Excerpts of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China (II)
CPC leadership is essential to Chinese socialism
The leadership of the CPC is essential to socialism with Chinese characteristics. The People’s Republic of China is prosperous and strong. It would not exist without the CPC.
To uphold the CPC as the core of the leadership is essential to the future of the Chinese nation. The leadership of the CPC guarantees the position of the people as masters of their own affairs.
We must remain committed to the Party’s core role in exercising overall leadership and coordinating the efforts of all, ensuring that the Party’s guidelines, principles, policies, decisions, and plans are carried out comprehensively and effectively through the system of people’s congresses.
We must support and safeguard the agencies of state power in carrying out their work separately yet concertedly, in accordance with the Constitution and the law.
We must strengthen and improve the Party’s leadership, turn the Party’s views into the will of the state through legal procedures, train candidates recommended by Party organizations to become leaders of agencies of state power, exercise the Party’s leadership over the country and society through agencies of state power, and maintain the authority of both the Party and the state and the unification of the Party and the country under the principle of democratic centralism. (From the speech at the meeting marking the 60th anniversary of the National People’s Congress, Sept. 5, 2014)
Give the people a stronger sense of gain
We should coordinate all reform tasks, implement the reform measures approved at the third and fourth plenary sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee, promote reform under the rule of law and improve the rule of law in the process of reform. We should identify the key targets and hit them, and adopt a series of sound, practical and effective measures that can withstand the test and are accepted by the people. We must handle well the relationship between “the first kilometer” and “the last kilometer” [the initiation and the implementation] of reform, eliminate obstacles in between, prevent nonfeasance, and publicize the highlights of reform plans so as to give the people a stronger sense of gain. (From the speech at the 10th meeting of the Leading Group for Further Reform under the CPC Central Committee, Feb. 27, 2015)
Take action on reform
Reform is part of our great struggle. To implement further allround reform, we must strengthen CPC leadership, be problemoriented, work hard to ensure implementation, and improve our understanding and application of the laws governing reform. We must continue to reform, plan and implement it from an overall perspective, be strong, determined and courageous, review the experience we have accumulated since the 18th National Congress, and make persistent efforts to carry reform through to the end. (From the speech at the 38th meeting of the Leading Group for Further Reform under the CPC Central Committee, Aug. 29, 2017)
Improve the well-being of the people
People’s well-being is inseparable from their daily life. As a hammer drives a nail, we must work hard constantly to improve people’s well-being. We must implement every policy we have approved, one by one and year on year, and do concrete work in responding to people’s demands, letting them see the progress and enjoy the benefits. (From the speech at the deliberation session of the Jilin delegation to the Third Session of the 12th National People’s Congress, Mar. 9, 2015)