Blockbuster News | Communiqué of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Communiqu é of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC

(Adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC on July 18, 2024)

There are 199 Central Committee members and 165 alternate Central Committee members attending this plenary session. Members of the Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and relevant officials attended the meeting as observers. Some grassroots comrades and experts and scholars from the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China also attended the meeting as observers.

The plenary session is presided over by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.

The plenary session fully affirmed the work of the Central Political Bureau since the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. It is unanimously agreed that in the face of a severe and complex international environment and arduous domestic reform, development, and stability tasks, the Central Political Bureau earnestly implements the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the First and Second Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, fully and accurately implements the new development concept, adheres to the overall work of seeking progress while maintaining stability, coordinates the overall layout of the "Five in One" and the "Four Comprehensives" strategic layout, coordinates the domestic and international situations, coordinates development and security, focuses on promoting high-quality development, further promotes and plans comprehensive deepening reforms, solidly promotes the construction of socialist democracy and rule of law, continuously strengthens propaganda, ideological and cultural work, effectively guarantees people's livelihood and ecological environment protection, resolutely safeguards national security and social stability, effectively promotes national defense and military construction, continues to promote Hong Kong and Macao work and Taiwan Work, Deepen the promotion of major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, consistently promote strict governance of the Party, achieve economic recovery and improvement, and take solid steps towards building a socialist modernized country in all respects.

The plenary session spoke highly of the successful practice and great achievements of comprehensively deepening reform since the new era, studied the issue of further comprehensively deepening reform and promoting Chinese path to modernization, and believed that the current and future period is the key period for comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and national rejuvenation with Chinese path to modernization. Chinese path to modernization is constantly promoted in the reform and opening up, and will certainly open up broad prospects in the reform and opening up. In the face of the complicated international and domestic situations, the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial reform, and the new expectations of the people, we must consciously put reform in a more prominent position, and closely focus on promoting Chinese path to modernization to further comprehensively deepen reform.

To promote the well-being of the people as the starting point and the end result, we should pay more attention to system integration, focus more on priorities, and pay more attention to the effectiveness of reform, so as to better adapt the relations of production to productivity, superstructure and economic foundation, national governance and social development, and provide a strong driving force and institutional guarantee for Chinese path to modernization.

The plenary session pointed out that the overall goal of further comprehensively deepening reform is to continue to improve and develop the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. By 2035, a high-level socialist market economy system will be fully established, the socialist system with Chinese characteristics will be further improved, the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity will be basically achieved, and socialist modernization will be basically realized, laying a solid foundation for the comprehensive construction of a socialist modernized strong country by the middle of this century. We need to focus on building a high-level socialist market economy system, developing people's democracy throughout the entire process, building a socialist cultural power, improving people's quality of life, building a beautiful China, building a higher level of safe China, improving the leadership level and long-term governance capacity of the Party, and continuing to push reform forward. By the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 2029, complete the reform tasks proposed in this decision.

The plenary session emphasized that further comprehensive deepening of reform should summarize and apply the valuable experience of comprehensive deepening reform since the reform and opening up, especially in the new era, and implement the principles of adhering to the Party's comprehensive leadership, putting the people at the center, upholding integrity and innovation, taking institutional construction as the main line, adhering to the rule of law in all aspects, and adhering to a systematic concept.

The plenum proposed that a high-level socialist market economy system is an important guarantee for Chinese path to modernization. We must better leverage the role of market mechanisms, create a more fair and dynamic market environment, optimize resource allocation efficiency and maximize benefits, be both "flexible" and "manageable", better maintain market order, compensate for market failures, smooth the circulation of the national economy, and stimulate the endogenous power and innovation vitality of the whole society. We must unwaveringly consolidate and develop the public ownership economy, encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public ownership economy, ensure that all types of ownership economies use production factors equally in accordance with the law, participate in market competition fairly, and receive equal legal protection, and promote the complementary advantages and common development of all types of ownership economies. To build a unified national market and improve the basic system of market economy.

The plenary session proposed that high-quality development is the primary task for comprehensively building a socialist modernized country. We must lead the reform with the new development concept, base ourselves on the new development stage, deepen the supply side structural reform, improve the incentive and restraint mechanisms for promoting high-quality development, and shape new driving forces and advantages for development. We need to improve the system and mechanism for developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions, promote the deep integration of the real economy and digital economy, improve the system and mechanism for developing the service industry, improve the system and mechanism for modern infrastructure construction, and improve the system for enhancing the resilience and safety level of the industrial and supply chains.

The plenary session proposed that education, science and technology, and talent are the basic and strategic support for Chinese path to modernization. We must deeply implement the strategies of revitalizing the country through science and education, strengthening the country through talent, and promoting innovation driven development. We must coordinate and promote the integrated reform of the education, science, technology, and talent systems and mechanisms, improve the new national system, and enhance the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. We need to deepen the comprehensive reform of education, deepen the reform of the scientific and technological system, and deepen the reform of the talent development system and mechanism.

The plenary session proposed that scientific macroeconomic regulation and effective government governance are inherent requirements for leveraging the advantages of the socialist market economy system. We must improve the macroeconomic regulatory system, coordinate the reform of key areas such as finance, taxation, and banking, and enhance the consistency of macroeconomic policy orientation. We need to improve the national strategic planning system and policy coordination mechanism, deepen the reform of the fiscal and taxation system, deepen the reform of the financial system, and improve the implementation mechanism of regional coordinated development strategy.

The plenary session proposed that the integrated development of urban and rural areas is an inevitable requirement of Chinese path to modernization. We must coordinate the new industrialization, new urbanization, and comprehensive rural revitalization, comprehensively improve the integration level of urban and rural planning, construction, and governance, promote equal exchange and two-way flow of urban and rural factors, narrow the urban-rural gap, and promote common prosperity and development between urban and rural areas. We need to improve the system and mechanism for promoting new urbanization, consolidate and perfect the basic rural management system, improve the support system for strengthening agriculture, benefiting farmers, and enriching farmers, and deepen the reform of the land system.

The plenum proposed that opening up is a distinctive symbol of Chinese path to modernization. We must adhere to the basic national policy of opening up to the outside world, promote reform through opening up, rely on the advantages of China's super large market, enhance our ability to open up in expanding international cooperation, and build a new system of higher-level open economy. We should steadily expand institutional opening up, deepen the reform of the foreign trade system, deepen the reform of the foreign investment and foreign investment management system, optimize the layout of regional opening up, and improve and promote the mechanism of high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road".

The plenum proposed that developing people's democracy throughout the process is the essential requirement of Chinese path to modernization. We must unwaveringly follow the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, adhere to and improve China's fundamental political system, basic political system, and important political system, enrich democratic forms at all levels, and concretely and realistically reflect the people's ownership of the country in all aspects of national political and social life. We need to strengthen the construction of the system of the people being the masters of the country, improve the mechanism of consultative democracy, improve the grassroots democratic system, and perfect the pattern of united front work.

The plenum proposed that the rule of law is an important guarantee for Chinese path to modernization. We must fully implement the Constitution, uphold its authority, coordinate the reform of legislation, law enforcement, judiciary, and compliance, improve the mechanism for ensuring equality before the law, promote the spirit of socialist rule of law, maintain social fairness and justice, and comprehensively promote the legalization of all aspects of national work. We need to deepen the reform in the legislative field, advance the rule of law in administration, improve the mechanism of fair law enforcement and judicial system, perfect the mechanism for promoting the construction of a rule of law society, and strengthen the construction of foreign-related rule of law.

The plenum proposed that Chinese path to modernization is a modernization in which material civilization and spiritual civilization are coordinated. We must enhance cultural confidence, develop advanced socialist culture, promote revolutionary culture, inherit excellent traditional Chinese culture, accelerate adaptation to the rapid development of information technology, cultivate and form a large-scale team of excellent cultural talents, and stimulate the vitality of cultural innovation and creation of the whole nation. We need to improve the responsibility system for ideological work, optimize the supply mechanism of cultural services and cultural products, establish a comprehensive network governance system, and build a more effective international communication system.

The plenum proposed that ensuring and improving people's livelihood in development is a major task of Chinese path to modernization. We must adhere to doing our best and acting within our capabilities, improve the basic public service system, strengthen the construction of inclusive, fundamental, and bottom line livelihood, solve the most concerned, direct, and practical interests of the people, and continuously meet their aspirations for a better life. We need to improve the income distribution system, enhance the employment priority policy, improve the social security system, deepen the reform of the medical and health system, and improve the support and service system for population development.

The plenum proposed that Chinese path to modernization is a modernization in which man and nature coexist in harmony. We must improve the institutional system of ecological civilization, promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth in a coordinated manner, actively respond to climate change, and accelerate the improvement and implementation of the institutional mechanism of the concept that green mountains and clear waters are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver. We need to improve the basic system of ecological civilization, establish a sound ecological environment governance system, and improve the mechanism for green and low-carbon development.

The plenum proposed that national security is an important foundation for Chinese path to modernization to achieve stability and long-term development. We must fully implement the overall national security concept, improve the system and mechanism for safeguarding national security, achieve a positive interaction between high-quality development and high-level security, and effectively ensure the long-term stability of the country. We need to improve the national security system, enhance the public security governance mechanism, improve the social governance system, and improve the foreign-related national security mechanism.

The plenum proposed that the modernization of national defense and the military is an important part of Chinese path to modernization. We must adhere to the absolute leadership of the Party over the people's army, deeply implement the strategy of reforming and strengthening the military, and provide strong guarantees for achieving the centenary goal of building the military as scheduled and basically realizing the modernization of national defense and the military. We need to improve the leadership and management system and mechanism of the People's Liberation Army, deepen the reform of the joint operations system, and deepen cross military and civilian reforms.

The Plenary stressed that the leadership of the Party is the fundamental guarantee for further deepening reform and promoting Chinese path to modernization. We must deeply understand the decisive significance of the "two consolidations", enhance the "four consciousnesses", strengthen the "four confidences", achieve the "two safeguards", maintain a high degree of consciousness of leading social revolution with the Party's self revolution, adhere to the spirit of reform and strict standards in governing the Party, improve the Party's self revolution system and norms, continuously promote the Party's self purification, self-improvement, self reform, and self-improvement, and ensure that the Party always becomes a strong leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must adhere to the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee in further comprehensively deepening reforms, deepen the reform of the Party building system, promote the construction of Party conduct and clean governance, and fight against corruption, and implement reforms with a nail in the nail spirit.

The Plenary stressed that Chinese path to modernization is a modernization that follows the path of peaceful development. We must firmly adhere to an independent and peaceful foreign policy, promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind, practice the common values of all mankind, implement global development initiatives, global security initiatives, and global civilization initiatives, advocate for an equal and orderly multipolarization of the world and inclusive economic globalization, deepen the reform of foreign affairs mechanisms, participate in leading the reform and construction of the global governance system, and firmly safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests.

The plenary session pointed out that studying and implementing the spirit of the plenary session is a major political task for the entire Party and the country in the current and future periods. We must deeply study and understand the spirit of the plenary session, deeply comprehend and grasp the themes, major principles, major measures, and fundamental guarantees for further comprehensive deepening of reform. The whole party should work together to implement the Decision and turn the strategic deployment of further deepening reform into a powerful force to promote Chinese path to modernization.

The plenary session analyzed the current situation and tasks, emphasizing the unwavering commitment to achieving the annual economic and social development goals. We must follow the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee on economic work, implement macro policies, actively expand domestic demand, develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, accelerate the cultivation of new foreign trade drivers, solidly promote green and low-carbon development, effectively guarantee and improve people's livelihoods, and consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation. To summarize and evaluate the implementation of the 14th Five Year Plan, and effectively carry out the preliminary planning work of the 15th Five Year Plan.

The plenary session pointed out that it is necessary to coordinate development and security, implement various measures to prevent and resolve risks in key areas such as real estate, local government debt, and small and medium-sized financial institutions, strictly implement safety production responsibilities, improve monitoring and prevention measures for natural disasters, especially floods, weave a dense social security risk prevention and control network, and effectively maintain social stability. We need to strengthen public opinion guidance and effectively prevent and resolve ideological risks. To effectively respond to external risks and challenges, lead global governance, and proactively shape a favorable external environment.

The plenary session emphasized the need to combine learning, propaganda, and implementation of the spirit of the plenary session, strengthen the Party's innovative theoretical armament, and improve the Party's Marxist level and modernization construction capacity. We must improve the comprehensive and strict governance system of the Party, effectively improve our work style, overcome the stubborn problems of formalism and bureaucracy, continuously reduce the burden on the grassroots, deepen the construction of Party conduct and clean governance, and fight against corruption, and solidly carry out inspection work. To consolidate and expand the achievements of theme education, deepen the study and education of party discipline, maintain the unity and solidarity of the party, and continuously enhance the creativity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness of the party.