Zheng Wentao: Profoundly Grasping the Contemporary Requirements for Establishing and Practicing a Correct Outlook on Political Performance
During the National Two Sessions [1] this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized while attending a deliberation with the Jiangsu delegation: "We must conscientiously organize and carry out education on establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance [2]. We should guide the broad ranks of Party members and cadres to implement the general requirements of 'building the Party for the public, benefiting the people, making scientific decisions, and working with practical dedication,' so as to create achievements that can withstand the test of practice, the people, and history." The outlook on performance not only reflects the political stance, Party spirit [3], and spiritual realm of Party members and cadres, but also affects the overall development of the cause of the Party and the state, as well as the immediate interests of the masses. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered a series of important expositions on establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance, profoundly clarifying major issues such as "for whom should performance be established, what kind of performance should be established, and on what should we rely to establish performance." These have pointed out the direction and provided an important follow-on for leading groups at all levels and the broad ranks of Party members and cadres to lead high-quality development with a correct outlook on performance.
In February 2026, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued the Notice on Carrying Out Education on Establishing and Practicing a Correct Outlook on Performance Throughout the Party. It proposed to "comprehensively implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance, and persist over the long term in advancing comprehensively and strictly governing the Party," as well as to "educate and guide Party organizations at all levels and Party members and cadres to adhere to seeking truth from facts and being pragmatic, creating achievements for the people and through practical work." On the New Journey [4], we must take this education as an opportunity to profoundly grasp the rich connotations and the situational requirements of the New Era for establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance. We must implement the Major Decision-making Arrangements of the Party Central Committee with practical actions, strive to achieve a successful start to the "15th Five-Year Plan" [5], and together compose a new chapter in the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation.
1. Adhere to Tempering Party Spirit and Strengthening the Foundation to Fortify the Ideological Root of a Correct Outlook on Performance
In the way of governance, self-cultivation is the foundation. To create achievements, one must resolve the questions of for whom, what kind, and how achievements are created; that is, one must resolve the issue of the outlook on performance. A correct outlook on performance guides us in correctly transforming our subjective world. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "In establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance, the decisive factor is Party spirit. Only with a strong Party spirit and the discarding of selfish thoughts can we ensure that the outlook on performance does not deviate." Party spirit is the cornerstone for Party members and cadres to establish themselves, their careers, their words, and their virtue. The outlook on performance is the touchstone for testing the Party spirit and work style of Party members and cadres. A strong Party spirit is the ideological foundation and source of power for a correct outlook on performance; the two nourish each other and are complementary. A misplaced outlook on performance is, in final analysis, a deviation in cognition, the root of which lies in betraying Party spirit, losing sight of the Party's purpose, and abandoning one’s convictions. To establish and practice a correct outlook on performance, we must grasp the fundamental task of "strengthening Party spirit," clarifying the source and consolidating the foundation. We must cultivate the "Study of the Mind" [6] for Communists, ensuring the correct outlook on performance is implanted in the heart, integrated into the blood, and manifested in action.
A strong Party spirit is not innate, nor is it achieved once and for all. Strengthening the cultivation of Party spirit is not a matter of "a moment" but of "a lifetime"; it requires constant cultivation, constant realization, and constant progress. An important goal of conducting centralized education within the Party is to guide Party members and cadres to keep in mind the fundamental questions of what the Communist Party of China is and what it aims to do, and to persist in tempering Party spirit, strengthening ideals and convictions, and practicing our original aspiration and founding mission. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Use ideals and convictions to strengthen the foundation, use the Party’s innovative theories to arm the whole Party, and use excellent traditional culture to rectify the mind and illuminate virtue, so as to replenish the 'calcium' of the spirit [7], cast the 'soul' of thought, and build a strong line of defense in ideology and morality." Currently, in carrying out education on the outlook on performance, we must identify gaps, investigate root causes, and strengthen cultivation from the perspective of Party spirit, effectively enhancing the political, ideological, and behavioral consciousness of establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance. Party members and cadres should further fortify the foundation of faith, replenish the "calcium" of the spirit, and steady the helm of thought. They should regard being loyal to the Party, sharing the Party’s concerns, fulfilling duties for the Party, and benefiting the people as their greatest political responsibility, preserving the political character of Communists and using a correct outlook on power, performance, and career to guide practice, promote work, and create achievements.
2. Adhere to Putting the People First and Benefiting the People to Anchor the Fundamental Stance of a Correct Outlook on Performance
The question of "for whom" is the touchstone for testing the nature of a political party and a regime. Our Party was born for the people and thrives because of the people. It has no special interests of its own other than the interests of the people. All the Party's work is aimed at realizing, safeguarding, and developing the fundamental interests of the broadest possible majority of the people. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: "All speech and action of Communists must be based on the highest standard of conforming to the greatest interests of the broadest masses of the people and being supported by the broadest masses of the people." Comrade Deng Xiaoping clearly required that whether the people support, approve, are happy with, or agree to something should be the starting point and the ultimate goal for formulating principles and policies and making decisions. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The Communist Party of China regards working for and benefiting the people as the most important performance, and uses how many good and practical things have been done for the common people as an important standard for testing performance." The support or opposition of the people is the greatest politics. Adherence to putting the people first is the distinctive background of all our Party's theory and practice, and the genetic code for the Party’s eternal vitality and strong combat effectiveness. Only by placing the people in the highest position does all struggle have meaning and all performance have value.
In the governance of a country, there are constants, and benefiting the people is the foundation. As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered the New Era, the principal contradiction in Chinese society has evolved into the contradiction between the people's ever-growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development. The process of continuously meeting the people's needs for a better life and letting them lead a good life is the process of resolving the principal social contradiction and promoting social progress. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The people are the source of our Party's strength. Our Party’s foundation is in the people and its lifeblood is in the people. We must place the people in the highest position in our hearts and always take the people’s heart as our own heart." He added: "Our goals are grand yet simple; in the final analysis, they are about letting the common people lead a better life." Adhering to the people-centered development philosophy and ensuring that development is for the people, relies on the people, and its fruits are shared by the people is the fundamental value orientation of Chinese Communists as they forge ahead on the New Journey and strive in the New Era. Party members and cadres must profoundly grasp the questions of "Who am I? For whom am I working? On whom do I rely?"—the questions of original aspiration and mission. They should strengthen their awareness of being public servants and their sentiments for the people, pursue the spiritual realm of "I shall be selfless and live up to the people's expectations," [8] establish a performance outlook centered on benefiting the people, and consciously become selfless contributors dedicated to the people's welfare. They should constantly reflect on "Why did I join the Party? What am I doing as an 'official'? What will I leave behind?" They must persist in being "officials of the common people," "sit their buttocks squarely on the side of the common people," [9] and strive to do the work of benefiting the people well and practically to earn the good reputation of the masses.
3. Adhere to Seeking Truth from Facts and Practical Dedication to Grasp the Spiritual Essence of a Correct Outlook on Performance
Seeking truth from facts is the essence of Marxism, the fundamental requirement for Chinese Communists to understand and transform the world, and our Party's basic ideological, working, and leadership method. Looking back at 105 years of glorious struggle, our Party has consistently adhered to the scientific attitude of seeking truth from facts, uniting and leading the people through arduous exploration and great practice in revolution, construction, and reform. This led to the great leap of the Chinese nation from standing up to becoming prosperous and then becoming strong, moving continuously toward the grand goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "All our past achievements relied on seeking truth from facts. Today, to continue pushing forward the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we still rely on seeking truth from facts. All comrades of the Party must adhere to liberating the mind, seeking truth from facts, and advancing with the times, being ready at all times to uphold the truth and correct errors." Seeking truth from facts is an important magic weapon for truly understanding "why the Communist Party of China can, why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good, and, in the final analysis, why Marxism works and why the Sinicized and modernized Marxism works." All achievements created by Chinese Communists must be rooted in the fertile soil of "reality" and follow the norms of "objective laws." Adhering to starting from reality and consciously acting according to objective laws is the spiritual essence and core meaning of establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance.
The outlook on performance is closely linked to the outlook on development. High-quality development is the primary task of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, and it is also the theme of economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period and for an even longer period. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Adhering to high-quality development must become an important part of the performance outlook for leading cadres." Promoting high-quality development is a systemic project. We must fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the New Development Philosophy [10]. We must comprehensively consider factors such as politics and economy, reality and history, material and culture, development and people's livelihood, resources and ecology. We must handle the relationships between stability and progress, "establishing the new and breaking the old" [11], the virtual and the real, the symptoms and the root causes, and the short-term and the long-term. By seeking truth from facts, making scientific decisions, and working with practical dedication, we can embark on a path of high-quality development that fits our own reality and possesses local characteristics. Leading groups and cadres at all levels must firmly establish the clear orientation that "achievements are made through work; only through real work can real achievements be produced." They should adapt to local conditions and specific matters: what should be done must be done, what can be done should be strived for, and what should not be done must never be done. They must resolutely resist formalism and bureaucratism. With the spiritual realm of "success does not have to be achieved by me" and the historical responsibility of "success must involve my contribution," [12] they should work one generation after another, moving forward one step at a time, and act as firm doers and men of action in Chinese-path modernization.
4. Adhere to a Problem-Oriented Approach and Institutional Building to Consolidate the Institutional Guarantee of a Correct Outlook on Performance
Adhering to a problem-oriented approach is an inherent requirement and an important method for promoting the development of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party in depth. Conducting education on the outlook on performance must combine a problem-oriented approach with a goal-oriented approach, effectively integrating problem-awareness into the entire process of education, and continuously proposing new ideas, mechanisms, and methods to truly solve problems. We must soberly recognize that deviations and misplacements in the outlook on performance still exist among some local and departmental leading groups and cadres. For instance: selective implementation of the Party Central Committee’s decisions, making unrealistic decisions contrary to the masses' wishes, "new officials ignoring old debts," seeking quick success and instant benefits, being fond of grandiosity, resort to fraud, acting blindly and recklessly, engaging in "vanity projects" [13] and "performance projects" [14], "flipping the pancake" [15] with policies and plans, and illegally increasing local government hidden debt... These problems and phenomena seriously damage the interests of the masses and the relationship between the Party and the masses. If they are not corrected in time and allowed to spread, they will shake the Party's foundation for governance. Through education, we must carry out concentrated rectification, promote the implementation of reforms, and use a correct outlook on performance to lead the entire Party in establishing a new atmosphere of integrity, making the Party even stronger and more powerful.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The Party's self-revolution focuses on governing power; confining power in the cage of institutions is an important task for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party in the New Era." The issue of the outlook on performance is closely related to the wayward abuse of power; power must be confined within the cage of institutions. We must discover institutional loopholes, shortcomings, and weaknesses from the problems identified and corrected during education. We must effectively supplement and establish rules and regulations, promoting institutional building on a regular and long-term basis. We should clearly stipulate what can and cannot be done, for whom work is done, and how it should be done. We must establish and improve mechanisms to effectively prevent and correct deviations in the outlook on performance, making institutions more mature and stereotyped, and fully playing their roles in guidance, incentive, regulation, and constraint. We must establish a correct orientation for selecting and appointing personnel, taking the establishment and practice of a correct outlook on performance as an important part of cadre inspection and a key basis for selection, appointment, evaluation, rewards, and punishments. We should combine strict management with "kind concern," implement the "Three Distinctions," [16] and dare to stand up for those who take responsibility and support those who get things done. We should improve the evaluation system for high-quality development and the performance evaluation system for cadres, enhancing the targeting and scientific nature of evaluations, and making better use of evaluations as a "conductor's baton" to fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of Party members and cadres in their work.
the New Journey is a new Long March. Comprehensively promoting the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization is the central task of the Party and the state on the New Journey in the New Era. Facing the complex and volatile international situation and the increasing number of uncertain and unpredictable factors, Chinese Communists in the New Era must carry forward the spirit of historical initiative and self-revolution. They must establish and practice a correct outlook on performance, maintain strategic resolve amidst complex situations, dare to take responsibility before risks and challenges, and create solid achievements in serving the people. They must continuously cross the new "Loushanguan" and "Lazikou" [17] on the road ahead, creating new great miracles through new great struggles.