Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on
Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to
Advance Chinese Modernization
(Adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on July 18, 2024)
In order to implement the strategic plans made at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the 20th CPC Central Committee studied the issue of further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization at its third plenary session. On this basis, it adopted this resolution.
I. Great Significance and Overall Requirements
(1) Importance and necessity
Reform and opening up have been crucial to the cause of the Party and the people, enabling us to catch up with the times in great strides. The third plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee was a landmark event that ushered in a new period: one of reform, opening up, and socialist modernization. The third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee was also of epoch-making significance. It marked the start of a new journey of comprehensively deepening reform in the new era with systematic and holistic plans, thus paving the way for a brand new stage in China's reform and opening up endeavors.
The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has, with great historical initiative, tremendous political courage, and a strong sense of mission, united and led the entire Party, the military, and Chinese people of all ethnic groups in unshackling their thinking and breaking down the barriers erected by vested interests. We have dared to brave uncharted waters, grapple with tough problems, and navigate potential dangers and have worked resolutely to remove institutional obstacles in all areas. As a result, reform has evolved from a variety of trials and breakthroughs limited to certain areas into an integrated drive being advanced across the board. Foundational institutional frameworks have been basically put in place in all sectors, and historic, systemic, and holistic transformations have been achieved in many fields. Overall, we have accomplished the reform tasks set at the third plenary session of the 18th Central Committee and attained our objective of achieving marked results in making all institutions more mature and better-defined by the time of the Party's centennial in 2021. All this has provided strong institutional support for completing the First Centenary Goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and set China on a new journey toward building a modern socialist country in all respects.
The present and the near future constitute a critical period for our endeavor to build a great country and move toward national rejuvenation on all fronts through Chinese modernization. As Chinese modernization has been advanced continuously through reform and opening up, it will surely embrace broader horizons through further reform and opening up. To deal with complex developments both at home and abroad, adapt to the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and live up to the new expectations of our people, it is vital that we continue to advance reform. Advancing reform is essential for upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and modernizing China's system and capacity for governance, for putting the new development philosophy into practice and better adapting to the evolution in the principal contradiction in Chinese society, and for adhering to a people-centered approach to see that the gains of modernization benefit all our people fairly. It is also crucial for responding to major risks and challenges and ensuring steady and sustained progress in the cause of the Party and the country, for promoting the development of a human community with a shared future and winning the strategic initiative amid accelerating global changes of a like not seen in a century, and for further advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era and making our Marxist party stronger. Reform and opening up are an ongoing endeavor rather than a task to be completed. All of us in the Party must consciously give more prominence to reform and further deepen reform comprehensively with a view to advancing Chinese modernization.
(2) Guiding philosophy
We must stay committed to Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development and fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We must thoroughly study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's new ideas, viewpoints, and conclusions on comprehensively deepening reform and fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts. We must adhere to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability and continue to free our minds, seek truth from facts, move with the times, and take a realistic and pragmatic approach, as we work to further unleash and develop the productive forces and tap into and boost the vitality of our society. Keeping in mind both domestic and international imperatives, we will ensure coordinated implementation of the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy. Regarding economic structural reform as the spearhead and greater social fairness and justice and increased wellbeing of the people as our ultimate objectives, we will channel greater energy into making our reforms integrated, focused, and effective. We will work to better adapt the relations of production to the productive forces, the superstructure to the economic base, and national governance to social development so as to provide strong impetus and institutional support for Chinese modernization.
(3) Overall objectives
We will continue to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and modernize China's system and capacity for governance. By 2035, we will have finished building a high-standard socialist market economy in all respects, further improved the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, generally modernized our system and capacity for governance, and basically realized socialist modernization. All of this will lay a solid foundation for building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects by the middle of this century. In particular, we will focus on achieving the following objectives:
—Building a high-standard socialist market economy. We will see that the market plays the decisive role in resource allocation and that the government better fulfills its role. We will uphold and improve China's basic socialist economic systems, achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and promote high-standard opening up. We will build a modernized economy, move faster to create a new pattern of development, and promote high-quality development.
—Advancing whole-process people's democracy. We will uphold the unity between leadership by the Party, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance. We will improve the institutions through which the people run the country, promote extensive, multilevel, and institutionalized development of consultative democracy, and refine the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. We will move to a higher stage in building a socialist country under the rule of law.
—Developing a strong socialist culture in China. We will uphold the foundational system for ensuring the guiding role of Marxism in the ideological domain and improve the institutions and mechanisms for developing cultural programs and industries. We will promote cultural prosperity, enrich the intellectual and cultural lives of our people, and enhance China's cultural soft power and the appeal of Chinese culture.
—Improving the people's quality of life. We will refine the income distribution, employment, and social security systems, make basic public services more balanced and accessible, and facilitate more notable, substantive progress in promoting people's well-rounded development and common prosperity for all.
—Building a Beautiful China. We will ramp up the green transition in all areas of economic and social development and improve the environmental governance system. We will prioritize ecological protection, conserve resources and use them efficiently, and pursue green and low-carbon development, with a view to promoting harmony between humanity and nature.
—Advancing the Peaceful China Initiative to a higher level. We will strengthen the national security system, enhance integration between national strategies, and improve our capacity to safeguard national security. We will create new institutions, mechanisms, and methods for social governance and build a new security architecture.
—Improving the Party's capacity for leadership and long-term governance. We will develop new and improved ways of exercising leadership and governance, deepen institutional reforms related to Party building, and improve the system for exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance.
The reform tasks laid out in this resolution shall be completed by the time the People's Republic of China celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2029.
(4) Guiding principles
On the basis of reviewing and applying the valuable experience we have gained since the launch of reform and opening up, particularly from our endeavor to comprehensively deepen reform in the new era, we will implement the following principles:
Upholding the Party's overall leadership. We must firmly uphold the Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership and ensure that the Party fulfills its core role of exercising overall leadership and coordinating the efforts of all sides. We must ensure that Party leadership is exercised in every aspect and throughout the entire process of reform so that it always advances in the correct political direction.
Adhering to a people-centered approach. We must respect the principal position and pioneering spirit of the people and make our reform measures highly responsive to the call of the people, so as to ensure that reform is for the people and by the people and that its fruits are shared among the people.
Upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground. Staying committed to socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must keep pace with the times, adapt to the evolution of practice, and take a problem-oriented approach, so that from a new starting point, we can promote innovations in theory and practice, in our institutions and culture, and in all other aspects.
Strengthening institutional building as our main task. We must strengthen top-level design and overall planning, always establishing new systems before abolishing old ones while attaching equal importance to efforts in both respects. We must consolidate foundational systems, refine basic systems, and innovate important systems.
Staying committed to law-based governance on all fronts. We must deepen reform and advance Chinese modernization under the rule of law and ensure unity between reform and the rule of law, seeing that all major reforms have a solid legal basis and that reform achievements are elevated to law in a timely manner.
Applying systems thinking. We must properly handle the major relationships between the economy and society, between the government and the market, between efficiency and fairness, between vitality and order, and between development and security, thus pursuing reform in a more systematic, holistic, and coordinated manner.
