilities, and support that hits the right level. We will work to see that everyone has access to social security. We will improve the basic pension schemes for urban employees and for rural and non-working urban residents, and quickly bring pension schemes under national unified management. We will improve the unified systems of basic medical insurance and serious disease insurance for rural and non-working urban residents, and improve unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance. We will establish a unified national platform for social security public services. We will promote the coordinated development of the social assistance systems for urban and rural residents, and improve the subsistence allowances system. We must adhere to the fundamental national policy of gender equality, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of women and minors. We will improve our systems for social assistance, social welfare, charity, and entitled groups’ benefits and services. We will improve the system for supporting and caring for children, women, and elderly people left behind in rural areas. We will develop programs for people with disabilities and work to provide better rehabilitation services for them. We must not forget that housing is for living in, not for speculation. With this in mind, we will move faster to put in place a housing system that ensures supply through multiple sources, provides housing support through multiple channels, and encourages both housing purchase and renting. This will make us better placed to meet the housing needs of all of our people.

4. Winning the battle against poverty

Seeing that poor people and poor areas will enter the moderately prosperous society together with the rest of the country is a solemn promise made by our Party. We should mobilize the energies of our whole Party, our whole country, and our whole society, and continue to implement targeted poverty reduction and alleviation measures. We will operate on the basis of a working mechanism whereby the central government makes overall plans, provincial-level governments take overall responsibility, and city and county governments ensure implementation; and we will strengthen the system for making heads of Party committees and governments at each level assume the overall responsibility for poverty alleviation. We will continue to advance poverty reduction drawing on the joint efforts of government, society, and the market. We will pay particular attention to helping people increase confidence in their own ability to lift themselves out of poverty and see that they can access the education they need to do so. We will strengthen collaboration on poverty alleviation between the eastern and western regions; and we will provide focused assistance to areas of extreme poverty. We must ensure that by the year 2020, all rural residents living below the current poverty line have been lifted out of poverty, and poverty is eliminated in all poor counties and regions. Poverty alleviation should reach those who truly need it and deliver genuine outcomes.

5. Carrying out the Healthy China initiative

A healthy population is a key mark of a prosperous nation and a strong country. We will improve the national health policy, and ensure the delivery of comprehensive lifecycle health services for our people. We will deepen reform of the medicine and healthcare system, establish distinctively Chinese systems for providing basic healthcare, medical insurance, and quality and efficient healthcare services, and develop a sound modern hospital management system. We will improve community-level healthcare services, and strengthen the ranks of general practitioners. We will put an end to the practices of hospitals funding their operations with profits from overpriced drugs, and improve the system for medicine supply. We will, with emphasis on prevention, carry out extensive patriotic health campaigns, promote healthy and positive lifestyles, and prevent and control major diseases. We will initiate a food safety strategy to ensure that people have peace of mind about what they’re putting on their plates. We will support both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, and ensure the preservation and development of traditional Chinese medicine. We will support the development of private hospitals and health-related industries. We will work to ensure that our childbirth policy meshes with related economic and social policies, and carry out research on the population development strategy. As we respond proactively to population aging, we will adopt policies and foster a social environment in which senior citizens are respected, cared for, and live happily in their later years. We will provide integrated elderly care and medical services, and accelerate the development of old-age programs and industries.

6. Establishing a social governance model based on collaboration, participation, and common interests

We will step up institution building in social governance and improve the law-based social governance model under which Party committees exercise leadership, government assumes responsibility, non-governmental actors provide assistance, and the public get involved. We will strengthen public participation and rule of law in social governance, and make such governance smarter and more specialized. We will improve mechanisms for preventing and defusing social tensions, and properly handle problems among the people. We will promote safe development, and raise public awareness that life matters most and that safety comes first; we will improve the public safety system and the responsibility system for workplace safety; we will take resolute measures to prevent serious and major accidents, and build up our capacity for disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief. We will accelerate development of the crime prevention and control system, combat and punish in accordance with law all illegal and criminal activities such as pornography, gambling, drug abuse, gang violence, kidnapping, and fraud, and protect people’s personal rights, property rights, and right to dignity. We will improve the system of public psychological services, and cultivate self-esteem, self-confidence, rationality, composure, and optimism among our people. We will strengthen the system for community governance, shift the focus of social governance to the community level, leverage the role of social organizations, and see that government’s governance efforts on the one hand and society’s self- regulation and residents’ self-governance on the other reinforce each other.

7. Effectively safeguarding national security

National security is the cornerstone of peace and stability of our country, and safeguarding it is in the fundamental interests of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups. We will improve our national security strategy and policy, guarantee China’s political security, and take coordinated steps to ensure security in all areas. We will improve our national security system, strengthen rule of law measures to enhance national security, and enhance our capacity for forestalling and fending off security risks. We must rigorously protect against and take resolute measures to combat all acts of infiltration, subversion, and sabotage, as well as violent and terrorist activities, ethnic separatist activities, and religious extremist activities. We will strengthen efforts to raise awareness of national security among all Party members and all the people, and create a strong synergy of the whole society to safeguard national security.

Comrades! Meeting the fundamental interests of all our people is the ultimate yardstick for judging all the work of our Party. The issues of concern to the people, be they big or small, should be handled with utmost care and attention. We must start with addressing issues of public concern, start with delivering the outcomes that satisfy public needs, and work without rest to lead our people in pursuing a better life.

IX. Speeding up Reform of the System for Developing an Ecological Civilization, and Building a Beautiful China

Man and nature form a community of life; we, as human beings, must respect nature, follow its ways, and protect it. Only by observing the laws of nature can mankind avoid costly blunders in its exploitation. Any harm we inflict on nature will eventually return to haunt us. This is a reality we have to face.

The modernization that we pursue is one characterized by harmonious coexistence between man and nature. In addition to creating more material and cultural wealth to meet people’s ever-increasing needs for a better life, we need also to provide more quality ecological goods to meet people’s ever-growing demands for a beautiful environment. We should, acting on the principles of prioritizing resource conservation and environmental protection and letting nature restore itself, develop spatial layouts, industrial structures, and ways of work and life that help conserve resources and protect the environment. With this, we can restore the serenity, harmony, and beauty of nature.

1. Promoting green development

We will step up efforts to establish a legal and policy framework that promotes green production and consumption, and promote a sound economic structure that facilitates green, low-carbon, and circular development. We will create a market-based system for green technology innovation, develop green finance, and spur the development of energy-saving and environmental protection industries as well as clean production and clean energy industries. We will promote a revolution in energy production and consumption, and build an energy sector that is clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient. We will encourage conservation across the board and promote recycling, take action to get everyone conserving water, cut consumption of energy and materials, and establish linkages between the circular use of resources and materials in industrial production and in everyday life. We encourage simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon ways of life, and oppose extravagance and excessive consumption. We will launch initiatives to make Party and government offices do better when it comes to conservation, and develop eco-friendly families, schools, communities, and transport services.

2. Solving prominent environmental problems

We will get everyone involved in improving the environment and address environmental issues at the root. We will continue our campaign to prevent and control air pollution to make our skies blue again. We will speed up prevention and control of water pollution, and take comprehensive measures to improve river basins and offshore areas. We will strengthen the control of soil pollution and the restoration of polluted soil, intensify the prevention and control of agricultural pollution from non-point sources, and take measures to improve rural living environments. We will improve the treatment of solid waste and garbage. We will enforce stricter pollutants discharge standards and see to it that polluters are held accountable. We will improve our systems for credibility assessment based on environmental protection performance, for mandatory release of environmental information, and for imposing severe punishment for environmental violations. We will establish an environmental governance system in which government takes the lead, enterprises assume main responsibility, and social organizations and the public also participate. We will get actively involved in global environmental governance and fulfill our commitments on emissions reduction.

3. Intensifying the protection of ecosystems

We will carry out major projects to protect and restore key ecosystems, improve the system of shields for ecological security, and develop ecological corridors and biodiversity protection networks, so as to strengthen the quality and stability of our ecosystems. We will complete work on drawing redlines for protecting the ecosystems, designating permanent basic cropland, and delineating boundaries for urban development. We will promote afforestation, take comprehensive steps to control desertification, stony deserts, and soil erosion, strengthen wetland conservation and restoration, and better prevent and control geological disasters. We will improve the system for protecting natural forests, and turn more marginal farmland into forests and grasslands. We will rigorously protect farmland and expand trials in crop rotation and keeping land fallow. We will improve systems for regeneration of croplands, grasslands, forests, rivers, and lakes, and set up diversified market-based mechanisms for ecological compensation.

4. Reforming the environmental regulation system

We will strengthen overall planning, organization, and leadership for building an ecological civilization. We will establish regulatory agencies to manage state-owned natural resource assets and monitor natural ecosystems, and improve environmental management systems. These agencies will, in a unified way, perform the duties of the owner of public-owned natural resource assets, the duties of regulating the use of all territorial space and protecting and restoring ecosystems, and the duties of monitoring the discharge of all pollutants in urban and rural areas and conducting administrative law enforcement. We will establish systems for developing and protecting territorial space, improve supporting policies on functional zones, and develop a nature reserves system composed mainly of national parks. We will take tough steps to stop and punish all activities that damage the environment.

Comrades! What we are doing today to build an ecological civilization will benefit generations to come. We should have a strong commitment to socialist ecological civilization and work to develop a new model of modernization with humans developing in harmony with nature. We must do our generation’s share to protect the environment.

X. Staying Committed to the Chinese Path of Building Strong Armed Forces and Fully Advancing the Modernization of National Defense and the Military

We have reached a new historical starting point in strengthening national defense and the armed forces. Confronted with profound changes in our national security environment and responding to the demands of the day for a strong country with a strong military, we must fully implement the Party’s thinking on strengthening the military for the new era and the military strategy for new conditions, build a powerful and modernized army, navy, air force, rocket force, and strategic support force, develop strong and efficient joint operations commanding institutions for theater commands, and create a modern combat system with distinctive Chinese characteristics. Our armed forces must be up to shouldering the missions and tasks of the new era entrusted to them by the Party and the people.

We will adapt to the trend of a new global military revolution and to national security needs; we will upgrade our military capabilities, and see that, by the year 2020, mechanization is basically achieved, IT application has come a long way, and strategic capabilities have seen a big improvement. In step with our country’s modernization process, we will modernize our military across the board in terms of theory, organizational structure, service personnel, and weaponry. We will make it our mission to see that by 2035, the modernization of our national defense and our forces is basically completed; and that by the mid-21st century our people’s armed forces have been fully transformed into world-class forces.

We will strengthen Party building in the military. We will launch activities under the theme of “passing on the traditions of revolution; stepping up to the task of making the military strong.” We will move forward with the development of the military honors system. We will train the revolutionary officers and soldiers of a new era with faith, ability, courage, and integrity, and see that our forces forever preserve their nature, purpose, and character as the forces of the people. We will continue to deepen national defense and military reform. We will further the reform of major policy systems, including the career officers system, the system for posting civilian personnel in the military, and the military service system. We will push ahead with transformation of military management, and improve and develop our distinctively Chinese socialist military institutions. We must keep it firm in our minds that technology is the core combat capability, encourage innovations in major technologies, and conduct innovations independently. We will strengthen the system for training military personnel, and make our people’s forces more innovative. We will govern the military with strict discipline in every respect, push for a fundamental transformation in the way our military is run, and strengthen the role of rule of law in enhancing national defense and military capabilities.

A military is built to fight. Our military must regard combat capability as the criterion to meet in all its work and focus on how to win when it is called on. We will take solid steps to ensure military preparedness for all strategic directions, and make progress in combat readiness in both traditional and new security fields. We will develop new combat forces and support forces, conduct military training under combat conditions, strengthen the application of military strength, speed up development of intelligent military, and improve combat capabilities for joint operations based on the network information system and the ability to fight under multi-dimensional conditions. This will enable us to effectively shape our military posture, manage crises, and deter and win wars.

We should ensure that efforts to make our country prosperous and efforts to make our military strong go hand in hand. We will strengthen unified leadership, top-level design, reform, and innovation. We will speed up implementation of major projects, deepen reform of defense-related science, technology, and industry, achieve greater military-civilian integration, and build integrated national strategies and strategic capabilities. We will improve our national defense mobilization system, and build a strong, well-structured, and modern border defense, coastal defense, and air defense. We will establish an administration for veterans; we will protect the legitimate rights and interests of military personnel and their families; and we will make military service an occupation that enjoys public respect. We will carry out further reforms to build a modernized armed police force.

Comrades! Our military is the people’s military, and our national defense is the responsibility of every one of us. We must raise public awareness about the importance of national defense and strengthen unity between the government and the military and between the people and the military. Let us work together to create a mighty force for realizing the Chinese Dream and the dream of building a powerful military.

XI. Upholding “One Country, Two Systems” and Moving toward National Reunification

Since Hong Kong and Macao’s return to the motherland, the practice of “one country, two systems” in both regions has been a resounding success. The policy of “one country, two systems” has proved to be the best solution to the questions of Hong Kong and Macao, left by history, and the best institutional guarantee for the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao after their return.

To maintain long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao, it is imperative to fully and faithfully implement the policies of “one country, two systems,” “the people of Hong Kong governing Hong Kong,” “the people of Macao governing Macao,” and a high degree of autonomy for both regions. It is imperative too, to act in strict compliance with China’s Constitution and the basic laws of the two special administrative regions, and to improve the systems and mechanisms for enforcing the basic laws. We will continue to support the governments and chief executives of both regions in pursuing the following endeavors: exercising law-based governance, uniting and leading the people of all sectors in an active and concerted effort to promote development and harmony, ensuring and improving people’s wellbeing, taking well-ordered steps to advance democracy, maintaining law and order, and fulfilling the constitutional responsibility of safeguarding China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests.

The development of Hong Kong and Macao is closely tied up with that of the mainland. We will continue to support Hong Kong and Macao in integrating their own development into the overall development of the country. We will give priority to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, and regional cooperation in the pan-Pearl River Delta, thus fully advancing mutually beneficial cooperation between the mainland and the two regions. We will formulate and improve policies and measures to make it more convenient for people from Hong Kong and Macao to develop careers on the mainland.

We will remain committed to the policy for the Hong Kong people to govern Hong Kong and the Macao people to govern Macao, with patriots playing the principal role. We will develop and strengthen the ranks of patriots who love both our country and their regions, and foster greater patriotism and a stronger sense of national identity among the people in Hong Kong and Macao. With this, our compatriots in Hong Kong and Macao will share both the historic responsibility of national rejuvenation and the pride of a strong and prosperous China.

Resolving the Taiwan question to realize China’s complete reunification is the shared aspiration of all Chinese people, and is in the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation. We must uphold the principles of “peaceful reunification” and”one country, two systems,” work for the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations, and advance the process toward the peaceful reunification of China.

The one-China principle is the political foundation of cross-Straits relations. The 1992 Consensus embodies the one-China principle and defines the fundamental nature of cross-Straits relations; it thus holds the key to the peaceful development of relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. Recognize the historical fact of the 1992 Consensus and that the two sides both belong to one China, and then our two sides can conduct dialogue to address through discussion the concerns of the people of both sides, and no political party or group in Taiwan will have any difficulty conducting exchanges with the mainland.

Blood is thicker than water. People on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are brothers and sisters; we share the bond of kinship. Guided by the conviction that we are all of the same family, we respect the current social system and way of life in Taiwan and are ready to share the development opportunities on the mainland with our Taiwan compatriots first. We will expand cross-Straits economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation for mutual benefits. We will ensure that over time, people from Taiwan will enjoy the same treatment as local people when they pursue their studies, start businesses, seek jobs, or live on the mainland, thus improving the wellbeing of Taiwan compatriots. We will encourage people from both sides to work together to promote Chinese culture and forge closer bonds between them.

We stand firm in safeguarding China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never allow the historical tragedy of national division to repeat itself. Any separatist activity is certain to meet with the resolute opposition of the Chinese people. We have the resolve, the confidence, and the ability to defeat separatist attempts for “Taiwan independence” in any form. We will never allow anyone, any organization, or any political party, at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China!

Comrades! Realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is a dream shared by all of us as Chinese. We remain firm in our conviction that, as long as all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, including our compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, follow the tide of history, work together for the greater national interests, and keep our nation’s destiny firmly in our own hands, we will, without doubt, be able to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

XII. Following a Path of Peaceful Development and Working to Build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind

The Communist Party of China strives for both the wellbeing of the Chinese people and human progress. To make new and greater contributions for mankind is our Party’s abiding mission.

China will continue to hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit and uphold its fundamental foreign policy goal of preserving world peace and promoting common development. China remains firm in its commitment to strengthening friendship and cooperation with other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence,1 and to forging a new form of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation.

The world is undergoing major developments, transformation, and adjustment, but peace and development remain the call of our day. The trends of global multi-polarity, economic globalization, IT application, and cultural diversity are surging forward; changes in the global governance system and the international order are speeding up; countries are becoming increasingly interconnected and interdependent; relative international forces are becoming more balanced; and peace and development remain irreversible trends.

And yet, as a world we face growing uncertainties and destabilizing factors. Global economic growth lacks energy; the gap between rich and poor continues to widen; hotspot issues arise often in some regions; and unconventional security threats like terrorism, cyber-insecurity, major infectious diseases, and climate change continue to spread. As human beings we have many common challenges to face.

Our world is full of both hope and challenges. We should not give up on our dreams because the reality around us is too complicated; we should not stop pursuing our ideals because they seem out of our reach. No country can address alone the many challenges facing mankind; no country can afford to retreat into self-isolation. We call on the people of all countries to work together to build a community with a shared future for mankind, to build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity. We should respect each other, discuss issues as equals, resolutely reject the Cold War mentality and power politics, and take a new approach to developing state-to-state relations with communication, not confrontation, and with partnership, not alliance. We should commit to settling disputes through dialogue and resolving differences through discussion, coordinate responses to traditional and non-traditional threats, and oppose terrorism in all its forms. We should stick together through thick and thin, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and make economic globalization more open, inclusive, and balanced so that its benefits are shared by all. We should respect the diversity of civilizations. In handling relations among civilizations, let us replace estrangement with exchange, clashes with mutual learning, and superiority with coexistence. We should be good friends to the environment, cooperate to tackle climate change, and protect our planet for the sake of human survival.

China remains firm in pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace. We respect the right of the people of all countries to choose their own development path. We endeavor to uphold international fairness and justice, and oppose acts that impose one’s will on others or interfere in the internal affairs of others as well as the practice of the strong bullying the weak. China will never pursue development at the expense of others’ interests, but nor will China ever give up its legitimate rights and interests. No one should expect us to swallow anything that undermines our interests. China pursues a national defense policy that is in nature defensive. China’s development does not pose a threat to any other country. No matter what stage of development it reaches, China will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion.

China has actively developed global partnerships and expanded the convergence of interests with other countries. China will promote coordination and cooperation with other major countries and work to build a framework for major country relations featuring overall stability and balanced development. China will deepen relations with its neighbors in accordance with the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness and the policy of forging friendship and partnership with its neighbors. China will, guided by the principle of upholding justice while pursuing shared interests and the principle of sincerity, real results, affinity, and good faith, work to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with other developing countries. We will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the political parties and organizations of other countries, and encourage people’s congresses, CPPCC committees, the military, local governments, and people’s organizations to engage in exchanges with other countries.

China adheres to the fundamental national policy of opening up and pursues development with its doors open wide. China will actively promote international cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative. In doing so, we hope to achieve policy, infrastructure, trade, financial, and people-to-people connectivity and thus build a new platform for international cooperation to create new drivers of shared development. China will increase assistance to other developing countries, especially the least developed countries, and do its part to reduce the North-South development gap. China will support multilateral trade regimes and work to facilitate the establishment of free trade areas and build an open world economy.

China follows the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration in engaging in global governance. China stands for democracy in international relations and the equality of all countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor. China supports the United Nations in playing an active role in international affairs, and supports the efforts of other developing countries to increase their representation and strengthen their voice in international affairs. China will continue to play its part as a major and responsible country, take an active part in reforming and developing the global governance system, and keep contributing Chinese wisdom and strength to global governance.

Comrades! The future of the world rests in the hands of the people of all countries; the future of mankind hinges on the choices they make. We, the Chinese, are ready to work with the people of all other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind and create a bright tomorrow for all of us.

XIII. Exercising Strict Governance over the Party and Improving the Party’s Ability to Govern and Lead

As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, our Party must get a new look and make new accomplishments. As the saying goes, it takes a good blacksmith to make good steel. For the Party to unite the people and lead them in carrying out our great struggle, advancing our great cause, and realizing our great dream, we must unwaveringly uphold and improve Party leadership and make the Party still stronger.

Ensuring Party self-governance is exercised fully and strictly is a journey to which there’s no end. The future of a political party or a government is determined by whether it enjoys public support. We must guard against and correct with resolve the practices the people oppose and resent. The whole Party must be soberly aware that the governance environment our Party faces is complex, and that so too are the factors undermining the Party’s advanced nature and purity; prominent problems of impurity in thinking, organization, and conduct in the Party have not been solved root and branch. We must fully recognize the long-term and complex nature of the tests confronting the Party as they relate to governance, reform and opening up, the market economy, and the external environment. We must also fully recognize the intensity and severity of the dangers of a lack of drive, incompetence, disengagement from the people, inaction, and corruption. So we must focus on solving problems, maintain strategic resolve, and ensure strict Party self-governance.

The general requirements for Party building for the new era are: Uphold and strengthen overall Party leadership and ensure that the Party exercises effective self-supervision and practices strict self-governance in every respect; Take strengthening the Party’s long-term governance capacity and its advanced nature and purity as the main thrust; take enhancing the Party’s political building as the overarching principle; take holding dear the Party’s ideals, convictions, and purpose as the underpinning; and take harnessing the whole Party’s enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity as the focus of efforts; Make all-round efforts to see the Party’s political building enhanced, its theory strengthened, its organizations consolidated, its conduct improved, and its discipline enforced, with institution building incorporated into every aspect of Party building; Step up efforts to combat corruption and continue to improve the efficacy of Party building; Build the Party into a vibrant Marxist governing party that is always at the forefront of the times, enjoys the wholehearted support of the people, has the courage to reform itself, and is able to withstand all tests.

1. Putting the Party’s political building first

Taking a clear political stand is the fundamental requirement our Party must meet as a Marxist party. The Party’s political building is of fundamental importance to the Party as it determines the direction and efficacy of Party building. The primary task of political Party building is to ensure that the whole Party obeys the Central Committee and upholds its authority and centralized, unified leadership. All Party members must closely follow the Party’s political line, strictly observe its political discipline and rules, and closely align themselves with the Central Committee in terms of political stance, direction, principle, and path. Every member of the Party must hold the Party Constitution in great reverence, act in strict accordance with the code of conduct for intraparty political life under new circumstances, and make intraparty activities more politically oriented, up-to-date, principled, and effective. We must guard against the rules of business dealings eroding intraparty conduct, and foster a healthy political atmosphere of integrity within the Party. We must improve and implement the systems of democratic centralism, and practice both democracy-based centralism and centralism-guided democracy. This means we should both give full play to democracy and practice centralism on this basis. We must foster values like loyalty, honesty, impartiality, adherence to fact, and integrity; guard against and oppose self-centered behavior, decentralism, behavior in disregard of the rules, a silo mentality, unprincipled nice-guyism, and sectarianism, factionalism, and patronage. We must resolutely oppose double-dealing and duplicity. All Party members, especially high-ranking officials, must strengthen their Party consciousness, political awareness, and political ability. We must regard it as our fundamental political responsibility to be loyal to the Party, share the Party’s concerns, fulfill our obligations to the Party, and work for the people’s wellbeing, and forever preserve the political character of Communists.

2. Arming the whole Party with the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era

Theory is fundamental to Party building. Our revolutionary ideals soar beyond the skies. The noble ideal of Communism and the shared ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics are our source of strength and political soul as Chinese Communists; they also form the theoretical foundation of Party solidarity and unity. Our top priority in building the Party through theory is to stay true to our ideals and convictions. We should make all Party members keep firmly in mind the Party’s purpose, have unwavering convictions as Communists, resolve the fundamental issue of the worldview, outlook on life, and values we should embrace, and maintain deep belief in and faithfully practice Communism and socialism with Chinese characteristics. We will foster a Marxist style of learning, and make it regular practice and an institutionalized requirement for all Party members to gain a good command of the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and related major policy addresses and to meet Party standards. We will launch a campaign on the theme of “staying true to our founding mission” to enable all Party members, especially officials at and above the county and director level, to arm themselves with the Party’s new theories and become more purposeful in working tirelessly to accomplish the Party’s historic mission in the new era.

3. Training a contingent of competent and professional officials

Party officials are a central pillar of strength for the cause of our Party and country. We must adhere to the principle of the Party supervising officials; select officials on the basis of both integrity and ability, with priority given to integrity, and on the basis of merit regardless of background; and ensure that those who are dedicated, impartial, and upright should be appointed. We must implement in earnest the criteria for evaluating good officials. In selecting and appointing officials, we must adopt the right approach, with emphasis on political performance. We will promote and put in important positions those Party officials who do well according to the following criteria: they maintain political integrity, think in terms of the big picture, follow the leadership core, and keep in alignment with the central Party leadership; they have full confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics; they uphold the authority of the Central Committee and faithfully follow the Party’s theories, lines, principles, and policies; and they are loyal to the Party, have moral integrity, and demonstrate a keen sense of responsibility. We will strengthen leadership teams at all levels by appointing competent officials. We will take seriously the development of specialized expertise and professionalism, and enhance Party officials’ ability to meet the requirements of developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. We will work harder to identify promising young officials and get them well prepared for future jobs. We will focus on their practical training in local communities, in work on the frontline, and in areas where conditions are harsh, and work to produce a constant stream of outstanding young officials who have passed the test of practice. We will ensure coordinated training and selection of female officials, officials from ethnic minorities, and non-Party officials. We will ensure that retired officials are well taken care of. We will be both strict and caring, and place equal emphasis on providing incentives and imposing constraints. We will improve the performance assessment and evaluation system for officials, institute incentive mechanisms and mechanisms to allow for and address errors, and take a clear stand in supporting officials who are willing to assume responsibility, who take a down-to-earth approach in their work, and who do not seek personal gain. Party organizations at every level should care about officials working at the primary level, and help solve the problems and difficulties they encounter.

People with talent are a strategic resource for China as it endeavors to achieve national rejuvenation and stay ahead in international competition. We must follow the principle of the Party exercising leadership over personnel, assemble the best minds across the land and draw fully on their expertise, and step up efforts to make China a talent-strong country. We will pursue a more proactive, open, and effective policy on training competent professionals. We should value people with talent, be good at identifying talent, have the foresight to employ them, be earnest to keep them, and welcome them into our ranks. This will better enable us to attract bright people from both within and outside the Party and both in China and abroad to join us in pursuing the great endeavor of the Party and the people. We will encourage and guide people with talent to work in remote poor areas, border areas with mainly ethnic minority populations, and old revolutionary base areas, as well as in communities and on the frontlines. We will work to foster a positive environment in which everyone wants, strives, and is able to excel themselves, and can do full justice to their talents. With this, we aim to see that in every field the creativity of talent is given great expression and their ingenuity and expertise flow freely.

4. Strengthening primary-level Party organizations

Primary-level Party organizations do the groundwork to ensure the Party’s lines, principles, policies, decisions, and plans are implemented. We will work to ensure that primary-level Party organizations in enterprises, villages, Party and government departments, schools, research institutes, sub-districts, communities, and social organizations play a key role in communicating the Party’s propositions, carrying out the Party’s decisions, overseeing community-level social governance, uniting and mobilizing the people, and promoting reform and development. In doing so, we will focus on improving the organizational capability of primary-level Party organizations and give priority to enhancing their political functions. Party branches should fulfill their responsibilities for directly guiding, managing, and overseeing their members and for organizing, communicating with, uniting, and serving the people. They should encourage their members to play an exemplary role. We must practice the system of holding Party branch general meetings, meetings of Party branch committees, Party group meetings, and Party lectures. We will develop new ways for setting up primary-level Party organizations and for them to carry out their activities, strengthen the training of their heads, and expand their reach. We must work harder to address the problems that some primary-level Party organizations are weak, ineffective, and marginalized. We will expand intraparty democracy at the primary level, make Party affairs more transparent, and ensure channels are open for Party members to participate in Party affairs, oversee Party organizations and officials, and submit opinions and suggestions to the Party organization at the next level up. We will do more to recruit new Party members from among industrial workers, young people working in agriculture, well-educated groups, and people working in non-public economic entities and social organizations. We will give more incentives, solicitude, and assistance to Party members. We will make our guidance and management of Party members better targeted and more effective, and handle Party members that don’t meet the mark in a prudent and orderly way.

5. Working ceaselessly to improve Party conduct and enforce Party discipline

Our Party comes from the people, has its roots among the people, and is dedicated to serving the people. Once the Party becomes disengaged from the people, it will lose its vitality. In improving Party conduct, we must focus on maintaining the Party’s close bond with the people, keep them firmly in mind, develop a closer affinity with them, and keep working to foster stronger public support for the Party’s governance. We must earnestly address all issues the people are strongly concerned about, and resolutely correct any behavior that undermines the people’s interests. Our Party officials should lead by example in consolidating and building on the advances made in implementing the central Party leadership’s eight-point decision on improving Party and government conduct. We should continue to address the practice of formalities for formalities’ sake, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, and oppose mindsets and acts of privilege seeking. We will focus on strengthening the enforcement of political and organizational discipline, and use this to prompt stricter observance of discipline on upholding integrity, on interacting with the people, and regarding work and life. We will continue to carry out criticism and self-criticism in keeping with the principle of learning from mistakes to prevent recurrence and treating the illness to save the patient. We will conduct four forms of oversight over discipline compliance, identify problems early and correct them while they are nascent. Party organizations with the power to supervise officials will be given corresponding power to take disciplinary action as called for, and accountability for overseeing discipline compliance will be tightened up on. We will raise Party members’ awareness of discipline and strengthen discipline enforcement, and demand that Party members and officials hold discipline in awe and respect, do not cross the line, and become used to working and living under oversight and constraints.

6. Securing a sweeping victory in the fight against corruption

The people resent corruption most; and corruption is the greatest threat our Party faces. We must have the resolve and tenacity to persevere in the never-ending fight against corruption. Only by intensifying efforts to address both the symptoms and root causes of corruption—by making sure that officials are honest, government is clean, and political affairs are handled with integrity—can we avoid history’s cycle of rise and fall and ensure the long-term stability of the Party and the country. Currently, the fight against corruption remains grave and complex; we must remain as firm as a rock in our resolve to build on the overwhelming momentum and secure a sweeping victory. We will continue to see that there are no no-go zones, no ground is left unturned, and no tolerance is shown for corruption. We will impose tight constraints, maintain a tough stance and a long-term deterrence, punish both those who take bribes and those who offer them, and prevent interest groups from arising within the Party. We will institute a system of disciplinary inspection for city and county level Party committees in an intensified effort to address corruption that occurs on the people’s doorsteps. Wherever offenders may flee, they will be brought back and brought to justice. We will work for the adoption of national anti-corruption legislation and create a corruption reporting platform that covers both disciplinary inspection commissions and supervision agencies. We will strengthen deterrence so officials don’t dare to, strengthen the cage of institutions so they’re unable to, and strengthen their vigilance so they have no desire to commit acts of corruption. Our political environment will, through tireless efforts, like seas fallen calm and rivers running clear, be clean and free of corruption.

7. Improving Party and state oversight systems

To improve the Party’s ability to purify itself, it is essential that we strengthen Party self-supervision and subject ourselves to public oversight. We must strengthen checks on and oversight over the exercise of power, and ensure that power is exercised under public oversight, in broad daylight, and in an institutional cage. We will strengthen top-down organizational oversight, improve bottom-up democratic oversight, practice peer oversight, and tighten regular supervision over Party members in positions of leadership. We will intensify political inspection to identify problems and ensure that deterrence works; we will establish an oversight network that facilitates coordination in disciplinary inspections conducted at different levels. We will deepen reform of the national supervision system, conduct trials throughout the country, and establish supervisory commissions at the national, provincial, prefectural, and county levels, which work together with the Party’s disciplinary inspection commissions as one office while keeping their own identity. This will ensure that supervision covers everyone working in the public sector who exercises public power. A national supervision law will be formulated. Supervisory commissions will be given responsibilities, powers, and means of investigation in accordance with law. The practice of shuanggui1 will be replaced by detention. We will reform the auditing management system and improve the statistics system. We will establish an authoritative, efficient oversight system with complete coverage under the Party’s unified command; and integrate intraparty oversight with oversight by state organs, democratic oversight, judicial oversight, public oversight, and oversight through public opinion. All this will create a powerful synergy for conducting oversight.

8. Strengthening every dimension of our ability for governance

To lead a large socialist country of more than 1.3 billion people, our Party must be both politically strong and highly competent. We should be good at learning. We will foster a strong atmosphere of learning and practicing in the Party, and build our Party into a Marxist learning party. We will nurture a love of learning in our people. We should be good at exercising political leadership. We should adopt a strategic perspective, and develop creative thinking and a dialectical approach to thinking; we should think in terms of the rule of law, and think about worst-case scenarios. We should formulate sound Party lines, principles, and policies and resolutely implement them, ensuring that the Party exercises overall leadership and coordinates work in all areas. We should be good reformers and pioneers. We should be enterprising, work creatively in light of actual conditions, and adeptly apply information technology, including the internet, in our work. We should be good at promoting sound development. We should effectively put into practice the new development philosophy, and continue to break new ground in development. We should be good at exercising law-based governance. We will act more quickly to put in place a system of Party rules and regulations that covers all aspects of Party leadership and Party building, and strengthen and improve Party leadership over bodies of state power. We should be good at engaging with the people. We will develop new systems, mechanisms, ways, and means for this work. We will urge trade unions, Chinese Communist Youth League organizations, women’s federations, and other people’s organizations to strengthen their political consciousness, become more advanced, and better represent the people; to play their role as bridges linking the Party with the people; and to organize and motivate the people to follow the Party. We should be good at implementing policy. We should be open and frank, take effective measures to address real issues, and seek good outcomes. We should be ready both to act resolutely and swiftly and to make sustained efforts to tackle tough issues head-on. We should have the perseverance to hammer away until a task is done, and make concrete, meticulous, and effective efforts in all our work. We should be good at managing risks. We will improve risk prevention and control mechanisms in all areas, skillfully handle various complex issues, overcome all difficulties and obstacles that we meet on our way, and keep a firm hold on the initiative in our work.

Comrades! A great cause calls for leadership of a strong party. As long as our Party keeps itself competent and strong, always remains true to the people’s aspiration and works in concert with the people, we can and will navigate the great ship bearing the great dream of the Chinese people to conquer the waves and reach our destination.

Comrades! The Chinese nation is a great nation; it has been through hardships and adversity but remains indomitable. The Chinese people are a great people; they are industrious and brave; and they never pause in the pursuit of progress. The Communist Party of China is a great party; it has the courage to fight and the mettle to win. The wheels of history roll on; the tides of the times are vast and mighty. History looks kindly on those with resolve, with drive and ambition, and with plenty of guts; it won’t wait for the hesitant, the apathetic, or those shy of a challenge. All of us in the Party must work hard and live simply, guard against arrogance and impetuosity; and lose no time in progressing along the long march of the new era. We must conscientiously safeguard the solidarity and unity of the Party, maintain the Party’s deep bond with the people, and strengthen the great unity of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and the great unity of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation at home and abroad. We must unite all the forces that can be united and work as one to progress toward the brilliant future of national rejuvenation.

A nation will prosper only when its young people thrive; a country will be full of hope and have a great tomorrow only when its younger generations have ideals, ability, and a strong sense of responsibility. The Chinese Dream is a dream about history, the present, and the future. It is a dream of our generation, but even more so, a dream of the younger generations. The Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation will be realized ultimately through the endeavors of young people, generation by generation. All of us in the Party should care about young people and set the stage for them to excel. To all our young people, you should have firm ideals and convictions, aim high, and have your feet firmly on the ground. You should ride the waves of your day; and in the course of realizing the Chinese Dream, fulfill your youthful dreams, and write a vivid chapter in your tireless endeavors to serve the interests of the people.

A just cause should be pursued for the common good. Rooted in a land of more than 9.6 million square kilometers, nourished by a nation’s culture of more than 5,000 years, and backed by the invincible force of more than 1.3 billion people, we have an infinitely vast stage of our era, a historical heritage of unmatched depth, and incomparable resolve that enable us to forge ahead on the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We, the entire Party and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, should rally closely around the Party Central Committee, and hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We should keep on working with great determination to accomplish the three historic tasks of advancing modernization, realizing China’s reunification, and preserving world peace and promoting common development; we should secure a decisive victory in finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, strive for the great success of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, and see that our people realize their aspirations for a better life.