URGENCY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF DEEPER REFORM OF PARTY AND STATE INSTITUTIONS

URGENCY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF DEEPER REFORM OF PARTY AND STATE INSTITUTIONS*

February 28, 2018

Since the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, the reform of Party and state institutions has, on the whole, met the needs of the changing times, resolved prominent problems, and delivered positive results each time. Every reform has had a different focus, taken a different form, and set different goals, as appropriate to the context. Some departments have undergone iterated reforms rather than a simple repetition of the previous ones, and have upgraded and improved their institutions in a spiral manner. 

Judging from the evolution of this institutional reform, Party and state institutions, as part of the superstructure, must be compatible with the economic base and serve its needs. As the economy is growing, society is progressing, and the people’s quality of life is improving, the superstructure must adapt itself to the new situation through reform. This is a universal law for social development. The reform of Party and state institutions is an ongoing process that cannot be done once and for all. 

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, in a coordinated effort to implement the Five-sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy, we have strengthened Party leadership, identified problems, focused on key fields, and furthered the reform of Party and state institutions. All this has provided vital support for achieving historic progress and transformation in the undertakings of the Party and the state.

Many of our reform programs, such as those regarding the Party’s leadership and discipline inspection systems, as well as those on the political, legal, judicial and social governance systems, call for the reform of Party and state institutions which in turn could provide organizational support for these reform programs. 

In particular, we have improved the setup of central Party institutions. For example, under the CPC Central Committee we have established the Leading Group for Further Reform, the Commission for National Security, the Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, and the Commission for Integrated Civil-Military Development. We have optimized the discipline inspection institution, dispatching resident inspection teams to ensure a full coverage of discipline inspection, and abolished the International Publicity Office of the CPC Central Committee.

Through deeper and comprehensive reform, we have achieved significant progress in strengthening Party leadership, advancing law-based governance, balancing the relationship between the government and the market, improving the state governance system and capacity, and in other major areas and key links. 

At the same time, we should be aware that some deep-seated institutional problems have yet to be resolved. Some clearly identified problems of great public concern have not been fully resolved for various reasons, and some other problems have not yet been addressed as they have fallen outside the previous institutional reform. 

With the in-depth reform moving forward on all fronts, people from all walks of life in society have offered a wide range of comments and proposals, and have sounded a strong voice for the reform of Party and state institutions. Moreover, to implement the strategic plans laid out at the 19th CPC National Congress in 2017, it is all the more urgent for us to further the reform of Party and state institutions. 

China is a socialist country led by the Communist Party of China. Serving the people wholeheartedly is the fundamental principle of our Party; fulfilling the people’s desire for a better life is what drives us forward. Therefore, we must reorganize and reform institutions based on practical needs to fully leverage the strengths of our socialist system. 

Deeper reform of Party and state institutions is a major element of implementing the guiding principles of the 19th CPC National Congress. It is an important task for upholding and strengthening Party leadership, upholding and improving the Chinese socialist system, and modernizing the state governance system and capacity. It is essential to serving the overall interests of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization. It bears on the success of realizing moderate prosperity in all respects and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. We must have a full understanding of the urgency and significance of deeper reform of Party and state institutions and of implementing relevant reform plans in the context of the new era and from a higher perspective.

First, deeper reform of Party and state institutions is essential to upholding and strengthening the Party’s overall leadership and building up the Party’s capacity for long-term governance. 

The Party exercises overall leadership over every area of endeavor across the country. The Party provides the greatest political leadership for the country, and hence Party leadership is the greatest strength of our Chinese socialist system. Strengthening Party leadership over all spheres of endeavor should not be an empty slogan nor an abstract statement, but must be put into effect in all fields and at all stages of work.

Through deeper reform of Party and state institutions, we aim to achieve the following: to resolve institutional problems in the way of bolstering Party leadership over all undertakings through adjusting the functions of relevant agencies; to better coordinate the functions of Party, government, military and people’s organizations in the state governance system under the Party’s long-term leadership; to provide sound institutional support, lay solid organizational foundations, and create effective working systems for Party leadership to effectively function, which is the greatest strength of Chinese socialism; and to strengthen and improve the system in which the Party exercises leadership over the country and society, so that it can fulfill the weighty responsibility of advancing our great struggle, our great project, and our great cause to realize our great dream. 

Second, deeper reform of Party and state institutions is essential to winning a decisive victory in achieving moderate prosperity in all respects and moving on towards all-round socialist modernization. 

At its 19th National Congress, our Party adopted a strategic plan for developing Chinese socialism in the new era: completing a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, realizing basic socialist modernization by 2035, and building China into a great modern socialist country in all spheres by the mid-21st century. To reach each of these goals, we need to create sound and efficient systems for Party and state governance. 

The current reform of Party and state institutions is timely. At this critical juncture, we must decide on what functional structure of Party and state institutions to build and how to build it to meet the requirements for developing Chinese socialism in the new era. On the one hand, we must take stock of the current situation to plan for the next three years. Focusing on the main obstacles to realizing the First Centenary Goal, we will highlight priorities, address shortcomings, overcome weaknesses, and forestall risks, with the goal of optimizing the functions of Party and state institutions to achieve moderate prosperity in all respects. On the other hand, we must take a long-term view and plan for the next two or three decades. We need to foresee the kind of organizational structures and governance systems that would be required in the long run. Starting from this round of reform, we should consolidate the foundations, erect pillars, and define a framework for realizing the Second Centenary Goal, give priority to addressing institutional issues of long-term significance, and create favorable conditions for shaping a more complete system of Chinese socialism. 

Third, deeper reform of Party and state institutions is essential to adapting China’s development to the new era and overcoming the principal challenge currently facing Chinese society. 

Today, the principal challenge is the gap between imbalanced and insufficient development and the people’s growing expectation for a better life. This has set new requirements for the Party and the state. So in planning the in-depth reform of Party and state institutions, we must have in mind the people’s desire for a better life and focus on pooling resources for a pertinent solution to the principal challenge. 

In this round of reform, we should create a well-functioning institutional setup, design a rational table of functions, enable holistic utilization of staffing resources, and improve systems and mechanisms. We must see to it that the market plays the decisive role in resource allocation, that the government effectively fulfills its functions, and that the market and society are further invigorated. We must gather the strengths of all sectors to resolve imbalances and insufficiencies in development, more efficiently respond to the people’s call for greater democracy, the rule of law, fairness, justice, security, and eco-environmental protection, and promote well-rounded individual development in parallel with all-round social progress. 

Fourth, deeper reform of Party and state institutions is essential to extending comprehensive reform and modernizing the state governance system and capacity. 

Mao Zedong observed, “True, the productive forces, practice and the economic base generally play the principal and decisive role; whoever denies this is not a materialist. But it must also be admitted that in certain conditions, such aspects as the relations of production, theory and the superstructure in turn manifest themselves in the principal and decisive role. When it is impossible for the productive forces to develop without a change in the relations of production, then the change in the relations of production plays the principal and decisive role.” In this sense, deeper reform of Party and state institutions serves as an institutional pillar and anchor for our reform endeavors in all fields.

Currently, we face some pressing and striking problems in our economic and social development, such as insufficiencies in the quality and efficiency of development, in the capacity for innovation, in the efforts to protect the eco-environment, and in the social service system, as well as some weak links in guaranteeing people’s wellbeing, and arduous challenges in advancing law-based governance. These problems are directly or indirectly related to our governance system and capacity. To solve them once and for all, we must improve our systems and institutions and extend reform in the economic, political, cultural, social and eco-environmental spheres. We must move faster to build a full-fledged, procedure-based and well-functioning framework of Party and state institutions.

Through unremitting efforts since the 18th CPC National Congress, the centralized, unified leadership of the Central Committee has been strengthened. All localities and departments have greatly stiffened their commitment to the Four Consciousnesses. Deeper reform has advanced steadily and efficiently on all fronts, the main frameworks of reform in key fields have taken shape, and economic and social development has, by and large, maintained a steady momentum. Judging from all the above progress, the time is ripe for deeper reform of Party and state institutions. 

In promoting this round of reform, we must seize the best moment, implement the guiding principles of the 19th CPC National Congress, and follow the guidance of the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We will develop a full and clear understanding of the new requirements for organizational structures and governance systems as a result of the historic transformation in the undertakings of the Party and the state. We will strengthen overall planning while making breakthroughs in key areas, adopt a holistic approach to reforming Party, government, military and people’s organizations, and conduct institutional reform in a more systematic, holistic and coordinated manner. We must have the resolve to eliminate all long-standing problems and focus on the most prominent ones.

* Part of the speech at the second full assembly of the Third Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)