Remarks at press conference

Tang Fangyu, deputy director of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and head of the Research Department of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC

Oct. 24, 2022

I would like to share with you my understanding of the important expositions and arrangements on Party building set out in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress.

Our Party has a pivotal role in building China into a modern socialist country in all respects and in advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts, so we must ensure that the Party practices effective self-supervision and full and rigorous self-governance. Our Party is the core force leading the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the backbone of the nation as we respond to challenges. The leadership of the CPC is the greatest strength of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. To accomplish the missions and tasks of the CPC on the new journey of the new era, we must firmly uphold and strengthen the Party's overall leadership, and advance the great new project of Party building in the new era. This requirement is reflected in every part of the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, including the review of achievements and experiences, the analysis of the situation and the environment, the launch of objectives and tasks, and the introduction of policies and measures.

The report has a dedicated section which makes important arrangements on "exercising full and rigorous self-governance and advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era." It stresses upholding and strengthening the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, enhancing cohesion and forging the Party's soul with the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, improving the systems and regulations for the Party's self-reform, cultivating officials capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation, enhancing the political and organizational functions of Party organizations, taking strict steps to improve Party conduct and enforce Party discipline, and winning the tough and protracted battle against corruption.

My understanding is that this section highlights four aspects. The first is the Party's self-reform. To have the courage to carry out self-reform is the most distinctive part of our Party's character, its hallmark, and the second answer to the question of how to escape the historical cycle of rise and fall that the Party has found in its practices of exercising full and rigorous self-governance in the new era. The report fully demonstrates the Party's self-reform spirit, responds to problems, risks and challenges, and stresses that self-reform is a journey to which there is no end. The report sets out targeted tasks and measures for all initiatives of Party building, which focus on comprehensively advancing our efforts to purify, improve, renew, and excel ourselves. The second is the systems for exercising full and rigorous self-governance. Exercising full and rigorous self-governance has been a salient theme of Party building since the 18th CPC National Congress. Strengthening Party leadership is central to the endeavor, full coverage is the foundation, being rigorous is the key, and governance is the most crucial link in the chain. Therefore, full and rigorous Party self-governance needs to be exercised in a systematic manner. The report says that we must meet the overall requirements for Party building in the new era, improve the systems for exercising full and rigorous self-governance, and strengthen overall planning and move forward in a coordinated manner to ensure full and rigorous self-governance in all fields and aspects of Party building. The third is strengthening ourselves politically as the overarching guide for all other initiatives of Party building. The Party's political building is of fundamental importance to the Party. The report stresses that upholding the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee is the highest political principle, and prioritizes "upholding and strengthening the centralized, unified leadership of the Party Central Committee" among tasks for Party building, demonstrating the utmost importance of continuously enhancing the Party's political building on the new journey. The fourth is integrating the Party's ideological work and institution building efforts, which represents an important experience in exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance in the new era. The report urges efforts to strengthen the ideals and convictions of our Party members, and arm the whole Party with the Party's new theories as well as efforts to continue to run the Party with systems and regulations and improve the systems and regulations for the Party's self-reform. By doing so, we hope to bring into full play the guiding role of ideology and the regulatory role of institutions in an integrated, concerted, and mutually reinforcing way. 

After taking into account the opinions from all sides and to act upon the call of Party organizations at all levels and all Party members, the 20th CPC National Congress made appropriate revisions to the Party Constitution to make it 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 national governance the CPC Central Committee has developed since the 19th CPC National Congress, and the new experience the Party has gained in its work and Party building. The revision to the Party Constitution is of great significance in advancing the great new project of Party building in the new era. To study and understand the statements and deployments of the 20th CPC National Congress on Party building, it is necessary to refer both to the report to the congress and to the Party Constitution.

Thank you.