China’s ruling Party, the Communist Party of China (CPC), held its 19th National Congress from October 18 to 24 in Beijing, where Party General Secretary Xi Jinping declared that China has entered “a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
According to Xi’s report delivered at the Congress, the “Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” builds on and further enriches Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and the crucial theories proposed by other former CPC leaders. Based on this new Thought, Xi pointed out that the principal contradiction Chinese society faces has evolved into that between “unbalanced and inadequate development” and “the people’s ever-growing need for a better life.”
Xi Jinping emphasized that the Party will always continue to serve the people and lead them to a “better life.” He detailed the CPC’s basic strategic policies in the new era into “14 fundamental principles,” including ensuring the CPC’s leadership, committing to a people-centered approach, continuing to comprehensively deepen reform, ensuring law-based governance, upholding the Party’s leadership over the military, upholding the principle of “One Country, Two Systems,” promoting national reunification, and exercising full and rigorous governance over the Party.
The report also gives a two-stage road map for the Party to make China moderately prosperous in all aspects and then into a great modern socialist country – first, to basically realize modernization from 2020 to 2035 based on a moderately prosperous society; second, to build China into a modern socialist country from 2035 to the middle of the 21st century.
People all over the nation have paid great attention to Xi’s report. Analysts believe that it clearly indicates the CPC’s new direction, new objectives and new tasks for a new era when the Party has successfully kept its people fed and clothed, but at a time when other problems, such as pollution, corruption, unbalanced development between regions and rule of law are becoming topics of concern. This reflects that just as Xi stressed in the report, China is stepping into a new stage of “high-quality” development from a phase of “rapid growth.”
The “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” has been enshrined into the latest CPC Constitution.
The 2,280 delegates who were elected from the country’s more than 89 million CPC members also elected the Party’s new Central Committee and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Old Version
