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Charting the Course
At a recent plenum, the CPC reviewed the past and looked into the future
By Lu Yan VOL. 13 DECEMBER 2021 ·2021-12-15

A press conference on the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee is held in Beijing on November 12 (XINHUA)

A landmark resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the Communist Party of China (CPC) over the past 100 years was reviewed and adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee held in Beijing from November 8 to 11, according to a communique of the plenary session.

Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made an important speech at the session. The session heard and discussed a work report Xi delivered on behalf of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Xi also explained the draft of the resolution to the session. The session also reviewed and passed a resolution on convening the 20th National Congress of the CPC in the second half of 2022 in Beijing.

Convened at the juncture of transitioning from the nation’s first centenary goal to the second, this plenary session was entrusted with charting a clearer course for the nation’s future.

Since its inception, the CPC has devoted itself to the cause of revitalizing the Chinese nation. The great rejuvenation is divided into two stages, also known as the Two Centenary Goals. The first refers to the completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the centenary of the CPC in 2021, and the second is to transform China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by the centenary of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) founded in 1949. July 1 this year marked the CPC’s 100th anniversary and the nation’s achievement of the first goal. Today, the whole country marches toward the second goal under the Party’s leadership.

Reviewing the past

The CPC’s achievements and its historical experiences over the past century were reviewed at the plenary session, which was held in the year that marks the Party’s centenary.

“Our Party has always attached great importance to reviewing its historical experiences,” said Xi when explaining the considerations on the session agenda. He said reviewing the Party’s century-long journey will help create broader consensus and stronger unity in will and action among all Party members and rally and lead the Chinese people in achieving new and greater success.

The sixth plenary session was attended by members and alternate members of the Central Committee, delegates to the 19th National Party Congress working at the grassroots level, along with a number of experts and scholars.

The 19th CPC Central Committee was elected by the Party’s 19th National Congress in 2017, and will sit until the next national congress is convened in 2022. Each Central Committee usually holds seven plenary sessions during its five-year term, with each plenum having its own work agenda.

Generally speaking, the first plenums are responsible for electing a new central leadership, the second plenums propose the list of candidates for the leadership personnel of the state government, and the third plenums usually make major decisions on economic reform and development. The fourth plenums mainly focus on improvements for Party building and national governance, the main topic of the fifth plenums is the country’s social and economic development via the five-year plans, the sixth plenums address ideological issues, and the seventh plenums prepare documents and procedures for the next Party Congress.

In March this year, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided that the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee should focus on a comprehensive review of the Party’s major achievements and historical experience in its century-long history. To this end, a working group was established to draft the document under the auspices of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau.

Comments and suggestions from Party members and non-Party figures were sought during the drafting process. The drafting group analyzed these opinions and suggestions individually and incorporated as many of them as possible.

The text of the draft resolution was issued on September 6 to select Party members, including retired senior Party officials, for consultation. The opinions of leaders of other political parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and prominent figures without party affiliation, were also sought.

Following multiple discussions and careful consideration, a total of 547 revisions were made to the preliminary draft. The revised draft therefore fully reflects the input of those consulted.

“The whole-process people’s democracy in China not only has a complete set of institutions and procedures but also full participation and practices,” Jiang said. “Through diverse channels, it has ensured that all the people manage state affairs, economic and cultural undertakings and social affairs through various channels and forms per the law,” he added.

Leadership core

The resolution underlined the importance of upholding Xi’s core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the Party as a whole.

“This is the call of the times, the choice of history, and the common will of the people,” said Jiang Jinquan, head of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, at a CPC Central Committee press conference on the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee.

“A collective leadership must have a core. Without a core, no leadership can be strong enough,” late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping once said.

In a speech in 1989, Deng explained that the core of the first generation of collective leadership was Chairman Mao. Because of that core, the “cultural revolution” did not bring down the Party. The Party’s exercise of leadership remained stable during its second generation, with Deng at its core.

In December 1978, due in large part to Deng’s leadership, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee made the historic decision to shift the focus of the Party and the state to economic development and initiated a policy of reform and opening up.

“In a big country like ours with more than 95 million Party members, 56 ethnic groups and 1.4 billion people, it is unthinkable for the Party’s Central Committee and the Party as a whole not to have a core. Nothing could be achieved if that were the case. Only when there is a core, can the Party have strength,” Jiang elaborated.

Building on the achievements of previous central collective leaderships, Xi has been continuing to carry out reforms to lead the country and the people for the better in an increasingly complex world. Under his leadership, progress has been made in various fields.

As part of its self-reform efforts to better serve the people, the CPC has been unswerving in its fight against corruption. Poverty alleviation is also on the top of the agenda. The CPC set the goals that by 2020 it would help lift the nation’s entire rural population out of poverty as defined by the existing standard, and raise all impoverished counties out of poverty. Through the cooperation and active support of the whole Party and all sectors of society across the country, this goal was successfully achieved.

Now, having achieved victory in the anti-poverty fight and the construction of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the country is promoting common prosperity and pursuing green development, key elements in a new era of national rejuvenation.

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