Give Full Play to Academic and Theoretical Advantages to Demonstrate the Intellectual and Truth Power of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Speech
On August 4, the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) convened a symposium to study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech delivered at the provincial and ministerial level leading cadres' seminar titled "Studying the Spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Speech to Welcome the 20th Party Congress." Zhen Zhanmin, Vice President and Member of the Senior Management Group [1] of CASS, attended and addressed the meeting.
Zhen Zhanmin pointed out that General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech at the seminar is a politically distinct, theoretically profound, and highly guiding document delivered on the eve of the 20th Party Congress. It is an important address that connects the past with the future, carries forward the cause into the new stage, and adheres to the principle of upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground. It centrally demonstrates the innovative achievements of the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism in the New Era. As a programmatic document shining with the radiance of Marxist truth, it serves as a political declaration and an action plan for persisting in and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, laying an essential political, ideological, and theoretical foundation for the successful convening of the 20th Party Congress.
Zhen Zhanmin emphasized that in promoting the research and interpretation of the General Secretary’s speech and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Center must fully utilize the resource advantages of Marxist theoretical research, the comprehensive range of academic disciplines, the concentration of high-level talent, and the various research platforms. The goal is to produce a series of masterpieces characterized by CASS’s unique features and wisdom, utilizing research results with theoretical persuasiveness and ideological leadership to drive the implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It is necessary to further strengthen top-level planning and design, increase organizational coordination, and enhance the integration and cross-disciplinary coordination of major research projects and subjects to deepen the intensity of research and interpretation. We must innovate working mechanisms, cultivate a formidable research force, and continuously strengthen the holistic, systematic, and academic interpretation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, producing more unique, pioneering, and leading results in solving major issues concerning the overall, fundamental, and pivotal interests of the Party and the state.
The meeting was chaired by Xin Xiangyang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Executive Deputy Director of the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era at the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies. Experts including Huang Qunhui (Director of the Institute of Economics), Luo Wendong (Party Secretary of the Institute of World History), Jin Minqing (Party Secretary of the Institute of Modern History), Yao Zhizhong (Party Secretary of the Institute of World Economics and Politics), Song Yuehong (Deputy Director of the Institute of Contemporary China), Gong Yun and Lin Jianhua (Deputy Directors of the Institute of Marxism Studies), and Chen Zhigang (Research Fellow at the Institute of Marxism Studies) delivered speeches, sharing their insights based on their respective professional fields and practical work.
Huang Qunhui stated that General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speech profoundly elucidated the essential characteristics and profound connotations of the Chinese-path modernization. This path possesses not only the historical and practical logic of the Chinese nation achieving great rejuvenation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China but also profound theoretical logic and significant theoretical value. Faced with complex modernization theories, Chinese-path modernization takes Marxist theory as its guide, achieving a combination of inclusive learning and innovative transcendence, and the unification of objective laws with diversity. With the "People-Centered Theory," "National Conditions Theory," "Civilizational Coordination Theory," and "Peaceful Development Theory" as its four theoretical cores, it has formed a unique theory of modernization with Chinese characteristics.
Luo Wendong argued that in the five-hundred-year history of world socialism, the ten years of the New Era are but a fleeting moment [2], yet the historic achievements and social transformations led by the Party are unprecedented and rare in the world. If the birth of Marxism transformed socialism from utopia to science, and the creation of Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought enabled socialism to leap from theory to a formal system, then the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics—particularly Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—will guide the transition of socialism from its primary stage to an advanced stage.
Jin Minqing pointed out that Chinese-path modernization holds immense significance in the history of human civilization. It shatters the myth of the "uniqueness" of the Western modernization path, expands the channels for developing countries to achieve modernization, and promotes the formation and development of a new form of human civilization. With the healthy development of Chinese-path modernization, Chinese modernization theory has formed an autonomous theoretical system, achieving a transcendence of Western modernity theory. This theory embodies the unities of Party leadership and people’s creativity, autonomy and integration, inheritance and development, strategy and tactics, idealism and reality, comprehensiveness and key priorities, and theory and practice.
Yao Zhizhong maintained that the General Secretary’s speech established an excellent foundation for welcoming and holding the 20th Party Congress. It is of great significance for inspiring the entire Party and people of all ethnic groups to maintain strategic clarity amid the accelerating evolution of the "changes unseen in a century" [3], to hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to strive to write a new chapter in the comprehensive building of a modern socialist country as we embark on the new journey toward the Second Centenary Goal [4]. The speech also sets important requirements for the Party, especially to firmly grasp the strategic overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, profoundly understand the stage-specific characteristics of our era, and accurately grasp the latest achievements in the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism.
Song Yuehong stated that the General Secretary’s speech is a programmatic document for the New Era. From the strategic height of achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the speech pointed out that the great transformations of the past 10 years in the New Era hold landmark significance in the history of the Party, the People's Republic of China, reform and opening up, the development of socialism, and the development of the Chinese nation. To implement the spirit of the speech, we must persist in using Chinese-path modernization to advance national rejuvenation, have the courage to carry out a "great struggle with many new historical features" [5], and always place the development of the country and the nation on the basis of our own strength.
Gong Yun discussed the landmark significance of the 10 years of great transformation in the New Era. This era is a temporal continuation of the CPC leading the people through revolution, construction, and reform, and a spatial expansion of the Party's original aspiration and founding mission. It marks a new orientation in the 70-year history of the PRC as China enters a new stage of development; it signifies that reform and opening up has shifted from local exploration and "breaking the ice" [6] to systemic integration and comprehensive deepening. It has opened a brilliant new chapter in the history of world socialism, demonstrating institutional advantages in the competition with capitalism.
Lin Jianhua noted that the speech profoundly explained major theoretical and practical issues and clarified the major policies and action programs for the Party and the state's cause for the coming period. Looking back, all achievements were won by the Party and the people together. Looking forward, we must persist in taking the latest achievements of the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism as our guide. Practice has proven and will continue to prove that the key to achieving the central tasks of the new journey lies with the Party.
Chen Zhigang argued that Chinese-path modernization is a socialist modernization created independently during the great practice of reform and opening up. It is rooted in five thousand years of Chinese civilization while absorbing the fine achievements of human civilization. Chinese-path modernization possesses both national and global characteristics, both specificity and universality. It follows neither the "old path" of a closed and ossified system nor the "evil path" of changing flags [7]. It insists on keeping the fate of China's development and progress firmly in its own hands while actively adapting to the trends of economic globalization and persisting in opening up to the outside world.