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Speaker:

Mr. Sun Yeli, spokesperson for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) 

Chairperson:

Mr. Liu Siyang

Date:

Oct. 15, 2022

Liu Siyang:

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, good afternoon.

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will open tomorrow. Today we have invited Mr. Sun Yeli, spokesperson for the 20th CPC National Congress, to brief you on the preparations and the agenda of the congress.

Now, let's give the floor to Mr. Sun for his introduction.

Sun Yeli:

Ladies and gentlemen, comrades and friends, good afternoon.

The 20th CPC National Congress will open at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing at 10 a.m. tomorrow. The congress will last from Oct. 16 to 22. As the spokesperson for the congress, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the Chinese and foreign reporters who are here to cover the congress.

Entrusted by the congress, I would like to brief you on the situation.

The congress will be a meeting of great importance, held at a critical time as the entire Party and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups are embarking on a new journey to build a modern socialist country in all respects and to realize the Second Centenary Goal. The congress will hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, uphold 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. It will comprehensively review the work over the past five years and the great achievements made and valuable experience accumulated over the period since the start of the new era as the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core united and led the entire Party and the whole nation in upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. It will thoroughly analyze the situation both at home and abroad and fully grasp the new requirements for the development of the cause of the Party and the country and new expectations of the people on the new journey in the new era. On this basis, it will formulate programs of action and major policies and make plans and arrangements for the Party and the country's cause from an overall strategic perspective.

The preparatory meeting of the congress was held this afternoon, during which the agenda of the congress was adopted. The main items on the agenda of the congress are as follows: to hear and examine the report of the 19th CPC Central Committee, to examine the work report of the 19th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, to deliberate on and adopt an amendment to the Constitution of the CPC, and to elect the 20th CPC Central Committee and the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

At the preparatory meeting, the list of members of the congress presidium was approved, and the congress will proceed under the leadership of the presidium. A secretariat was set up to handle the affairs of the congress. Comrade Wang Huning was approved as secretary-general of the congress.

After the preparatory meeting, a meeting of the Credentials Committee was held, and the presidium met for the first time. At its meeting, the presidium adopted the working agenda of the congress and created its standing committee.

The preparations for the congress have been completed, and I would like to brief you on them. Preparations for the congress started under the leadership of the Party Central Committee after the Resolution on Convening the 20th CPC National Congress was adopted by the 19th CPC Central Committee at its sixth plenary session in November last year. The preparations focused on the following four areas:

First, drafting the political report to the 20th CPC National Congress. Drafting the report is an important part of the preparations for the congress. The CPC Central Committee attached great importance to the work and set up a group for this purpose. The group was headed by General Secretary Xi Jinping and was comprised of other Party and state leaders, heads of relevant departments and localities, as well as experts and scholars. The group worked under the direct leadership of the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee.

To draft the report, the CPC Central Committee organized thorough surveys and studies. It entrusted 54 organs of the CPC Central Committee and the central government with the task of conducting surveys and research on 26 key topics, and 80 reports were submitted. Relevant central departments also solicited opinions online regarding work on the congress, receiving more than 8.542 million comments. All this laid a solid foundation for drafting the report to the congress.

On July 26, at a seminar for officials at the provincial and ministerial level, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech in which he elaborated on major issues to be covered by the report to the congress. He emphasized that rationally defining the goals, tasks, and major policies for the cause of the Party and the country in the next five years or even longer periods to come is crucial to the further development of the Party and the country's cause, to the future of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to the realization of national rejuvenation. He stressed the need to focus on the Party's central tasks on the new journey in the new era and to put forward new ideas, strategies and measures to advance the Five-sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy in a coordinated way. He called on all of the Chinese people to forge ahead with enterprise and fortitude and work hard together to write a new chapter in building a modern socialist country in all respects.

In drafting the report, democracy was fully practiced and opinions and suggestions from both inside and outside the Party were broadly solicited and incorporated. To facilitate the drafting process, the CPC Central Committee issued a circular to solicit opinions from various sectors on the topics to be included in the report. When the text of the draft report took shape, opinions were sought extensively from more than 4,700 people who had discussions on it. They included members of the 19th CPC Central Committee and the 19th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, delegates to the 19th and 20th CPC national congresses, heads of the Party committees of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, leading Party officials of the Party, government, and military departments at the central level, heads of the Party committees of major units of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force as well as leading Party officials of the people's organizations. General Secretary Xi Jinping chaired five meetings to directly hear opinions and suggestions from various sides. The drafting group also heard opinions of some retired senior Party officials. On Aug. 31, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a meeting to solicit opinions from leaders of other political parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and prominent figures without party affiliation. Many of the opinions sought from both inside and outside the Party were adopted.

During the drafting process, the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee both held multiple meetings to deliberate on the draft. On Oct. 12, the 19th CPC Central Committee discussed and approved the text of the report at its seventh plenary session and decided to formally submit it to the 20th CPC National Congress for examination.

Second, making revisions to the Party Constitution. Another important task of the 20th CPC National Congress is to revise the Party Constitution. It has been a common practice for our Party to make revisions to its Constitution at its national congresses in recognition of the Party's latest innovations in theory and the evolution of practice. The current Party Constitution was revised and adopted at the 12th CPC National Congress in 1982. Starting with the 13th CPC National Congress, appropriate revisions have been made to the Party Constitution at successive national Party congresses. Practice shows that making revisions to the Party Constitution in response to new developments and tasks helps all Party members more earnestly study, observe, apply, and uphold the Party Constitution, and enables the Party Constitution to play a better role in guiding and regulating the Party's work and Party building efforts.

When the Party Central Committee solicited opinions in January about the topics to be included in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, many localities and departments proposed that appropriate revisions be made to the Party Constitution at the congress in recognition of the Party's latest innovations in theory and the evolution of practice and in response to the evolving situation and tasks. The Party Central Committee issued a circular in May this year to solicit opinions on revising the Party Constitution from all localities and departments. The consulted localities and departments submitted written reports in which they expressed agreement that appropriate revisions to the Party Constitution should be made at the 20th CPC National Congress. They also made comments and suggestions for revisions in their reports. Some retired senior Party officials and ordinary Party members also wrote to relevant departments of the Party Central Committee to propose that the Party Constitution be revised.

After taking into account the opinions from all sides, the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee met to discuss the matter and decided that appropriate revisions should be made to the Party Constitution and a Party Constitution revision panel should be set up to carry out this work. It was stressed that in revising the Party Constitution, the major theoretical viewpoints and major strategic thinking set down in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress should be incorporated into the Party Constitution. It was also stressed that the revised Party Constitution should fully embody the latest achievements in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of our times, the new ideas, new thinking, and new strategies on governance the Party Central Committee has developed since the 19th CPC National Congress, and the new experience the Party has gained in its work and Party building, in order to meet the new demands placed on the Party's work and Party building by new developments and tasks.

Acting in accordance with the requirements of the CPC Central Committee, the Party Constitution revision panel conducted an in-depth study of the opinions submitted by all localities and departments and produced a proposal for revisions. The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau and the Political Bureau deliberated over the proposal respectively, after which revisions to the Party Constitution were drafted. On Aug. 4, the texts of the draft revised Party Constitution and the draft report to the 20th CPC National Congress were issued to select Party members for consultation. The Party Constitution revision panel then made careful revisions based on opinions from all sides, and the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau and the Political Bureau held meetings one after the other to review the text of the draft revised Party Constitution. The draft of the revised Party Constitution, which is a product of the collective wisdom of the entire Party, was discussed and approved by the 19th Party Central Committee at its seventh plenary session and will be submitted to the 20th CPC National Congress for deliberation.