Zheng Wentao: Profoundly Grasping the Requirements of the Times for Establishing and Practicing a Correct Outlook on Political Performance
During the two sessions [1] this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized while participating in the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation: "It is necessary to earnestly organize and carry out education on establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance [2]. We must guide the vast number of Party members and cadres to implement the general requirements of 'founding the Party for the public, benefiting the people, scientific decision-making, and working with earnest pragmatism,' 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 concerns the overall development of the Party and state undertakings and the vital interests of the masses. Since the 18th National Congress [4], General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered a series of important expositions on establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance, profoundly elucidating major issues such as "for whom performance is established, what kind of performance should be established, and what should be relied upon to establish performance." This has pointed out the direction and provided an important follow-on for leading groups at all levels and the vast number 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 "fully implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance, and persevere in promoting comprehensively and strictly governing the Party." It also called for "educating and guiding Party organizations at all levels and the vast number of Party members and cadres to seek truth from facts, be realistic and pragmatic, produce performance for the people, and produce performance through earnest work." On the New Journey, we must take this education as an opportunity to profoundly grasp the rich connotations and requirements of the era for establishing and practicing a correct outlook on performance. We must take practical actions to implement the major decision-making deployments of the Party Central Committee, strive to achieve a successful start to the "15th Five-Year Plan" [5], and jointly compose a new chapter in the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation.
1. Persist in Tempering Party Spirit and Strengthening the Foundation to Reinforce the Ideological Root of a Correct Outlook on Performance
The way of governance begins with self-cultivation. To create achievements, it is essential to solve the questions of for whom, what, and how to create them—which is to solve the problem 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 abandonment of selfish motives 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 a touchstone for testing their Party spirit and conduct. 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 understanding rooted in betraying the 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 Heart" [6] for Communists, ensuring the correct outlook on performance is planted in the mind, 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, reflection, and progress. An important goal of conducting concentrated internal Party education is to guide Party members and cadres to keep in mind the fundamental question of what the Communist Party of China is and what it aims to do, and to persevere in tempering Party spirit, firming up ideals and convictions, and practicing the 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 heart and clarify virtue, so as to supplement the 'calcium' of the spirit [7], cast the 'soul' of thought, and build a strong ideological and moral line of defense." Presently, in carrying out education on the outlook on performance, we must find 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 must further consolidate the foundation of faith, supplement the "calcium" of the spirit, and steady the helm of thought. They should regard being loyal to the Party, sharing the Party’s concerns, performing duties for the Party, and benefiting the people as their greatest political responsibility, preserving the political character of Communists and creating achievements under the guidance of correct views on power, performance, and career.
2. Persist in Putting the People First and Benefiting the People to Anchor the Fundamental Position 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 those of the people. All the Party's work is aimed at realizing, maintaining, and developing the fundamental interests of the broadest possible masses. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: "All words and actions of Communists must conform to the highest standard of the greatest interests of the broadest masses of the people and be supported by them." Comrade Deng Xiaoping clearly demanded that whether the people support, approve, are happy with, or agree to something must be the starting point and the ultimate goal for formulating policies and making decisions. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The Communist Party of China regards doing things for the people and benefiting the people as its most important performance, and regards how many good and practical things have been done for the common people as the important standard for testing performance." The support or opposition of the people is the ultimate politics. Persistence in "People First" is the distinctive color of all the Party's theory and practice, and the genetic code for the Party's everlasting vitality and strong combat effectiveness. Only by placing the people in the highest position can all struggles have meaning and all performance have value.
In the governance of a country, benefiting the people is the priority. 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 live 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 and lifeblood are 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." He also noted: "Our goals are grand and yet very simple; in the final analysis, they are about letting the common people live 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 on the New Journey of the New Era. Party members and cadres must profoundly comprehend the questions of "who am I, for whom am I, and on whom do I rely"—the questions of original aspiration and mission. They must strengthen their consciousness as public servants and their sentiments for the people, pursuing the spiritual realm of "I shall be selfless and live up to the people's expectations." They should establish an outlook on performance that benefits the people and consciously be selfless contributors dedicated to the people's welfare. They must constantly reflect on "why I joined the Party, what I am doing as an 'official,' and what I will leave behind," adhering to being an "official of the common people" and "sitting firmly on the side of the common people," striving to effectively perform practical deeds that benefit the people and earn a good reputation among the masses.
3. Persist in Seeking Truth from Facts and Hard Work to Grasp the Spiritual Essence of a Correct Outlook on Performance
Seeking truth from facts is the essence of Marxism and the fundamental requirement for Chinese Communists to understand and transform the world; it is our Party's basic ideological, working, and leadership method. Reviewing the glorious 105-year history of struggle, our Party has consistently adhered to a scientific attitude of seeking truth from facts, leading the people through arduous explorations and great practices of revolution, construction, and reform. We have ushered in a great leap for the Chinese nation from standing up to becoming rich and then becoming strong, and are continuously advancing 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 advancing the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we still rely on seeking truth from facts. All comrades in the Party must adhere to liberating the mind, seeking truth from facts, and advancing with the times, and be ready at all times to uphold the truth and correct errors." Seeking truth from facts is the important magic weapon for truly understanding why the Communist Party of China can, why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good, and how, in final analysis, it is because Marxism works, and specifically, Marxism that has been Sinicized and adapted to the times works. All achievements created by Chinese Communists must be rooted in the soil of "reality" and follow the criteria of "objective laws." Persisting in proceeding from reality and consciously acting according to laws constitutes 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 building a modern socialist country in all respects, and it is the theme of economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period and beyond. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Adhering to high-quality development must become an important component of the outlook on performance for leading cadres." Promoting high-quality development is a systemic project. We must implement the new development philosophy completely, accurately, and comprehensively. We must comprehensively consider various factors such as politics and economy, reality and history, material and culture, development and people's livelihoods, and resources and ecology. We must handle the relationships between stability and progress, establishing the new and breaking the old [8], the virtual and the real, the symptoms and the root causes, and the near-term and the long-term. By seeking truth from facts, making scientific decisions, and working with earnest pragmatism, we can forge a path of high-quality development suited to actual local conditions and characteristics. Leading groups and cadres at all levels must firmly establish the clear orientation that "performance is achieved through work, and only earnest work can produce true performance and high-quality results." They should adapt to local conditions and specific matters, doing what must be done, striving for what can be done, and resolutely avoiding what should not be done. They must strictly resist the Four Winds, especially formalism and bureaucratism. With the spiritual realm of "success does not have to be achieved by me" and the historical responsibility of "success must be contributed to by me," they must work through successive generations, moving forward step by step, and serving as resolute actors and practitioners in the construction of a Chinese-path modernization.
4. Persist in Problem-Orientation and Institutional Construction to Consolidate the Institutional Guarantee for a Correct Outlook on Performance
Adhering to a problem-oriented approach is an inherent requirement and important method for promoting the development of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party in depth. In carrying out education on the outlook on performance, we must combine the problem-oriented approach with the goal-oriented approach, ensuring that problem awareness and orientation permeate 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 among leading groups and cadres in some localities and units still exist. For example: selective implementation of the Central Committee's decisions, making unrealistic decisions that run counter to the people's wishes, "new officials ignoring old debts," seeking quick success and instant benefits, being fond of grandiosity, resort to fraud or reckless action, engaging in "image projects" and "vanity projects," and making frequent, erratic policy changes [9], or illegally increasing hidden local government 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 are allowed to spread, they will shake the Party's ruling foundation. Through concentrated rectification and the implementation of rectification measures during the education process, we must lead the whole Party to establish a new atmosphere of integrity and build a stronger and more powerful Party.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "The Party's self-revolution focuses on governing power; confining power within the cage of institutions is an important task of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party in the New Era." Problems with the outlook on performance are closely related to the willful abuse of power; therefore, power must be confined within the cage of institutions. We must discover institutional loopholes, shortcomings, and weaknesses from the problems identified during this education, effectively fill the gaps in rules and regulations, and promote institutional construction on a regular and long-term basis. We must 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 exerting their roles in guidance, incentive, regulation, and restraint. We should establish a correct orientation for the selection and appointment of personnel, taking the establishment and practice of a correct outlook on performance as an important part of cadre evaluation and a key basis for promotion, rewards, and punishments. We must combine strict management with loving care, implementing the "Three Distinctions" [10], and daring to stand up for those who take responsibility and support those who act. We should improve the evaluation system for high-quality development and the performance evaluation system for cadres, increasing the pertinence and scientific nature of evaluations, and utilizing the "baton" effect of evaluations to fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of Party members and cadres.
The New Journey is a new Long March. To comprehensively promote 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 of the New Era. Facing a complex and volatile international situation and increasing uncertain and unpredictable factors, Chinese Communists in the New Era must carry forward the spirit of historical initiative and self-revolution. We must establish and practice a correct outlook on performance, maintain strategic focus in complex situations, dare to take responsibility in the face of risks and challenges, and create solid achievements in serving the people. We must continuously cross new "Loushan Passes" and "Lazikous" [11] on the road ahead, creating new great miracles through new great struggles.