Press conference on the 20th CPC National Congress

Russian News Agency TASS:

The CPC was established 101 years ago, has governed for 73 years, and has a huge number of members. Does the CPC, as a large political party with a history of over 100 years, feel challenges and pressure? How will it ensure long-term governance?

Sun Yeli:

This indeed is a question that we should always keep in mind. The CPC is a large party with a long history, which has governed for many decades. "How can the CPC avoid the historical cycle of rises and falls" is a question we constantly need to answer. The question was actually raised over 70 years ago. At that time, Comrade Mao Zedong's answer was "let the people supervise the government." Now, based on the Party's centennial struggle, especially the practice in the new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has offered us the second answer — self-reform of the Party.

The spirit of self-reform underpins the Party's ability to maintain its youthful vigor. The Party has emerged from a century of vicissitudes with even greater vitality, the secret to which lies in its commitment to upholding truth, righting errors and its courage to confront problems and reform itself. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has upheld and strengthened the Party's overall leadership, exercised effective self-supervision and practiced full and rigorous self-governance. In particular, relentless efforts have been made to address the Four Malfeasances and to fight corruption. A mix of measures for self-reform was adopted to remove factors detrimental to the Party's advanced nature and integrity, and to eliminate any viruses that would erode its health. A set of norms and institutions have been put in place to allow the Party to purify, improve and reform itself, thus effectively preserving its essence, nature and character.

History tells us that one thrives in adversity but perishes in laxity. We will see things from a long-term, strategic perspective, be mindful of potential dangers and confront all kinds of risks and tests. We will remain steadfast in advancing the Party's self-reform and the great new project of Party building in the new era. The goal is to ensure that the Party always serves as the strong leadership core in the course of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.