XV. Exercising Full and Rigorous Self-Governance and Advancing the Great New Project of Party Building in the New Era
Our Party has a pivotal role in building China into a modern socialist country in all respects and in advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts. As the largest Marxist governing party in the world, we must always stay alert and determined to tackle the special challenges that a large party like ours faces, so as to maintain the people’s support and consolidate our position as the long-term governing party.
Since our Party’s 18th National Congress, we have exercised full and rigorous self-governance and solved many of our prominent problems. Nevertheless, the tests the Party faces in governance, reform and opening up, the market economy, and the external environment will exist for a long time to come, as will the dangers of a lack of drive, incompetence, disengagement from the people, inaction, and corruption.
All of us in the Party must bear in mind that full and rigorous self-governance is an unceasing endeavor and that self-reform is a journey to which there is no end. We must never slacken our efforts and never allow ourselves to become weary or beaten. We must persevere with full and rigorous self-governance, continue to advance the great new project of Party building in the new era, and use our own transformation to steer social transformation.
We must meet the overall requirements for Party building in the new era, improve the systems for exercising full and rigorous self-governance, and comprehensively advance our efforts to purify, improve, renew, and excel ourselves. This will enable our Party to stay true to its original aspiration and founding mission and remain the strong leadership core in building socialism with Chinese characteristics.
1. Upholding and strengthening the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee
The Party’s leadership is comprehensive, systematic, and integrated; therefore, it must be exercised in a comprehensive, systematic, and integrated way.
We will improve the leadership systems by which the Party exercises overall leadership and coordinates the efforts of all sides and refine the mechanisms through which the Party Central Committee’s major decisions and plans are implemented. This will ensure that all Party members closely follow the Central Committee in terms of political stance, orientation, principles, and path and that the Party’s solidarity and unity are maintained.
We will improve the Central Committee’s decision-making, deliberative, and coordinating institutions, so as to strengthen its centralized, unified leadership over major initiatives.
In strengthening the Party politically, we will enforce strict political discipline and rules, ensure that Party committees (leading Party members groups) at all levels fully assume their principal responsibilities, and enhance the political judgment, understanding, and implementation of Party organizations and Party officials at all levels.
We will continue to conduct sound, democratic, and law-based governance, practice democratic centralism, and develop new and improved ways of exercising leadership. We will enhance the Party’s ability to chart the course, make overall plans, design policy, and promote reform, and we will keep everyone motivated.
We will make intraparty political activities more politically oriented, up-to-date, principled, and effective. We will make full use of criticism and self-criticism and keep working to improve the political environment in the Party.
2. Enhancing cohesion and forging the Party’s soul with the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
Arming our members with the Party’s new theories is a fundamental task of strengthening ourselves theoretically. To this end, we will continue to use the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to achieve unity in thinking, will, and action. We will launch programs for Party members to study the Party’s new theory and build the Party into a Marxist party of learning.
We will strengthen the ideals and convictions of our Party members, see that they are committed to the Party’s purpose, and resolve the fundamental question of the worldview, outlook on life, and values they should embrace. We will be firm believers and loyal practitioners of the noble ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
We will apply what we have learned in practice, act on our beliefs, and turn the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era into a powerful force for strengthening ideals, enhancing Party consciousness, guiding practice, and advancing our work.
We will combine theoretical study with regular, long-term study of the Party’s history and see that Party members and officials strengthen their understanding, conviction, integrity, and diligence through continued study of Party history and carry forward our revolutionary traditions and heritage. We will launch theoretical study programs for Party members, especially leading officials at and above the county and director level.
3. Improving the systems and regulations for the Party’s self-reform
We will continue to run the Party with systems and regulations. We should take the Party Constitution as our fundamental guide and give full play to the core role of democratic centralism in order to improve the framework of Party regulations, increase their authority, and fully enforce them. We will put in place mechanisms for upholding truth, correcting errors, uncovering problems, and remedying failings.
We will improve the total-coverage, authoritative, and highly effective oversight system under the Party’s unified leadership and refine the mechanisms for overseeing power and keeping it in check. We will generate synergy between various forms of oversight with intraparty oversight serving as the mainstay, and we will ensure that power is exercised in broad daylight.
We will conduct concrete, targeted, and regular political oversight and keep leadership teams and their heads under effective oversight. We will see that political inspections serve as a powerful tool and that follow-up rectifications are made accordingly and their results are put to practical use. We will work to ensure that political responsibility for full and rigorous Party self-governance is fulfilled and that accountability mechanisms have real teeth.
4. Cultivating officials capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation
To build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must have a team of officials who are politically committed and who have the competence to meet the needs of the new era and lead China’s modernization drive.
We must adhere to the principle of the Party supervising officials. We must select officials on the basis of both integrity and ability, with greater weight given to integrity, and on the basis of merit regardless of background, thus fully applying the criteria for judging competent officials in the new era.
We will follow the right approach to selecting and appointing officials, select those who are high-caliber, professional, loyal, upright, and responsible, and ensure that strong and competent leadership teams are put in place at all levels. We will take political commitment as the primary criterion for selection and carry out solid vetting of officials’ political commitment to ensure that they are politically reliable and corruption-free.
We will strengthen the ability of officials by tempering them through practice and giving them professional training, and we will focus on honing their skills by assigning them major tasks. This will help to ensure that officials become more capable of pursuing high-quality development, serving the people, and guarding against and defusing risks.
We will redouble our efforts to build the fighting spirit and ability of officials, particularly their ability to prevent risks, rise to challenges, and withstand pressure. This will enable them to take the lead in shouldering responsibility and to excel in their daily work, step forward at critical moments, and act with courage in times of danger.
We will improve the system for assessing officials’ performance and see that officials have a correct understanding of what it means to perform well. We should also see that officials can be demoted as well as promoted and dismissed as well as recruited, thereby creating an environment in which the competent are elevated, the outstanding are rewarded, the mediocre are demoted, and the incompetent are dismissed.
It is of critical importance to the Party’s future that we have qualified successors to carry forward our cause. With this in mind, we will improve the regular working mechanisms for training and selecting promising young officials. We should encourage young officials to work and gain experience in local communities and areas where conditions are harsh, and we should make such assignments an important part of their training.
We will attach importance to cultivating and selecting female officials and give full play to their important role. We will also attach importance to cultivating and appointing officials from ethnic minorities and carry out work related to non-Party officials in a well-coordinated way. We will ensure that retired officials are well taken care of.
We will improve our management of public servants and better allocate staffing resources for Party and state institutions. We should both be strict with our officials and care for them, and we should strengthen overall management and regular supervision of them. We should apply the “three distinctions,”[ The three distinctions refer to those between errors caused by lack of experience in pilot reforms and deliberate violations of discipline and law; between errors made in conducting experiments that are not explicitly restricted by higher-level authorities and arbitrary violations of discipline and law in the face of higher-level authorities’ explicit prohibition; and between unwitting errors made in pursuing development and violations of discipline and law for personal gains.] so as to encourage officials to boldly take on responsibilities and demonstrate enterprise in their work. We should care about officials working in local communities, particularly those working in areas where conditions are harsh.
5．Enhancing the political and organizational functions of Party organizations
The Party’s advantages and strength lie in its close-knit organizational system. Party organizations at all levels must perform the duties prescribed to them by the Party Constitution, implement the Party’s lines, principles, and policies and the Central Committee’s decisions and plans, and effectively organize and rally people from all walks of life.
In strengthening Party organizations, we need to keep a clear focus on the primary level, using Party building initiatives to propel rural revitalization and intensifying Party-building efforts in urban communities. We will guide community-level governance through Party building, keep working to strengthen weak and lax Party organizations at the primary level, and see that primary-level Party organizations play a key role in ensuring the exercise of the Party’s leadership.
Party building will be improved across the board in Party and state offices and will be advanced in public institutions. We will make sure that Party leadership in SOEs and financial firms is strengthened in the process of their improvements to corporate governance. Party building will also be stepped up in mixed-ownership and non-public enterprises. The management systems for Party building in trade associations, academic societies, and chambers of commerce will be improved. Party building efforts will also be enhanced in new types of economic and social organizations and among groups in new forms of employment.
We will pay particular attention to recruiting young people, industrial workers, farmers, and intellectuals into the Party. Training and management will be improved for Party members, especially those among floating populations. We will implement the systems for intraparty democracy, protect Party members’ rights, and motivate them to become role models. At the same time, we must earnestly and prudently handle Party members who do not measure up to standards so as to preserve our Party membership’s advanced nature and integrity.
6. Taking strict steps to improve Party conduct and enforce Party discipline
Good conduct is critical to the survival of a governing party. We must carry forward the proud traditions and venerable conduct of the Party. In doing so, we will encourage Party officials, especially leading officials, to take the lead in conducting in-depth research and studies and to immerse themselves in hard work, take concrete measures, and deliver solid outcomes. We will steadfastly implement the central Party leadership’s eight-point decision on improving conduct and see that leading officials, or the “key few,” set an example for those below them. We will continue to tackle pointless formalities, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, with a focus on the first two. We will resolutely root out privilege-seeking mindsets and behavior. In improving Party conduct, we will identify problems specific to certain areas, sectors, and periods of time, go to great lengths to tackle prevalent and recurrent problems, and make consistent and sustained efforts.
We must make all-around efforts to tighten Party discipline. We will urge leading officials, especially high-ranking ones, to be strict with themselves, earnestly fulfill their responsibilities, and conduct rigorous management within their jurisdictions. Regarding violations of Party discipline, each and every infraction identified must be strictly investigated and handled. We will work in concert to enhance Party consciousness, improve Party conduct, and tighten Party discipline. This will enable Party members to maintain firm ideals and convictions, enhance their Party consciousness, and bolster their resistance to corruption and moral decline. We will foster within our Party members an inner strength to never be corrupted by wealth or power, never deviate from principle even in poverty or humble positions, and never yield to the threat of force.
7. Winning the tough and protracted battle against corruption
Corruption is a cancer to the vitality and ability of the Party, and fighting corruption is the most thorough kind of self-reform there is. As long as the breeding grounds and conditions for corruption still exist, we must keep sounding the bugle and never rest, not even for a minute, in our fight against corruption.
We will continue to take simultaneous, coordinated, and comprehensive steps to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to become corrupt. We must show zero tolerance in opposing corruption and punishing wrongdoing, and we must take more forceful action to both prevent new cases and root out existing ones. We will investigate and deal with corruption that involves both political and economic elements, resolutely prevent leading officials from acting for any interest group or power group, and crack down on any collusion between officials and businesspeople that undermines the political ecosystem or economic development. There must be no mercy for corruption.
We will intensify efforts to uproot corruption in sectors with a high concentration of power, funds, and resources. Firm action will be taken to swat “flies,” or corrupt low-ranking officials, whose misconduct directly affects people’s lives. We will strictly investigate and handle cases of corruption where leading officials’ spouses, children, children’s spouses, other relatives, or staff use their influence to seek personal gain. We will punish both bribe takers and givers and combat new and disguised forms of corruption. We will deepen international cooperation to combat corruption and establish an integrated mechanism for pursuing fugitives, preventing escape, and retrieving stolen assets.
To address both the symptoms and root causes of corruption, we will advance national anti-corruption legislation and promote a culture of integrity in the new era. We will provide education and guidance aimed at strengthening the vigilance of Party members and officials so that they have no desire to engage in corruption and so they live and work with honesty and integrity. We will closely integrate and coordinate harsh punishment, regulation over the exercise of power, and education and guidance, so as to continually secure more institutional achievements and greater efficiency in fighting corruption.
Comrades,
The times are calling us, and the people expect us to deliver. Only by pressing ahead with unwavering commitment and perseverance will we be able to answer the call of our times and meet the expectations of our people.
All of us in the Party must remember: Upholding the Party’s overall leadership is the path we must take to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics; building socialism with Chinese characteristics is the path we must take to realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; striving in unity is the path the Chinese people must take to create great historic achievements; implementing the new development philosophy is the path China must take to grow stronger in the new era; and exercising full and rigorous self-governance is the path the Party must take to maintain its vigor and pass new tests on the road ahead.
We have come to this understanding through many years of practice. It is a conclusion of paramount importance that we must cherish, uphold, and never deviate from. Under its guidance, we will ensure that the great ship of socialism with Chinese characteristics catches the wind, cuts through the waves, and sails steadily into the future.
Unity is strength, and only in unity can we succeed. To build China into a modern socialist country in all respects, we must unleash the tremendous creativity of the Chinese people in their hundreds of millions. All of us in the Party must stay true to our fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly, maintain a people-centered mindset, and carry out the mass line. We must respect the pioneering spirit of our people and ensure that we are acting for the people and relying on the people in everything we do. We must follow the principle of “from the people, to the people,” maintain a close bond with the people, and accept their criticism and oversight. We must breathe the same air as the people, share the same future, and stay truly connected to them. We must strengthen the great unity of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and the great unity of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation at home and abroad. By doing so, we will create a powerful collective force working with one heart and one mind to realize the Chinese Dream.
A nation will prosper only when its young people thrive. China’s young people of today are living in a remarkable time. They have an incomparably broad stage on which to display their full talents, and they have incomparably bright prospects of realizing their dreams.
All of us in the Party should regard our work concerning young people as a matter of strategic significance. We will equip young people with the Party’s theories, inspire them with the Party’s original aspiration and founding mission, and become their confidants, advocates, and guides for the future.
Young people: You should steadfastly follow the Party and its guidance, aim high but stay grounded, and dare to think big and take action but make sure you can deliver. You should strive to be the new era’s great young generation, a generation with ideals, a sense of responsibility, grit, and dedication. As you endeavor to build China into a modern socialist country in all respects, your youth and vitality will bloom in full splendor.
Comrades,
The Party has made spectacular achievements through its great endeavors over the past century, and our new endeavors will surely lead to more spectacular achievements.
Let the whole Party, the entire military, and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups stay closely rallied around the Party Central Committee. Let us keep in mind that empty talk will do nothing for our country; only solid work will make it flourish. Let us maintain firm confidence, unite as one, and forge ahead with resolve. And let us strive in unity to build a modern socialist country in all respects and advance national rejuvenation on all fronts.
