Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism
Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive in Unity to
Build a Modern Socialist Country in All Respects
Full Text Report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China
October 16, 2022
Xi Jinping
PART – IV
the foundational and strategic pillars for building a modern socialist country in all respects. We must regard science and technology as our primary productive force, talent as our primary resource, and innovation as our primary driver of growth. We will fully implement the strategy for invigorating China through science and education, the workforce development strategy, and the innovation-driven development strategy. We will open up new areas and new arenas in development and steadily foster new growth drivers and new strengths.
We will continue to give high priority to the development of education, build China’s self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and rely on talent to pioneer and to propel development. We will speed up work to build a strong educational system, greater scientific and technological strength, and a quality workforce. We will continue efforts to cultivate talent for the Party and the country and comprehensively improve our ability to nurture talent at home. All this will see us producing first-class innovators and attracting the brightest minds from all over.
1. Developing education that meets the people’s expectations
Education is of critical importance to the future of our country and our Party. What kind of people we should cultivate, how, and for whom-these are the fundamental issues that education must address Socialism
The most basic aim of education is to foster virtue. We will fully implement the Party’s educational policy, carry out the basic task of fostering virtue through education, and nurture a new generation of capable young people with sound moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility, and work skills who will fully develop socialism and carry forward the socialist cause.
We will continue to follow a people-centered approach to developing education, move faster to build a high-quality educational system, advance students’ well-rounded development, and promote fairness in education. We will accelerate high-quality, balanced development and urban-rural integration in compulsory education. We will better allocate educational resources across regions, strengthen public-bene?t preschool education and special needs education, ensure the diversified development of senior secondary schools, and improve the financial aid system so it covers students at all stages of schooling.
We will promote collaborative innovation in vocational education, higher education, and continuing education and promote integration between vocational education and general education, between industry and education, and between science and education. We will better establish vocational education as a category in the educational system.
We will do more to develop basic disciplines, emerging disciplines, and interdisciplinary subjects and speed up the development of world-class universities and strong disciplines with Chinese features. We will better guide and regulate the development of private schools.
We will intensify efforts to promote standard spoken and written Chinese. We will advance comprehensive reform in education, strengthen the creation and management of teaching materials, refine the systems for school management and educational assessments, and improve mechanisms for school-family-society collaboration in education.
We will strengthen the professional integrity, conduct, and ability of our teachers, foster public respect for educators, and encourage public support for education. We will promote the digitalization of education and build a society and country of learning where lifelong learning is pursued by all.
2. Improving systems for scientific and technological innovation
Innovation will remain at the heart of China’s modernization drive. We will improve the system in which the Party Central Committee exercises unified leadership over science and technology work. We will improve the new system for mobilizing resources nationwide to make key technological breakthroughs. We will boost China’s strength in strategic science and technology, better allocate innovation resources, and better define the roles of national research institutes, advanced-level research universities, and leading high-tech enterprises to improve their layout.
We will establish a system of national laboratories, coordinate the development of international and regional centers for scientific and technological innovation, enhance basic scientific and technological capacity, and ensure better strategic input from the science and technology sector, so as to boost the overall performance of China’s innovation system.
We will deepen structural scientific and technological reform and reform of the system for appraisal of scientific and technological advances. We will increase investment in science and technology through diverse channels and strengthen legal protection of intellectual property rights, in order to establish a foundational system for all-around innovation. We will nurture a culture of innovation, encourage dedication to science, cultivate fine academic conduct, and foster an enabling environment for innovation.
We will expand science and technology exchanges and cooperation with other countries, cultivate an internationalized environment for research, and create an open and globally-competitive innovation ecosystem.
3. Accelerating the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy
Setting our sights on the global frontiers of science and technology, national economic development, the major needs of the country, and the health and safety of the people, we should speed up efforts to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology.
To meet China’s strategic needs, we will concentrate resources on original and pioneering scientific and technological research to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields. In order to enhance China’s innovation capacity, we will move faster to launch a number of major national projects that are of strategic, big-picture, and long-term importance. We will strengthen basic research, prioritize original innovation, and encourage researchers to engage in free exploration.
To inspire greater creativity, we will invest more effectively in science and technology and advance reform of the mechanisms for the allocation and use of government research funds. We will promote closer enterprise-led collaboration between industries, universities, and research institutes, stay goal-oriented, and promote the industrial application of scientific and technological advances.
We will reinforce the principal role of enterprises in innovation, give full play to the guiding and supporting role of key high-tech enterprises, create an enabling environment for the growth of micro, small, and medium technological enterprises, and promote deeper integration of the innovation, industrial, capital, and talent chains.
4. Implementing the workforce development strategy
Cultivating a large workforce of high-quality talent who have both integrity and professional competence is of critical importance to the long-term development of China and the Chinese nation.
A wealth of talent is vital to the success of a great cause. We should follow the principle of the Party managing talent, and we should respect work, knowledge, talent, and creativity. We will adopt more proactive, open, and effective policies on talent and encourage our talent to love the Party, dedicate themselves to the country and contribute to its cause, and serve the people. We will improve the strategic distribution of human resources and make concerted efforts to cultivate talented people in all fields, so as to create a large, well-structured, and high-quality workforce.
We will move faster to build world hubs for talent and innovation, promote better distribution and balanced development of talent across regions, and strive to build up our comparative strengths in global competition for talent. We will speed up efforts to build a contingent of personnel with expertise of strategic importance and cultivate greater numbers of master scholars, science strategists, first-class scientists and innovation teams, young scientists, outstanding engineers, master craftsmen, and highly-skilled workers.
We will increase international personnel exchanges and make the best use of talent of all types to fully harness their potential. We will further reform the systems and mechanisms for talent development and ensure we value talented people, nurture them, attract them, and put them to good use. No effort should be spared and no rigid boundaries drawn in the endeavor to bring together the best and the brightest from all fields for the cause of the Party and the people.
VI. Advancing Whole-Process People’s Democracy and
Ensuring that the People Run the Country
China is a socialist country of people’s democratic dictatorship under the leadership of the working class based on an alliance of workers and farmers; all power of the state in China belongs to the people. People’s democracy is the lifeblood of socialism, and it is integral to our efforts to build a modern socialist country in all respects. Whole-process people’s democracy is the defining feature of socialist democracy; it is democracy in its broadest, most genuine, and most effective form.
We must firmly stay on the path of socialist political advancement with Chinese characteristics, uphold the unity between Party leadership, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance, and ensure the principal position of the people, so as to give full expression to their will, protect their rights and interests, and spark their creativity.
We will improve the system of institutions through which the people run the country. We will encourage the people’s orderly participation in political affairs and guarantee their ability to engage in democratic elections, consultations, decision-making, management, and oversight in accordance with the law. We will inspire the people’s motivation, initiative, and creativity, so as to consolidate and develop a lively, stable, and united political atmosphere.
1. Strengthening the institutions through which the people run the country
We must uphold and improve our country’s foundational, basic, and important political systems, expand democratic channels, and diversify the forms of democracy, so as to ensure that people participate in various ways in the management of state, economic, cultural, and social affairs in accordance with the law.
We will support and ensure the people’s exercise of state power through people’s congresses, and we will ensure that people’s congresses at all levels are formed through democratic elections, responsible to the people, and subject to their oversight.
We will support and ensure that people’s congresses and their standing committees lawfully exercise the powers of enacting laws, conducting oversight, making decisions, and appointing and removing officials. We will improve the system under which people’s congresses conduct oversight of administrative, supervisory, adjudicatory, and procuratorial organs, and we will uphold the unity, sanctity, and authority of the law.
We will see that deputies to people’s congresses are better able to carry out their work and that they strengthen ties with the general public. We will improve working mechanisms for drawing on public opinion and pooling the wisdom of the people and ensure that local legislative outreach offices are well-run. We will intensify reform and development of trade unions, Chinese Communist Youth League organizations, women’s federations, and other people’s organizations and give full play to their role as bridges connecting the Party and the people. We will follow a Chinese path of human rights development, actively participate in global human rights governance, and promote all-around advancement of human rights.
2. Fully developing consultative democracy
Consultative democracy is an important way by which whole-process people’s democracy is practiced. We will improve the system of consultative democracy, make coordinated efforts to promote consultations carried out by political parties, people’s congresses, government departments, committees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), people’s organizations, communities, and social organizations, and improve various institutional consultative platforms, so as to promote extensive, multilevel, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy.
We will uphold and improve the system of CPC-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation and ensure the integration of Party leadership, the united front, and consultative democracy. We will give play to the CPPCC’s role as a specialized consultative body and see that it coordinates efforts to promote democracy and unity while making proposals on state affairs and building consensus. Improvements will be made to institutions, standards, and procedures to help the CPPCC ensure that in-depth consultations and interactions are conducted, opinions are fully expressed, and broad consensus is built. Efforts will be also made to improve the systems and mechanisms through which CPPCC committees conduct democratic oversight and their members stay engaged with people from various sectors.
3. Actively developing democracy at the primary level
Primary-level democracy is an important manifestation of whole-process people’s democracy. We will improve the mechanism for community-level self-governance under the leadership of primary-level Party organizations, build up the strength of primary-level organizations, and improve the institutional and working systems for direct democracy at the primary level to see that urban and rural communities can more effectively manage, serve, educate, and oversee themselves.
We will increase transparency in government affairs, establish more channels for people from various sectors to participate in community-level governance in an orderly way, and ensure that the people manage public affairs and run public-interest programs at the primary level in accordance with the law.
We will rely wholeheartedly on the working class and improve the system of democratic management in enterprises and public institutions, which takes basic shape in the form of workers’ congresses, so as to protect workers’ lawful rights and interests.
4. Consolidating and developing the broadest possible patriotic united front
The people’s support is of the utmost political importance, and the united front is an effective instrument for rallying the people’s support and pooling their strength. We will build a broad united front to forge great unity and solidarity, and we will encourage all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation to dedicate themselves to realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.
We will leverage the strengths of our country’s new type of socialist political party system. Following the principles of long-term coexistence, mutual oversight, sincerity, and sharing the rough times and the smooth, we will strengthen our Party’s unity and cooperation with other political parties and prominent figures without party affiliation. We will also support other political parties in improving themselves and performing their roles more effectively.
We will, with a focus on forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, continue to take the correct and distinctively Chinese approach to handling ethnic affairs, uphold and improve the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and improve the Party’s work on ethnic affairs, so as to comprehensively promote ethnic unity and progress.
We will remain committed to the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation and provide active guidance to religions so that they can adapt to socialist society. We will strengthen communication with intellectuals who are not Party members on theoretical and political issues and improve our work concerning people from emerging social groups in an effort to provide better political guidance for pursuing common goals.
We will cultivate a cordial and clean relationship between government and business across the board and facilitate the healthy development of the non-public sector and those working Socialism.
We will improve and strengthen our work related to Chinese nationals overseas to give shape to a powerful joint force for advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
VII. Exercising Law-Based Governance on All Fronts
and Advancing the Rule of Law in China
The comprehensive advancement of law-based governance has been a profound revolution in China’s governance. Law-based governance is important for the Party’s success in governing and rejuvenating the country, for the wellbeing of the people, and for the long-term stability of the Party and the country. We must give better play to the role of the rule of law in consolidating foundations, ensuring stable expectations, and delivering long-term benefits, and we must strive to build a modern socialist country in all respects under the rule of law.
We must follow a path of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, develop a Chinese system of socialist rule of law, and establish China as a socialist country under the rule of law. We must, with a focus on protecting and promoting social fairness and justice, pursue coordinated progress in law-based governance, law-based exercise of state power, and law-based government administration and take integrated steps to build a country, government, and society based on the rule of law. We will make all-around efforts to ensure sound legislation, strict law enforcement, impartial administration of justice, and society-wide observance of the law and see that all work of the state is carried out under the rule of law.
1. Improving the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics with the Constitution at its core
Law-based governance and law-based exercise of state power begin with compliance with the Constitution. We must remain firmly committed to leadership of the Party, to the state system of people’s democratic dictatorship, and to the political system of people’s congresses, all of which are mandated by the Constitution. We will better implement the Constitution and conduct constitutional oversight, and we will improve the systems for ensuring full compliance with the Constitution, so as to give better play to the Constitution’s important role in China’s governance and uphold its authority.
We will step up legislation in key, emerging, and foreign-related fields and advance the rule of law in domestic and foreign-related affairs in a coordinated manner, so that good laws are made to promote development and ensure good governance. We will make further headway in making laws in a well-conceived and democratic way and in accordance with the law; we will take coordinated steps to enact, revise, abolish, interpret, and codify laws; and we will see that legislative work is more systematic, holistic, coordinated, and responsive. Improvements will be made to the record and review system for normative documents. We must ensure sound, democratic, and law-based decision-making and fully implement the procedural system for making major decisions.
2. Steadily advancing law-based government administration
Building a law-based government is a key task and major part of comprehensively advancing law-based governance. We will transform government functions, improve the government responsibility system and organizational structure, and establish legal footing for government institutions, functions, powers, procedures, and responsibilities, so as to enhance the efficiency and credibility of government administration. We will deepen reform of public institutions.
With regard to administrative law enforcement, we will advance structural reform to ensure that it is strict, procedure-based, impartial, and civil across the board, and we will intensify it in key areas involving the people’s immediate interests. We will refine law enforcement procedures and the standards for administrative discretion, enhance oversight mechanisms and oversight capacity, and strictly implement responsibility and accountability systems. We will also improve the systems and mechanisms for coordinated law enforcement at the community level.
3. Ensuring strict and impartial administration of justice
An impartial judiciary is the last line of defense for social fairness and justice. We will deepen comprehensive and integrated reform of the judicial system, fully and faithfully enforce judicial accountability, and accelerate the development of a fair, efficient, and authoritative socialist judicial system. We will see that the people feel justice has been served in each and every judicial case.
We will ensure the well-regulated exercise of judicial power and improve the systems and mechanisms that enable public security organs, procuratorates, courts, and administrative agencies for justice to perform their respective functions and to coordinate with and check one another. Checks and oversight on judicial activities will be enhanced to ensure judicial justice. Procuratorial organs will step up legal oversight, and the system of public-interest litigation will be improved.
4. Stepping up efforts to establish the rule of law throughout society
A society based on the rule of law is the foundation on which we can build a country under the rule of law. We will promote socialist rule of law and carry forward fine traditional Chinese legal culture, and we will encourage all our people to truly revere, readily observe, and firmly defend socialist rule of law. We will develop a modern public legal service system that covers both urban and rural populations and carry out intensive activities to raise public awareness of the rule of law. We will advance law-based governance at multiple levels and in multiple areas and enhance the rule of law in social governance. We will see that leading officials play an exemplary role and work hard to make respecting, learning about, observing, and applying the law common practice throughout society.
VIII. Building Cultural Confidence and Strength and Securing
New Successes in Developing Socialist Culture
To build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must develop a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics and be more confident in our culture. In our efforts to turn China into a country with a strong socialist culture, we will focus on upholding socialism with Chinese characteristics, rallying public support, fostering a new generation of young people, developing Chinese culture, and better presenting China to the world. We will develop a sound, people-oriented socialist culture for our nation that embraces modernization, the world, and the future. We will ignite the cultural creativity of the entire nation and build a powerful source of inspiration for realizing national rejuvenation.Socialism
We should uphold the foundational system for ensuring the guiding role of Marxism in the ideological domain. We will ensure that culture serves the people and serves socialism. We will follow the principle of letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, and we will encourage creative transformation and innovative development of traditional Chinese culture. Guided by the core socialist values, we will develop advanced socialist culture, promote revolutionary culture, and carry forward fine traditional Chinese culture. In doing so, we will be well-placed to meet people’s ever-growing intellectual and cultural needs, consolidate a common intellectual foundation for the whole Party and all Chinese people to strive in unity, and continuously grow China’s cultural soft power and the appeal of Chinese culture.
1. Developing a socialist ideology that has the power to unite and inspire the people-Xinhua
(To be Continued)