Ji Zhengju: Deeply Understand and Grasp the Major Principles of Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized that further comprehensively deepening reform must summarize and apply the precious experience gained since the beginning of reform and opening up—especially the experience of comprehensively deepening reform in the New Era—and implement such principles as: upholding the Party’s comprehensive leadership; remaining people-centered; upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground; taking institutional building as the main thread; persisting in the comprehensive rule of law; and adhering to a systems concept. These six principles are a concentrated expression of the core tenets of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on comprehensively deepening reform and constitute a scientific summation of the precious experience of comprehensively deepening reform since the start of reform and opening up, particularly in the New Era. We must strictly follow and persist in them over the long term as we further comprehensively deepen reform.
Exceling at summarizing and applying experience is a "winning magic weapon" of the Communist Party of China
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "The Party's experience did not fall from the sky, nor was it copied from books; rather, it was accumulated by our Party through long-term exploration, enduring hardships and weathering storms. It is saturated with the lessons of success and failure, gain and loss; it is crystallized from blood and sweat, and filled with wisdom and courage." In the process of leading the revolution, construction, and reform, the Communist Party of China has consistently attached importance to drawing upon and applying precious experience, refining "magic weapons" [1] for defeating enemies and securing victory from the lessons of history. These six principles manifest our Party’s fine traditions and distinct advantages, possessing major guiding significance for enhancing the scientific rigor, foresight, proactivity, and creativity of further comprehensively deepening reform.
Exceling at summarizing experience from reality to continuously draw strength for progress. During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, Comrade Mao Zedong, building upon a summary of the experience of the two Revolutionary Civil Wars, defined the united front, armed struggle, and Party building as the "three magic weapons" [2] of the Chinese revolution, which played a vital role in our Party achieving victory. During the period of socialist revolution and construction, faced with the new task of building socialism, Comrade Mao Zedong delivered the report "On the Ten Major Relationships," [3] systematically summarizing our country’s experience in socialist construction. During the new period of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization, the Chinese communists, with Comrade Deng Xiaoping as their primary representative, profoundly summarized the historical experience following the founding of the People's Republic and made the historic decision to shift the focus of Party and state work toward economic construction and to implement reform and opening up. Comrades Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, at the conferences marking the 20th and 30th anniversaries of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee respectively, scientifically summarized the precious experience of socialist modernization during those decades, ensuring that reform and opening up could be advanced unswervingly at the turn of the century. In the New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, General Secretary Xi Jinping has summarized and generalized the Party's precious experience from various perspectives on major occasions—such as the centenary of the founding of the CPC, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic, and the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up—elevating our Party's summation of historical experience to a new realm. These six principles are a scientific summation of the precious experience of comprehensively deepening reform since the start of reform and opening up, particularly in the New Era, and are of great significance for further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-path modernization.
Exceling at summarizing experience from both positive and negative sides to continuously recalibrate the direction of progress. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "Historical experience is worthy of attention, and historical lessons should be taken as a warning." Our Party has always advocated for a comprehensive understanding of the historical process. The "Resolution on Certain Historical Issues" and the "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China" [4], formulated successively, serve as brilliant examples of summarizing experience from both positive and negative aspects. The "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," adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, summarized ten points of historical experience with fundamental and long-term guiding significance, possessing major historical weight and practical guiding value. The three historical resolutions fully demonstrate our Party’s political decisiveness at major historical turning points and its scientific attitude toward history. History and practice have fully proven that every comprehensive summation of historical experience by our Party has greatly consolidated ideological consensus and promoted intra-Party unity, which is of great significance for the whole Party to strengthen confidence and create the future. These six principles are of great significance for us to firmly grasp the direction, stance, and value orientation of reform, ensuring that the cause of reform and opening up proceeds steadily and reaches far.
Exceling at summarizing experience from responding to risks and challenges to firmly grasp historical initiative. The century-plus history of the CPC’s struggle is a history of summarizing experience, grasping historical laws, and taking historical initiative while responding to various risks and challenges, moving continuously from victory to victory. When commenting on reform and opening up, Comrade Deng Xiaoping said: "What we are doing is something China has never done in thousands of years," and we must "rely on constantly summarizing experience to move forward firmly." Today’s world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. Our country's development faces unprecedented risks and challenges, both domestic and international, spanning political, economic, cultural, and social fields as well as the natural world, encompassing both traditional and non-traditional threats. "Black swans" and "gray rhinos" [5] may appear unexpectedly. To better respond to various predictable and unpredictable risks and challenges on the road ahead, we must gain inspiration from history and extract "magic weapons" for victory from historical experience. Faced with a severe and complex international environment and the arduous tasks of domestic reform, development, and stability, we must continue to proceed from the "great struggle with many new historical features" [6] and excel at summarizing and applying the rich experience of the Party in successfully responding to risks and challenges across different historical periods. These six principles are of great significance for us to grasp the laws and general trends of historical development, effectively respond to risks and challenges, and firmly hold the historical initiative in the development of the cause of the Party and the state.
Profoundly grasping the scientific connotation and dialectical relationship of the major principles for further comprehensively deepening reform
Since the beginning of the New Era, the comprehensive deepening of reform has broken through barriers and advanced in depth, achieving a transformation from local exploration and "ice-breaking" breakthroughs to systematic integration and comprehensive deepening, creating a new situation for our country’s reform and opening up. As a scientific summation of precious experience, these six principles are rich in content and constitute an inseparable organic whole. We must profoundly grasp their scientific connotation in conjunction with the great practice of comprehensively deepening reform in the New Era and apply them to the great practice of further comprehensively deepening reform.
Upholding the Party's comprehensive leadership. The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Consistently integrating the Party’s leadership into all aspects and the entire process of reform is the fundamental guarantee for the smooth progress and historical achievements of comprehensively deepening reform in the New Era. Since the start of reform and opening up, and especially since the New Era began, our Party has established and improved a series of important and specific systems to implement the Party's comprehensive leadership, leading the implementation of all-dimensional, deep-level, and fundamental reforms, and ensuring the smooth advancement of reform and the fulfillment of various reform tasks. Upholding the Party's comprehensive leadership requires us to resolutely uphold the Party Central Committee’s authority and its centralized, unified leadership; to exert the Party's core role in overseeing the overall situation and coordinating all parties; and to integrate the Party's leadership into every facet of reform to ensure it always moves in the right direction.
Remaining people-centered. Reform has meaning only when it is for the people; reform has momentum only when it relies on the people. Since the start of reform and opening up, and especially since the New Era, our Party has consistently adhered to the fundamental purpose of serving the people heart and soul, always standing on the side of the people when grasping and handling major issues involving reform, so that the fruits of reform and development benefit all people more equitably. Remaining people-centered requires us to respect the people's principal position and their pioneering spirit, ensuring that reform responds to the people’s calls—so that reform is for the people, relies on the people, and its results are shared by the people.
Upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground. Only by upholding the fundamentals [7] can we avoid losing our way or making "subversive errors"; only through innovation can we grasp and lead the times. Since the start of reform and opening up, and especially since the New Era, our Party has insisted that what should and can be changed must be changed resolutely, while what should not and cannot be changed must remain untouched, continuously deepening our understanding of the laws governing reform. Upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground requires us to remain unswerving in socialism with Chinese characteristics, keep pace with the times, adapt to the development of practice, and highlight a problem-oriented approach. We must advance innovation in theory, practice, systems, culture, and all other aspects from a new starting point.
Taking institutional building as the main thread. Institutions are fundamental, overarching, stable, and long-term matters related to the development of the Party and the state. Taking institutional building as the main thread means constructing a system that is comprehensive, scientific, standardized, and effective, thereby better translating institutional advantages into governance efficacy. Since the start of reform and opening up, and especially since the New Era, our Party has persisted in and improved the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, refining systems governing Party leadership, the economy, politics, culture, society, ecological civilization, the military, and foreign affairs, continuously demonstrating the immense superiority of our system. This principle requires us to strengthen top-level design and overall planning, simultaneously "breaking the old and establishing the new," [8] while prioritizing establishment before transformation. We must fortify fundamental systems, improve basic systems, and innovate important systems.
Persisting in the comprehensive rule of law. Reform and the rule of law are complementary and born of one another. Enhancing the "penetration" of reform is inseparable from the stabilizing, expectant, and long-term protective role of the rule of law. Since the start of reform and opening up, and especially since the New Era, our Party has unswervingly followed the path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, advancing reform under the rule of law and improving the rule of law through reform. We insist on the unity and connection of reform decisions and legislative decisions, ensuring that comprehensively deepening reform and the comprehensive rule of law act like two wheels, driving the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics forward together. This requires us to deepen reform and advance Chinese-path modernization on the track of the rule of law, ensuring that major reforms have a legal basis and that reform achievements are promptly elevated into legal systems.
Adhering to a systems concept. Reform and opening up is a systemic project. Comprehensively deepening reform must be a comprehensive and systematic reform and improvement, characterized by the linkage and integration of reforms across all fields. Since the start of reform and opening up, and especially since the New Era, our Party has planned and advanced reform with an overall perspective and systemic thinking, using economic system reform as a "locomotive" to coordinate and effectively resolve institutional obstacles, mechanistic bottlenecks, and policy innovation issues across all fields. Adhering to a systems concept requires us to properly handle major relationships—such as those between the economy and society, government and market, efficiency and fairness, vitality and order, and development and security—thereby enhancing the systematic, holistic, and synergistic nature of reform.
These six principles constitute an inseparable organic whole, complementing and reinforcing one another, ensuring that the ship of further comprehensively deepening reform braves the wind and waves and sails steadily on the magnificent journey of advancing the building of a strong country and national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization. Specifically, upholding the Party's comprehensive leadership provides the fundamental guarantee; remaining people-centered clarifies the fundamental stance and value orientation; upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground is the distinctive hallmark; taking institutional building as the main thread manifests the inherent requirement of reform; persisting in the comprehensive rule of law provides the important safeguard; and adhering to a systems concept provides the basic methodology. None of these six principles can be dispensed with. Together, they ensure that further comprehensively deepening reform moves steadily toward the general goal of continuing to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.
Putting the major principles of further comprehensively deepening reform into practice
The current and upcoming periods are critical for advancing the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization. Looking to the future, as we further comprehensively deepen reform and advance Chinese-path modernization, we must persist in and apply these major principles. This will allow us to continuously gain advantages, seize the initiative, and win the future amidst a complex and severe domestic and international situation, opening up broad prospects for Chinese-path modernization.
We must ensure that the Party’s leadership is integrated throughout all aspects and the entire process of reform. We must persist in the CPC Central Committee’s centralized and unified leadership over further comprehensively deepening reform, and improve the mechanisms for implementing the Central Committee’s major decisions and deployments. With a focus on mobilizing the initiative, enthusiasm, and creativity of the entire Party to pursue reform and promote development, we must improve the institutional mechanisms of Party building, deepen the reform of the cadre and personnel system, and clearly establish a correct orientation for the selection and appointment of officials. We must deeply advance the improvement of Party conduct, the buildup of clean government, and the anti-corruption struggle; refine mechanisms for making political oversight specific, precise, and normalized; improve working mechanisms for the integrated advancement of "not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt" [9]; and perfect the Party and state oversight systems. We must grasp the implementation of reform with the "spirit of driving a nail," [10] incorporating the implementation of major reforms into the content of oversight inspections and disciplinary inspections (巡视巡察) [11].
We must ensure that reform is for the people, that reform relies on the people, and that the fruits of reform are shared by the people. We must maintain a firm hold on the value orientation of further comprehensively deepening reform, planning and advancing reform based on the overall, fundamental, and long-term interests of the people. We must respect the principal position of the people, earnestly listen to their voices, and focus on identifying the pressure points and breakthroughs for reform within the "urgent, difficult, anxious, and hopeful" (急难愁盼) [12] problems of the masses, launching more reform measures that address urgent livelihood needs and reflect the people’s will. We must respect the pioneering spirit of the people, take the people as our teachers, and deeply root the growth of political wisdom and the enhancement of governance capabilities in the creative practices of the people.
We must ensure the continuous advancement of innovation in all aspects of socialism with Chinese characteristics on the foundation of upholding the fundamentals. Regarding fundamental questions—such as which flag to raise, which path to take, and toward which goal to advance—we must maintain strategic clarity and political resolve that can never be shaken, ensuring that no "subversive errors" [13] are committed on fundamental issues. We must encourage and support local and grassroots levels to emancipate the mind, to boldly experiment and "boldly break through" (大胆闯), carrying out innovation in light of actual conditions and in accordance with local realities. Adapting to the new trends of era-defining development, the new requirements of practical development, and the new expectations of the masses, we must handle all work effectively and tangibly through scientific planning and innovative spirit. We must use innovative methods to seek the "key" (锁钥) for resolving contradictions, use innovative thinking to obtain the "effective prescription" (良方) for overcoming difficulties, and use innovative measures to open up a new horizon for the cause of development.
We must ensure that national governance efficacy is continuously enhanced through institutional development. By strengthening top-level design and overall planning, we must fortify fundamental systems, improve basic systems, and innovate important systems, continuously improving the institutional framework. We must insist on "combining breaking and establishing, while establishing before breaking" (破立并举、先立后破) [14], reforming in a timely manner those institutional rules that do not meet the requirements of practical development, and focusing on breaking through deep-seated systemic and mechanistic obstacles. We must continuously enhance the "institutional consciousness" of Party members and cadres, strengthen the enforcement of systems, and ensure that institutional advantages are effectively transformed into national governance efficacy by strengthening the supervision of institutional enforcement.
We must ensure that reform is deepened on the track of the rule of law. We must persist in scientific, democratic, and law-based legislation, continuously enhancing the ability to use rule-of-law thinking and law-based approaches to deepen reform, promote development, resolve contradictions, maintain stability, and respond to risks. We must strengthen legislation in key areas, emerging areas, and foreign-related areas, and coordinate the "establishment, revision, abolition, interpretation, and codification" (立、改、废、释、纂) of laws and regulations. We must strive to properly handle the relationship between reform and the rule of law, adjusting in a timely manner those laws that do not adapt to the requirements of reform, and using "good laws" to promote development and guarantee "good governance."
We must ensure that the systemic, holistic, and synergistic nature of reform is enhanced. With the goals, tasks, and major problems facing the promotion of Chinese-path modernization as our guide, we must strengthen the coordination and alignment of reform measures, ensuring that reform measures across all fields and aspects exert force in the same direction to enhance overall efficacy. Taking the proper handling of major relationships—such as between the economy and society, the government and the market, efficiency and equity, vitality and order, and development and security—as a key handle, we must strengthen the systemic, holistic, and synergistic nature of reform. For reforms involving complex interests and high coordination difficulty, we must establish powerful mechanisms for coordinated advancement.
[Author: Vice President of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee] Web Editor: Ma Jingren Source: People’s Daily, July 23, 2024