The Congress stresses that, with decades of hard work, socialism with Chinese characteristics has crossed the threshold into a new era. This is a new historic juncture in China's development. As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, the principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved into one between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life. This represents a historic shift that affects the whole landscape and that creates many new demands for the work of the Party and the country. Building on continued efforts to sustain development, we must devote great energy to addressing development's imbalances and inadequacies, and push hard to improve the quality and effect of development. With this, we can be better placed to meet the ever-growing economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological needs of our people, and to promote well-rounded human development and all-round social progress.
The Congress stresses that the Party has been presented with the profound question of what kind of socialism with Chinese characteristics the new era requires it to uphold and develop, and how it should go about doing it. In answering this question of an era, our Party has adopted an entirely new perspective to deepen its understanding of the laws that underlie governance by the Communist party, the development of socialism, and the evolution of human society. It has worked hard to undertake theoretical explorations, and has achieved major theoretical innovations, ultimately giving shape to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.
Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era builds on and further enriches Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development. It represents the latest achievement in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context, and encapsulates the practical experience and collective wisdom of our Party and the people. It is an important component of the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and a guide to action for all our members and all the Chinese people as we strive to achieve national rejuvenation. This Thought must be adhered to and steadily developed on a long-term basis.
The Congress highlights the 14 points that form the basic policy underpinning our endeavors to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. They are: Ensure Party leadership over all work; commit to a people-centered approach; continue to comprehensively deepen reform; adopt a new vision for development; see that the people run the country; ensure every dimension of governance is law-based; uphold core socialist values; ensure and improve living standards through development; ensure harmony between human and nature; pursue a holistic approach to national security; uphold absolute Party leadership over the people's forces; uphold the principle of "one country, two systems" and promote national reunification; promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind; and exercise full and rigorous governance over the Party. All our members must fully implement the Party's basic theory, line, and policy so as to better steer the development of the Party and people's cause.
The Congress points out that the period between now and 2020 will be decisive in finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. We must follow the requirements on building this society set out at our 16th, 17th, and 18th National Congresses; focus on priorities, address inadequacies, and shore up points of weakness. We must take tough steps to forestall and defuse major risks, carry out targeted poverty alleviation, and prevent and control pollution, so that the moderately prosperous society we build earns the people's approval and stands the test of time.
The Congress believes that the period between the 19th and the 20th National Congress is the period in which the timeframes of the two centenary goals converge. In this period, not only must we finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieve the first centenary goal; we must also build on this achievement to embark on a new journey toward the second centenary goal of fully building a modern socialist country.
Based on a comprehensive analysis of the international and domestic environments and the conditions for China's development, we have drawn up a two-stage development plan for the period from 2020 to the middle of this century. In the first stage from 2020 to 2035, we will build on the foundation created by the moderately prosperous society with a further 15 years of hard work to see that socialist modernization is basically realized. In the second stage from 2035 to the middle of the 21st century, we will, building on having basically achieved modernization, work hard for a further 15 years and develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful.
The Congress endorses the report's plans for promoting socialist economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological advancement in China. It stresses that we must apply a new vision of development and develop a modernized economy. We should put quality first and give priority to performance, pursue supply-side structural reform as our main task, and work hard for better quality, higher efficiency, and more robust drivers of economic growth through reform. We should accelerate the building of an industrial system that promotes coordinated development of the real economy with technological innovation, modern finance, and human resources, and endeavor to develop an economy with more effective market mechanisms, dynamic micro-entities, and sound macro-regulation. With this we can steadily strengthen the innovation capacity and competitiveness of China's economy. We should further supply-side structural reform, move faster to make China a country of innovators, pursue a rural vitalization strategy and the strategy for coordinated regional development, accelerate efforts to improve the socialist market economy, make new ground in pursuing opening up on all fronts, and strive to achieve better quality, more efficient, fairer, and more sustainable development.
