Release time:

2024-07-31

Explanation of the “Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Further Deepening Reform in All Respects and Advancing Chinese-style Modernization” Xi Jinping Comrades, On behalf of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, I would like to present an explanation to the plenary session regarding the drafting process of the “Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Further Deepening Reform in All Respects and Advancing Chinese-style Modernization.” I. Considerations for Determining the Agenda of the Plenary Session Planning and deploying reforms around the Party’s central tasks has been a successful experience in leading reform and opening-up. Based on practical experience and current needs, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee has decided that the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee will deliberate on further deepening reform in all respects and advancing Chinese-style modernization. The main considerations are as follows: First, this is urgently needed to unite the people, pool our strengths, and realize the Party’s central task in the new era and on the new journey. Practice has fully demonstrated that during the new period of reform and opening-up and socialist modernization, China has made great strides in catching up with the times thanks to reform and opening-up. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, historic achievements and transformative changes have been realized in the cause of the Party and the country, also owing to reform and opening-up. On the new journey ahead, creating a new landscape in advancing Chinese-style modernization still depends on reform and opening-up. The 20th National Congress of the CPC has set forth the central task of building a strong socialist modern country in all respects and achieving the Second Centenary Goal, comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization. It has elaborated on the distinctive features, essential requirements, and major principles of Chinese-style modernization, and laid out strategic plans for its advancement. To implement these strategic plans and turn the blueprint of Chinese-style modernization into reality, it is fundamental to further deepen reform in all respects, continuously improve institutional mechanisms across all sectors, and provide institutional safeguards for advancing Chinese-style modernization. Second, this is urgently needed to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, we have emphasized institutional development as the central thread, improving systems across the board through comprehensive deepening of reform, thereby making the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics more mature and well-defined, and significantly raising the level of modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, providing robust institutional guarantees for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. At the same time, it must be clearly recognized that perfecting the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a dynamic process that inevitably evolves alongside practical developments. Existing institutions need continuous improvement, while new fields and practices require institutional innovation to fill gaps. In the face of new circumstances and tasks, we must further deepen reform in all respects, continue to refine institutional mechanisms across all sectors, consolidate foundations, leverage strengths, address weaknesses, and strengthen areas of weakness, so as to better translate China’s institutional advantages into effective national governance. Third, this is urgently needed to promote high-quality development and better adapt to the changing principal social contradiction in China. At present, the most prominent issue hindering high-quality development remains unbalanced and inadequate development. For example, the market system is still imperfect, market development is insufficient, the relationship between government and market has not yet been fully rationalized, innovation capacity does not meet the demands of high-quality development, the industrial structure is large but not strong, comprehensive but not refined, critical core technologies remain subject to external control, the agricultural foundation is still unstable, disparities in urban–rural and regional development, as well as income distribution, remain significant, and shortcomings persist in ensuring people’s livelihoods and protecting the ecological environment. In essence, these problems reflect the evolving principal social contradiction—they are issues arising from development itself—and must be addressed through further deepening reform in all respects, tackling them at the institutional and systemic levels. Fourth, this is urgently needed to effectively respond to major risks and challenges and ensure the steady and sustained progress of the Party and the country. Advancing Chinese-style modernization is an entirely new undertaking, and along the way, various contradictions, risks, and challenges are bound to arise. Particularly now, as the world undergoes profound changes unseen in a century—frequent localized conflicts and turmoil, escalating global issues, and mounting external pressure and containment—China’s development has entered a period characterized by both strategic opportunities and risks, with increasing uncertainties and unpredictable factors. Events such as “black swans” and “gray rhinos” may occur at any time. To effectively address these risks and challenges and secure strategic initiative amid intensifying international competition, we must further deepen reform in all respects, using sound institutions to prevent and defuse risks, respond effectively to challenges, create new opportunities amid crises, and open up new prospects amidst changing circumstances. II. The Drafting Process of the Decision In November 2023, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided to establish a drafting group for the documents of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, with me serving as the group leader and comrades Wang Huning, Cai Qi, and Ding Xuexiang as deputy leaders, tasked under the leadership of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau to undertake the drafting work. On December 8, the drafting group held its first plenary meeting, officially launching the drafting process. Over the course of more than seven months, the drafting group conducted in-depth investigations and studies, extensively solicited opinions, carried out specialized deliberations, and repeatedly discussed and revised the draft. During the drafting of the decision, we focused on the following key points: First, we summarized and applied the valuable experiences gained since the launch of reform and opening-up, particularly during the new era of comprehensive deepening of reform, to determine guiding principles and uphold the correct political direction. Second, we closely aligned the planning for further deepening reform in all respects with advancing Chinese-style modernization and implementing the strategic plans adopted at the 20th National Congress of the CPC, maintaining a problem-oriented approach. Third, we prioritized key areas, emphasizing institutional and mechanism reforms, highlighting strategic and overarching major reforms, underscoring the pivotal role of economic system reform, and reinforcing the leading role of reform. Fourth, we put the people first, formulating and advancing reforms based on their overall interests, fundamental interests, and long-term interests. Fifth, we strengthened systematic integration, enhancing holistic planning and coordinated arrangements for reform, ensuring that reforms across different sectors complement one another and operate efficiently together. Throughout the drafting process, we upheld the principles of democracy and pooled wisdom at every stage. On November 27, 2023, the CPC Central Committee issued a notice soliciting opinions from all regions, departments, sectors, and certain cadres and members of the public regarding the agenda of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. Participants unanimously agreed that the decision by the CPC Central Committee to focus on further deepening reform in all respects and advancing Chinese-style modernization at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee demonstrates a firm resolve and a strong sense of mission to carry reform through to the end; it reaffirms the banner and path to be followed in the new era and on the new journey, and holds great and far-reaching significance for advancing the cause of national rejuvenation and building a strong country through Chinese-style modernization. Various regions, departments, and sectors submitted numerous valuable suggestions concerning the theme, framework, and key measures of the document, providing important references for the drafting process. On May 7, 2024, the draft decision was circulated within the Party to solicit opinions from a select group, including senior Party members, leaders of the democratic parties, heads of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and representatives of non-affiliated individuals, as well as relevant enterprises and experts. Feedback indicated unanimous agreement that the draft decision, centered on advancing Chinese-style modernization, outlines strategic measures for further deepening reform in all respects, adheres to the correct political direction, focuses on addressing major institutional and mechanistic issues necessary for realizing Chinese-style modernization, features a clear theme, highlights key priorities, and proposes pragmatic and feasible measures. It serves as a comprehensive mobilization and deployment for advancing reform in all respects—both in breadth and depth—on the new journey ahead, fully reflecting the historical initiative to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to modernize the national governance system and governance capacity, and will undoubtedly provide powerful impetus and institutional support for Chinese-style modernization. At the same time, stakeholders submitted a total of 1,911 amendments and suggestions. The drafting group carefully reviewed these inputs, absorbing as many as possible and making 221 revisions. During the drafting process, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau convened three meetings, and the Political Bureau held two meetings to deliberate and revise the draft, ultimately producing the version submitted for consideration at this plenary session. III. Basic Framework and Main Contents of the Decision Apart from the introduction and conclusion, the decision comprises 15 sections organized into three major parts. The first section constitutes Part One—a general discussion—primarily expounding the significant importance and overall requirements of further deepening reform in all respects and advancing Chinese-style modernization. Sections Two through Fourteen comprise Part Two—detailed discussions—mainly outlining reforms in the economic, political, cultural, social, ecological, national security, defense, and military spheres. Section Fifteen forms Part Three, focusing on strengthening the Party’s leadership over reform, deepening institutional reforms related to Party building, and intensifying efforts to maintain integrity and combat corruption. The content is systematically arranged, with a total of 60 items listed. The decision anchors itself in the goal of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035, with particular emphasis on major reform initiatives for the next five years. Its content exhibits the following salient features: First, it underscores the pivotal role of economic system reform. Deepening economic system reform remains the focal point of further deepening reform in all respects, with the primary tasks being to improve institutional mechanisms conducive to high-quality development, cultivate new drivers and advantages for growth, uphold and implement the principle of “two unwavering commitments,” build a unified national market, and refine the basic institutions of the market economy. Centered on the core issue of properly managing the relationship between government and market, the decision places the establishment of a high-standard socialist market economy at the forefront, laying out specific measures for key areas and critical links in economic system reform. With a view to strengthening the core functions and competitiveness of state-owned enterprises, it calls for enhanced strategic coordination among relevant administrative departments, optimization and structural adjustment of the layout of state-owned economies, and efforts to make state capital and SOEs stronger, better, and larger. In addition, to promote the development of the non-public sector, it proposes enacting a law to foster private-sector development, strengthening legal and judicial protection of property rights, and preventing and correcting interference in economic disputes through administrative or criminal means. It also advocates tightening rigid constraints on fair competition reviews, eliminating regulations and practices that hinder the unified national market and fair competition, and improving systems and rules governing factor markets, among other measures. These steps will better unleash the endogenous dynamism and innovative vitality of the entire society. The decision also lays out measures to improve the institutional mechanisms for promoting high-quality economic development and fostering the emergence of new productive forces. Focusing on developing productive forces characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, it calls for strengthening institutional provisions in emerging fields and new tracks, establishing mechanisms for increasing investment in future industries, using national standards to guide the upgrading and optimization of traditional industries, and encouraging the concentration of advanced production factors toward the development of new productive forces. Furthermore, the decision makes arrangements to improve the macroeconomic governance system. It proposes refining the national strategic planning system and policy coordination mechanisms; coordinating fiscal and tax reforms to increase local financial autonomy, expand local tax bases, appropriately broaden the scope of special bonds issued by local governments, and moderately strengthen central authority while raising the proportion of central government expenditures; improving the positioning and governance of financial institutions, enhancing the function of capital markets in coordinating investment and financing, and perfecting the financial regulatory framework. The decision also addresses the improvement of institutional mechanisms for integrated urban–rural development. It calls for refining the institutional framework for advancing new-type urbanization; consolidating and improving the basic rural operating system; enhancing support systems for strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers, and enriching rural communities; and deepening land system reform. Finally, the decision sets out measures to improve the institutional mechanisms for high-level opening-up. It proposes steadily expanding institutional openness; deepening reforms of the foreign trade system; further reforming the management systems for foreign investment and outbound investment; and optimizing the regional layout of opening-up.Improve and advance the mechanisms for high-quality joint development of the Belt and Road Initiative. Second, emphasis is placed on establishing institutional mechanisms that support comprehensive innovation. The draft decision coordinates and promotes integrated reforms across education, science and technology, and talent systems, stressing the deepening of comprehensive educational reform, the reform of the science and technology system, and the reform of talent development mechanisms, thereby enhancing the overall effectiveness of the national innovation system. In terms of education system reform, it proposes advancing university reforms in a categorized manner, establishing mechanisms for adjusting discipline structures and talent cultivation models guided by scientific and technological development and national strategic needs, and strategically expanding programs in urgently needed disciplines and specialties. It also calls for improving university mechanisms for scientific and technological innovation and increasing the efficiency of translating research outcomes into practical applications. Regarding science and technology system reform, the proposal underscores strengthening the nation’s strategic scientific and technological capabilities, optimizing the positioning and layout of national research institutions, top-tier research universities, and leading technology enterprises, refining the management of science and technology programs, and reinforcing forward-looking and pioneering arrangements in fundamental research, interdisciplinary frontier areas, and key fields. It further emphasizes bolstering the role of enterprises as the main actors in technological innovation, establishing mechanisms to nurture and expand leading technology firms, allowing research-oriented public institutions to adopt more flexible management systems than ordinary public institutions, and exploring enterprise‑style management approaches. Additionally, it calls for deepening reforms to empower researchers with ownership rights over their scientific and technological achievements. As for talent development system reform, the proposal advocates accelerating the building of a national strategic talent pool and elevating the quality of all categories of talent. It seeks to improve mechanisms for identifying, selecting, and cultivating young innovative talents, better safeguarding the treatment and benefits of young scientific and technological personnel, strengthening talent incentive mechanisms, and granting greater autonomy to employing entities while reducing bureaucratic constraints on talent. Moreover, it aims to refine support and guarantee mechanisms for overseas‑recruited talent. Third, the focus is on comprehensive reform. Under the framework of coordinating the “five-sphere integrated plan” and the “four-pronged comprehensive strategy,” the draft decision outlines plans to further deepen reform across the board, comprehensively deploying economic system reform alongside reforms in other sectors. In the areas of democracy and the rule of law, separate measures are laid out to improve the system of whole-process people’s democracy and to refine the socialist rule-of-law system with Chinese characteristics. These include strengthening institutional frameworks for ensuring the people’s role as masters of the country; improving consultative democratic mechanisms; perfecting grassroots democratic systems; and refining the overarching structure of united front work. In addition, the proposal calls for strengthening legislation in key, emerging, and foreign-related fields; establishing sound institutional mechanisms whereby supervisory, public security, procuratorial, judicial, and administrative organs each perform their respective functions while exercising mutual coordination and checks and balances among supervisory, investigative, prosecutorial, adjudicatory, and enforcement powers; and improving mechanisms for advancing the construction of a law-based society. In cultural system reform, with an eye toward promoting modernization that harmoniously integrates material and spiritual civilization, the proposal suggests institutionalizing and normalizing education in ideals and beliefs, improving mechanisms for cultivating, practicing, and creating civilized behavior, optimizing mechanisms for delivering cultural services and products, establishing direct access channels for high-quality cultural resources to the grassroots level, refining the comprehensive governance system for cyberspace, and restructuring international communication frameworks to build a more effective international communication system. With regard to improving the institutional framework for safeguarding and enhancing people’s livelihoods, the proposal calls for refining the income distribution system and regulating income distribution order; optimizing the policy environment for entrepreneurship and employment, supporting and standardizing the development of new forms of employment; improving social security systems for flexibly employed workers, rural migrant workers, and those in new employment forms, and completely abolishing household registration restrictions on participation in social insurance at the place of employment. It also advocates expediting the establishment of a new model for real estate development, fully empowering local governments with autonomous authority over real estate market regulation; deepening medical and healthcare system reform and implementing a health‑first development strategy; and improving the population development support and service system, refining policies and incentive mechanisms to encourage childbirth, and perfecting policy frameworks for developing elderly care services and industries, while steadily and prudently advancing gradual reforms to raise the statutory retirement age based on principles of voluntariness and flexibility. In ecological civilization system reform, the proposal calls for improving the foundational institutional framework of ecological civilization, refining the ecological and environmental governance system, and strengthening mechanisms for green and low‑carbon development. It further advocates implementing regionally differentiated, precise environmental management systems, establishing horizontal ecological compensation mechanisms, enacting fiscal, financial, investment, and pricing policies and standards that support green and low‑carbon development, and accelerating the planning and construction of a new energy system. Fourth, the focus is on balancing development and security. National security serves as a crucial foundation for ensuring the steady and sustained progress of Chinese‑style modernization. The draft decision places the safeguarding of national security in an even more prominent position, proposing the construction of a coordinated and efficient national security protection system centered on modernizing the national security system and capabilities, advancing the technological empowerment of national security, improving the emergency response and support system for major public emergencies, establishing an AI safety regulatory regime, exploring the creation of a unified national population management system, and refining the overall social security prevention and control system to severely punish, in accordance with the law, criminal activities that have drawn strong public concern. Furthermore, it calls for establishing and improving coordination mechanisms for peripheral security work, strengthening mechanisms to counter sanctions, interference, and “long-arm jurisdiction,” refining trade risk prevention and control mechanisms, perfecting the legal and rule‑of‑law implementation framework for foreign‑related laws and regulations, and deepening international cooperation in law enforcement and judicial affairs. Around maintaining…