Zheng Bijian

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has come to a successful conclusion. It is a very important congress held at the time when China has come to a critical stage of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and has therefore attracted great attention both at home and abroad. The theme of this congress, as the banner, soul and spirit of the whole event, has been clearly defined at the beginning of the Report to the 18th National Congress. Hence, the key to study and practice the spirit of the 18th CPC National Congress is to deeply understand and firmly grasp its theme. Only in this way can we be systematic, strategic and comprehensive in carrying out the tasks laid out in the Report and develop the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics to a historical new level in the second decade of the 21stcentury.

Hu Jintao, the General Secretary of CPC said in the Report to the 18th CPC National Congress: “the theme of this Congress is to hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, follow the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development, liberate the mind, implement the policy of reform and opening up, pool our strength to overcome great difficulties, firmly march on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.”

By referring to “holding high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics and following the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development”, the Party has clearly stipulated the banner that the CPC must uphold at this decisive stage of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. 

By referring to “firmly marching on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics”, the Party has made it very clear the path that the CPC must follow at this decisive stage.

By referring to “liberating the mind, implementing the policy of reform and opening up, pooling our strength to overcoming great difficulties”, the Party has decided on how it is going to complete its tasks at this decisive stage.

By referring to “striving to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects”, the Party has clearly established the goal that it will achieve in the next five to ten years.

It is very important that these four fundamental points, each bearing on the overall development of the Party and the country, have featured prominently in the theme of the Congress at this particular moment in time. They represent an in-depth analysis and keen observation of the global, national and Party conditions, an insightful summary and embodiment of the long-term practice of the Party and people, a formal response to the wishes and aspirations of all the Party members and people of all ethnic groups, and also a clear declaration of the fundamental direction that China will pursue in the second decade of the 21st century and beyond to the international community.

The Theme, Banner and Path of the Congress

It was solemnly decided at the 18th CPC National Congress that the Scientific Outlook on Development be included as the CPC’s guiding principles, as clearly seen in the text of the report--- “hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics and follow the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thoughts of Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development”.

That was an overarching decision of great historic importance.

To be more specific, it is another major historic decision made by the Party since the 12th CPC National Congress when we decided on “following our own road and building socialism with Chinese characteristics” as a distinctive theoretical and practical theme of the party in the new era of reform and opening up and socialist modernization. The decision is also based on the decade long successful experience of building China into a moderately prosperous society in all respects since the 16th CPC National Congress. It is a major historic decision made by the Party in the second decade of the 21st century when the world, the country and the Party are experiencing profound and complicated changes, when we are faced with unprecedented opportunities and challenges and when China remains in a period of important strategic opportunities, in which much can be achieved. It is also a major historic decision made at the critical moment when a new Central Committee has just taken over leadership to build on the past achievement and open up new ground.

Therefore, this is a significant, remarkable, extraordinary and far-reaching decision that the Party has made.

In essence, this major overarching historic decision has fully demonstrated that the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, or contemporary Marxism adapted to Chinese realities, always keeps pace with the times and never stays rigid. For that reason, the Scientific Outlook on Development, together with Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents, has become the great banner for China’s development and progress, for the solidarity and struggle of the Party and people of all ethnic groups, and for the Party and Chinese people to emerge from all sorts of tests and challenges victoriously during the great course of practice.

That is how the CPC has been forging ahead in the new era of reform and opening up and socialist modernization.

Here is a brief review of the history of the Party over the past three decades since the third plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, highlighting how the Party has made correct judgment of the overall situations and opened up new ground.

At the late 1970s and early 1980s, the decade long catastrophic “Cultural Revolution” left China a collapsing economy, turbulent political situation and poorly fed and clothed people. The Party then made an extraordinary historic decision of shifting the focus of the Party and country to economic development and reform and opening up. It established the guiding principle of socialism with Chinese characteristics (or Marxism integrated with Chinese realities) and the basic line in the primary stage of socialism, uniting the Party and people of all ethnic groups to successfully blaze the trail of socialism with Chinese characteristics. As a result, the Party and the country successfully emerged from the severe disaster of the “Cultural Revolution” in just a few years. That was the first “decade” of the new era.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, amidst the collapse of the Soviet Union, the upheaval of the Eastern Europe, the severe setbacks with the international socialist movement and the serious domestic political disturbance, again the Party steadfastly adhered to socialism with Chinese characteristics, established the basic guideline and experience based on new practice, formulated the reform goals and the basic framework of the socialist market economic system, and developed the basic economic system and distribution system of the primary stage of socialism, thus opening a new chapter of comprehensive reform and opening up and successfully advancing our socialist cause with Chinese characteristics into the 21st century. That was the second “decade” of the new era.

At the turn of the century, China was put through a series of severe tests and challenges --- the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, the collision between a US surveillance plane and a Chinese jet fighter over the South China Sea, the strategic choice of China to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), the “9/11” terrorist attack in the United States, the international financial crisis in 2008, the European sovereign debt crisis and catastrophic natural disasters domestically, yet the Party was able to cope with these challenges cool-headedly and advantageously and to have seized and made the best of this important period of strategic opportunities. Meanwhile, in the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the Party strived to make practical, theoretical and institutional innovations, formulated the important theories of scientific development, harmonious development and peaceful development, which collectively formed the blueprint of socialist undertaking with Chinese characteristics. In the meantime, the Party made conscientious effort to improve people’s well-being, promote social justice, and advance the building of a harmonious world. The party also worked hard to improve its capacity of state governance and to maintain its advanced nature and purity so that it is able to uphold and carry forward socialism with Chinese characteristics at a new historical starting point. That is the third “decade” of the new era.

An examination of these three “decades” reveals two great accomplishments in pursuing socialism with Chinese characteristics: one in practice, which is the great historical achievements made in building socialism with Chinese characteristics; and the other in theory, which is the creation of Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thoughts of Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development. Those theories pioneered the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, established the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and improved the institutions of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Together, those two interrelated and mutually reinforcing accomplishments represent Marxism in development in China today.

Anyone who is unbiased and respectable of history and facts can see that it is under the guidance of socialism with Chinese characteristics, which is a set of pragmatic, pioneering, constructive, contemporary, insightful and innovative theories, that we have turned China into a highly dynamic, rapidly growing and increasingly prosperous country. Vastly different from “doctrines” practiced in some other parts of the world that either result in disturbing political changes or have come to a dead-end, this theory is hugely superior and dynamic.

Having said that, it is necessary to point out that on the basis of the theories and lines formed over the previous six CPC national congresses, the 18th Congress has also added a series of remarkable new features to the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

First, the Scientific Outlook on Development has been established as a guiding theory of the Party. As a product of integrating of Marxism with the realities of China and of our times, the Scientific Outlook on Development has enriched and further developed the Marxist theory on development with a series of new, closely connected and coherent thoughts, ideas and proposition, pushing our understanding of the laws of socialism with Chinese characteristics to a new level. The inclusion of the theory in the Party’s guiding principles will help the entire Party to conscientiously use the Scientific Outlook on Development as guidance, to continuously explore and grasp the laws of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to achieve new victories in socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Second, the institutions of socialism with Chinese characteristics, like the road and theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, have been recognized as a fundamental achievement over the past ninety plus years of struggles, creation and accumulation by the Party and Chinese people. The Party has thus made it clear that socialism with Chinese characteristics consists of a “road”, with is the pathway to achieve our goals, a “theoretical system”, which is the guidance to our actions, and the “institutions” which serve as a fundamental guarantee. This new and major theoretic summary not only embodies but will also enhance the confidence of all the Party members and people of all ethnic groups in our socialist road, theory and institutions, so that we will steadfastly forge ahead on the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Third, by including ecological conservation and development in the overall blueprint of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the Party has given it a clear strategic position, thus improving the overall blueprint of socialism with Chinese characteristics and deepening our understanding of the laws of state governance by the Party, of socialist construction and of societal development. This will help us achieve new victories in developing socialism with Chinese characteristics on the new journey of “catching up with the times”