Click on the picture for the special coverage of the 20th CPC National Congress

UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CPC CENTRAL COMMITTEE WITH COMRADE XI JINPING AT ITS CORE, HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENTS AND SHIFTS HAVE BEEN MADE IN THE CAUSE OF THE PARTY AND THE COUNTRY.

Upholding the Party's overall leadership

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, the Party has made continued efforts to strengthen and improve its leadership, providing fundamental political guarantees for the cause of the Party and the country. However, there have remained many problems within the Party with respect to upholding its leadership such as a lack of clear awareness and vigorous action as well as weak, ineffective, diluted, and marginalized efforts in implementation. In particular, the Central Committee's major decisions and plans were not properly executed as some officials selectively implemented the Party's policies or even feigned agreement or compliance and did things their own way.

The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has made it clear that the leadership of the Party is the foundation and lifeblood of the Party and the country, and the pillar upon which the interests and wellbeing of all Chinese people depend. All Party members must maintain a high degree of unity with the Central Committee ideologically, politically, and in action. Since the 18th National Congress, the Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership have remained robust, the Party's leadership systems have improved, and the way in which the Party exercises its leadership has become more refined. There is greater unity among all Party members in terms of thinking, political resolve, and action, and the Party has significantly boosted its capacity to provide political leadership, give guidance through theory, organize the people, and inspire society.

Exercising full and rigorous self-governance

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, the Party has upheld the principle of the Party exercising effective self-supervision and practicing strict self-governance, making notable progress in Party building. However, there was a certain period in which we failed to supervise Party organizations effectively or govern them with the necessary stringency. This resulted in a serious lack of political conviction among some Party members and officials, misconduct in the selection and appointment of personnel in some localities and government departments, a blatant culture of pointless formalities, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, and a prevalence of privilege-seeking attitudes and behavior.

Comrade Xi Jinping emphasized that it takes a good blacksmith to make good steel and that China's success hinges on the Party, especially on the Party's efforts to exercise effective self-supervision and full and rigorous self-governance.

By taking resolute action since the 18th National Congress, we have given full play to the role of full and strict Party self-governance in providing political guidance and guarantees, significantly strengthened the Party's ability to improve and reform itself and maintain its integrity, and addressed the problem of lax and weak governance over Party organizations at the fundamental level. An overwhelming victory has been achieved in the fight against corruption, and this momentum has been consolidated across the board.

Pursuing economic development

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, the Party has concentrated on economic development as the central task, and led the people in working diligently to bring about a miracle of rapid growth. However, there existed problems such as undue emphasis on the rate and scale of growth in some localities and sectors and an extensive growth model. They, combined with the impact from sluggish world economy in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, led to a stack-up of institutional and structural problems in China's economy.

The Central Committee determined that China's economy had reached a new normal of development, and was transitioning from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development. It noted that applying a new development philosophy represented a profound shift affecting China's overall development. The GDP growth rate could not serve as the sole yardstick of success for development. Rather, it was imperative to achieve high-quality development in which innovation is the primary driver, coordination is an endogenous trait, eco-friendly growth prevails, openness to the world is the only way, and shared growth is the ultimate goal, with a view to propelling transformative changes in the quality, efficiency, and impetus of economic development.

Since the 18th National Congress, our economic development has become much more balanced, coordinated, and sustainable. China's GDP has exceeded 100 trillion yuan ($14.5 trillion), while per capita GDP has topped $10,000.China's economic strength, scientific and technological capabilities, and composite national strength have reached new heights, and the economy is now on a path of higher-quality development that is more efficient, equitable, sustainable, and secure.

Deepening reform and opening-up

Since the third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee, China's reform and opening-up has embarked on a remarkable course and scored achievements that captured the attention of the world. Nevertheless, as practice changed, certain deep-seated institutional problems and impediments from vested interests became increasingly evident. China's reform thus entered a critical phase fraught with tough challenges.

The Central Committee is keenly aware that evolving in practice, freeing minds, and reform and opening-up are processes without end. Reform is always ongoing and can never be completed, and halting or reversing course would get us nowhere. Therefore, it is imperative to deepen reform in all areas through greater political courage and wisdom, to be well prepared to tackle tough issues and brave risky areas, to make institutional development a priority, to increase interconnectivity and synergy between reforms in different sectors, and to clear a path forward for reform by cutting away institutional barriers on all sides.

Since its 18th National Congress, the Party has consistently promoted broader and deeper reform across the board. The system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is now more mature and well-defined, and the modernization of China's system and capacity for governance has reached a higher level.

Advancing political work

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, the Party has led the people in keeping to the path of socialist political advancement with Chinese characteristics and developing socialist democracy, and has achieved substantial progress in this regard. Learning lessons from successes and failures in political development both at home and abroad, the Party has become deeply aware of the following: to have full confidence in the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must first and foremost foster strong confidence in the political system of socialism with Chinese characteristics; to promote socialist democracy and socialist political advancement, we must ensure that the political system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is deeply rooted in China; and mechanical copying of the political systems of other countries will get us nowhere, and could potentially lead the country to ruin.

We must uphold the unity between the Party's leadership, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance. Efforts must be made to actively develop whole-process people's democracy, and advance comprehensive, extensive, and coordinated development of the systems and institutions through which the people run the country. We must establish diverse, unimpeded, and well-organized democratic channels, diversify forms of democracy, and expand the people's orderly political participation at all levels and in various fields. We must remain on guard against the erosive influence of Western trends of political thought, including the so-called constitutionalism, alternation of power between political parties, and separation of powers.

Since the 18th National Congress, sweeping progress has been made in improving the institutions, standards, and procedures of China's socialist democracy, and given better play to the strengths of the Chinese socialist political system. As a result, our political stability, unity, and dynamism have been reinforced and grown stronger.

Comprehensively advancing law-based governance

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, the Party has upheld law-based governance and kept advancing socialist rule of law. However, we have also faced serious problems such as laws being ignored or not being strictly enforced, lack of judicial impartiality, and violations of the law going unpunished, while judicial corruption occurring from time to time. Some judicial and law-enforcement personnel have bent the law for personal gain, or even provided shelter for criminals. These phenomena have seriously undermined the authority of the law, and had a negative impact on social fairness and justice.

The Party is deeply aware that power is a double-edged sword. If it is wielded in accordance with the law and rules, it can bring benefit to the people, but if it is abused, it will invariably bring disaster to the country and the people. The Central Committee has stressed that when the rule of law prevails, the country will prosper, but should it weaken, the country will descend into chaos.

Since the 18th National Congress, the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics has constantly been improved, solid progress has been made in advancing the rule of law in China, the rule of law has played a greater role in consolidating foundations, ensuring stable expectations, and delivering long-term benefits, and the Party's ability to lead and govern the country through law-based methods has been notably enhanced.

Driving cultural advancement

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, the Party has attached equal emphasis to material progress and cultural-ethical progress. As a result, socialist culture has thrived, the national spirit has been lifted, and national solidarity has grown stronger. At the same time, however, misguided ideas have often cropped up, such as money worship, hedonism, ultra-individualism, and historical nihilism, online discourse has been rife with disorder, and certain leading officials have demonstrated ambiguity in their political stance and a lack of fighting spirit. These phenomena all have a serious impact on people's thinking and the environment for public discourse.

The Party has maintained an accurate perspective on the trends of collisions taking place worldwide between different ideas and cultures, as well as of the profound changes in Chinese people's ways of thinking. It has stressed that ideological work shapes the collective mind of a country and forges the soul of a nation, and that confidence in one's culture, which is a broader, deeper, and more fundamental form of self-confidence, is the most essential, profound, and enduring source of strength for the development of a country and a nation. Without a thriving culture and firm confidence in it, the Chinese nation cannot achieve rejuvenation.

Since the 18th National Congress, we have seen a sweeping and fundamental shift in the ideological domain, a notable boost in confidence in our culture among all Party members and all Chinese people, and a major increase in cohesiveness throughout society. All of this has provided solid ideological guarantees and powerful inspiration for opening-up new horizons for the cause of the Party and the country in the new era.

Promoting social advancement

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, the Chinese people have witnessed notable improvements in their living standards and in social governance. Meanwhile, in pace with the changing times and social progress, they have developed an increasingly strong desire for a better life and growing demands for democracy, rule of law, fairness, justice, security, and a better environment.

The Central Committee has stressed that satisfying the people's aspirations for a better life is the goal of all the Party's work. And the Party was deeply aware that only by securing a victory in the fight against poverty, could China fulfill its First Centenary Goal. Therefore, extraordinary moves were made to advance the fight against poverty with greater resolve, more targeted approaches, and more powerful measures.

Since the 18th National Congress, 832 counties, 128,000 villages, and nearly 100 million rural residents that fell below the current poverty line have been lifted out of poverty. China has thus achieved the poverty reduction target laid out in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, brought about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty in China, and created a miracle in the human history of poverty reduction.

In 2020, facing the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Central Committee responded calmly and decisively, and set out the general requirements to stay confident, stand united, and adopt a science-based approach and targeted measures. With the commitment to putting the people and human life above all else, the Party led the whole nation in an all-out people's war to curb the spread of the virus, and a great spirit has been forged in the fight against COVID-19.

Spurring ecological advancement

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, the Party has paid increasingly greater attention to ecological conservation and environmental protection, a major area in which we are still falling short. China faces increasingly grave problems in the form of tightening environmental and resource constraints and ecological degradation. In particular, environmental pollution and ecological damage of various kinds are becoming increasingly commonplace, impairing our country's development and people's wellbeing.

The Central Committee has emphasized that ecological conservation is of vital importance for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. To protect the environment is to protect the productive forces, and to improve the environment is to boost the productive forces. We must never sacrifice the environment in exchange for transient economic growth. We must stay true to the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, continue our holistic approach to the conservation of mountain, river, forest, farmland, lake, grassland, and desert ecosystems, and protect and cherish our natural environment as we do our own lives. We must act with greater resolve to promote green, circular, and low-carbon development, and adhere to a model of sustainable development featuring increased production, higher living standards, and healthy ecosystems.

Since the Party's 18th National Congress, the Central Committee has devoted greater efforts than ever before to ecological conservation. The whole Party and the entire nation have become more conscious and active in pursuing green development, and made significant progress in building a Beautiful China. Our environmental protection endeavors have seen sweeping, historic, and transformative changes.

Strengthening national defense and the armed forces

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, China has made constant progress in building a more revolutionary, modernized, and standardized military and enhancing its national defense capabilities. This has provided reliable security guarantees for China's reform, development, and stability. The Central Committee has stressed that a country needs a strong military before it can truly be strong and secure. China must build fortified national defense and a strong people's military commensurate with its international standing and its security and development interests.

The Party has set objectives for strengthening the military and defined China's military strategy for the new era. It has formulated the following three-step development strategy for modernizing national defense and the armed forces: achieving the centenary objectives of the People's Liberation Army by 2027; basically completing the modernization of national defense and the armed forces by 2035;and fully transforming the armed forces into world-class forces by the mid-21st century.

Since the Party's 18th National Congress, the people's military has been through an all-around revolutionary restructuring under the firm leadership of the Party in preparation for the next stage, while our defense capabilities have grown in step with our economic strength. Integration of national strategic systems and capabilities has accelerated, sound administrative and support systems for ex-service members have been established, defense mobilization has become more efficient, and greater unity has been cultivated between the military and the government and between the military and civilians. Firmly carrying out the missions of the new era, the people's military has taken concrete actions to safeguard our national sovereignty, security, and development interests with an indomitable fighting spirit.

Safeguarding national security

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, the Party has def ined safeguarding national security and social stability as a fundamental task for the Party and the country in order to cultivate a sound security environment for reform, opening-up, and socialist modernization. In the new era, China is faced with more acute national security challenges, as evidenced by unprecedented external pressure, intertwined traditional and non-traditional security threats, and frequent "black swan" and "grey rhino" events. China's ability to safeguard national security falls short of what is required of us by the current circumstances and tasks.

The Central Committee has stressed that the most fundamental and universal desire of our people is to live in a safe and peaceful nation. We must always be prepared for worst-case scenarios and mindful of potential dangers. We must uphold the primacy of our national interests and take the people's security as our ultimate goal, political security as our fundamental task, economic security as our foundation, military, technological, cultural, and social security as means of guarantee, and international security as the support. We must find a balance between development and security, between opening-up and security, between traditional and non-traditional security, between China's domestic security and the common security of the world, and between safeguarding national security and creating conditions conducive to it.

Since the 18th National Congress, national security has been enhanced on all fronts and many political, economic, ideological and natural risks, challenges, and trials have been overcome. This has helped ensure that the Party and the country thrive and enjoy lasting stability.

Upholding the "one country, two systems" policy and promoting national reunification

Since their return to the motherland, Hong Kong and Macao have been reincorporated into the national governance system and embarked on a broad path of complementarity and common development with other parts of the country. The practice of "one country, two systems" has been a resounding success. However, due to a variety of complicated factors both at home and abroad, anti-China activities aimed at destabilizing Hong Kong ran rampant for a period of time, posing serious challenges to Hong Kong.

The Central Committee has underscored the need to fully, firmly, and accurately implement the "one country, two systems" policy and to uphold and improve the systems of the policy. Various measures, which address both the symptoms and root causes of relevant issues, have been adopted, helping to restore order in Hong Kong and ensure a turn for the better in the region. All this has laid a solid foundation for advancing law-based governance in Hong Kong and Macao and for securing steady and continued success of the "one country, two systems" policy.

Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China's complete reunification is a historic mission and an unshakable commitment of the Party. It is also a shared aspiration of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, and it is essential to realizing national rejuvenation. The Party has approached cross-Straits relations in light of the changed circumstances of the times, enriched the theory on national reunification and policies and principles concerning Taiwan, and worked to keep cross-Strait relations on the right track. For realizing China's complete reunification, time and momentum are always on our side.

Bolstering the diplomatic front

Since the launch of reform and opening-up, the Party has remained committed to an independent foreign policy of peace, fostered an external environment conducive to China's development, and made significant contributions to human progress. In the new era, the international balance of power is undergoing profound adjustments, unilateralism, protectionism, hegemonism, and power politics are posing greater threats to world peace and development, and the backlash against globalization is growing. The world has entered a period of turbulence and transformation.

The Central Committee has emphasized that faced with a grave and complex international situation and unprecedented external risks and challenges, it is essential that we take into account both domestic and international imperatives, improve institutions and mechanisms for the Party's leadership over diplomatic endeavors, strengthen top-level design on this front, and conduct strategic planning on the major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. We must work to develop a new type of international relations, promote the building of a human community with a shared future, champion the shared human values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom, and steer the tide of human progress.

Through continued efforts, we have advanced major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics on all fronts. The concept of a human community with a shared future has become a banner leading trends of the times and human progress. China has broken new ground in its diplomatic endeavors amid profound global changes and turned crises into opportunities amid complex situations on the international stage. These efforts have resulted in a marked increase in China's international influence, appeal, and power to shape.

SOURCE: RESOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA ON THE MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS AND HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE OF THE PARTY OVER THE PAST CENTURY

?