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CPC Constitution adopts scientific development

— Photo: AFP

Strategic thoughts: Chinese President Hu Jintao addresses the closing session of the 17th Communist Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday.

BEIJING: The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Sunday adopted a resolution to amend the CPC Constitution, enshrining “scientific outlook on development” and other strategic thoughts as enunciated by Party leaders since 2002.

The amendment took effect immediately.

The concept of “scientific outlook on development” is described as a continuation of the important thoughts on development expounded by the three generations of the Party’s Central collective leadership and a concentrated expression of the Marxist outlook on the world. “It is a scientific theory that is in the same line as Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents and keeps up with the times,” reads the resolution, passed unanimously by more than 2,200 delegates at the closing session of the Party Congress on Sunday morning.

“Scientific outlook on development” was proposed by the 16th CPC Central Committee in 2003, against the backdrop of the rapid economic growth and a series of problems including excessive consumption of resources, damage to the environment and a widening gap between the rich and the poor.

“It’s the leading theoretical development since the 16th Party Congress was held in 2002, and constitutes an important part of the theoretical system on building socialism with Chinese characteristics,” says Yan Shuhan, a researcher with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. The scientific outlook theory takes development as its essence, putting people first as its core, comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development as its basic requirement, and overall consideration as its fundamental approach.

Its insertion in the Party Constitution is a clear sign that the Party has laid out a blueprint of development for China for a pretty long time to come, says Prof. Lin Shangli of Fudan University in Shanghai, where the Communist Party of China was founded in 1921.

“In light of the basic reality that China is in the primary stage of socialism, the scientific outlook on development has been formulated to meet new requirements of development by analysing China’s own practice and drawing on the experience of other countries in development,” reads a report delivered by President Hu Jintao on behalf of the 16th CPC Central Committee and passed at the closing session of the Congress on Sunday.

“It will improve the vanguard nature and governance capability of the Party,” says delegate Wang Yongchang from Shaoxing, a city in the rich eastern province of Zhejiang.

The Party incorporating “scientific development” in its Constitution indicates it has maintained a clearer understanding of its mission and objectives, says Prof. Lin, a leading political scientist, who was invited to give a lecture to the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. The amended Constitution underscores harmony as one of the Party’s goals, alongside prosperity, democracy and cultural advancement.

The Constitution now defines the basic objective of the Party as turning China into a “prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious” modern socialist country.

“The new elaboration on harmony is aimed at addressing some deep-seated issues on China’s reform and opening up,” says Liu Yunxian, a researcher with the Executive Leadership Academy in Shanghai’s Pudong New District. The amended Constitution has stated, for the first time, that the Party “unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector”. Since its founding in 1921, the Party has amended its charter 15 times.

“Despite the changes in content, the Party’s nature, tenet and goals have remained the same — and this is where the CPC differs from all other parties,” says Ni Xingxiang, curator of the Shanghai Memorial House of the CPC’s birth site. — Xinhua

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