Translation: The Decision in 2013 of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Certain Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform

Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Certain Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform (Adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on November 12, 2013)

Translated by Nguyen Luong Hai Khoi, The US-Vietnam Research Center, University of Oregon

Original Chinese text on the website of The Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China and Archive. 

Introduction

This volume presents an English translation of the “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform,” adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in November 2013. 

Released by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party early in Xi Jinping’s leadership tenure, with ideas opposed to Xi Jinping’s, this document can be seen as a sign of an internal debate within the CCP about China’s future path at that time.

This 2013 Decision outlined a comprehensive agenda aimed at modernizing China’s governance and economy that we can interpret as an ambitious blueprint for a potential “Deng Xiaoping 2.0”. Its proposals touched upon critical areas, notably emphasizing the “decisive role” of the free market in resource allocation, signaling intentions to build a more independent judicial system under CCP leadership, and acknowledging a role for civil social organizations in governance. This apparent commitment to deepening market-oriented reforms and strengthening legal frameworks fueled speculation, both domestically and internationally, about China’s future trajectory.

However, the subsequent evolution of Chinese politics under Xi Jinping witnessed a marked reversal shift in emphasis. While aspects of the Decision related to economic efficiency were pursued, its more politically liberalizing elements were curtailed or reinterpreted amidst a broader consolidation of Party authority, a reassertion of ideological orthodoxy (“Xi Jinping Thought”), and a prioritization of “national security.” The initial expectations of a broad-based liberalization, arguably implicit in the 2013 Decision, largely dissipated as the political landscape evolved.

Despite its diminished prominence in contemporary official discourse and the clear divergence in policy implementation under Xi Jinping, the 2013 Decision remains a document of profound significance for understanding contemporary China. Its text offers invaluable insight into the strategic thinking, internal debates, and reformist aspirations present within the CCP elite at a pivotal moment. It reveals a comprehensive, alternative vision for China’s development that was formally endorsed, challenging simplistic views of the CCP as ideologically uniform and providing a crucial baseline against which subsequent policy shifts can be measured.

Furthermore, understanding the framework laid out in 2013 is essential for analyzing the internal dynamics of the CCP elite, where loyalty to the current leadership may coexist with differing technocratic or economic philosophies, as seen in figures supporting market mechanisms and technological advancement. 

As observers contemplate China’s long-term trajectory, particularly in a potential post-Xi Jinping era, the principles and pathways articulated in the 2013 Decision may resurface or serve as reference points.

Therefore, accessing and analyzing this foundational document is crucial for policymakers, scholars, and analysts in the West, the Indo-Pacific, and globally who seek a nuanced understanding of China’s complex political economy, the evolution of its governance model, and its potential future directions. This translation is offered to facilitate such critical engagement.

Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Certain Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform (Adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on November 12, 2013)

To implement the strategic plan for comprehensively deepening reform set forth by the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee studied certain major issues concerning comprehensively deepening reform and made the following decision.

I. The Major Significance and Guiding Ideology of Comprehensively Deepening Reform

(1) Reform and opening up is a new great revolution carried out by the Party in leading the people of all ethnic groups across the country under new historical conditions, and it is the most distinct feature of contemporary China. In the thirty-five years since the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, our Party, with enormous political courage, has resolutely advanced reforms of the economic system, political system, cultural system, social system, ecological civilization system, and the Party building system, continuously expanding opening up. The scale of determination, depth of transformation, and breadth of impact have been unprecedented, and the achievements have attracted worldwide attention.

The most significant achievement of reform and opening up is the creation and development of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, providing a powerful impetus and strong guarantee for the socialist modernization drive. Facts have proven that reform and opening up is the crucial choice determining the destiny of contemporary China and an important magic weapon for the cause of the Party and the people to stride forward and catch up with the times.

The development of practice is endless, the emancipation of the mind is endless, and reform and opening up are endless. Facing new situations and new tasks, to fully build a moderately prosperous society, and subsequently build a strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful modern socialist country and realize the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we must comprehensively deepen reform at a new historical starting point, continuously enhancing confidence in the path, theory, and system of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.  

(2) To comprehensively deepen reform, we must hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics; take Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development as our guide; strengthen confidence; build consensus; make coordinated plans; advance synergistically; adhere to the reform direction of the socialist market economy; take promoting social fairness and justice and improving the people’s well-being as the starting point and final goal; further emancipate the mind, liberate and develop social productive forces, and liberate and enhance social vitality; resolutely break down institutional and mechanistic drawbacks in all areas; and strive to open up broader prospects for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The overall goal of comprehensively deepening reform is to improve and develop the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. We must pay greater attention to the systemic, holistic, and synergistic nature of reforms; accelerate the development of the socialist market economy, democratic politics, advanced culture, harmonious society, and ecological civilization; let the vitality of all labor, knowledge, technology, management, and capital fully burst forth; let all sources of social wealth fully flow; and let the fruits of development benefit all people more fully and equitably.

Closely focusing on enabling the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation, we must deepen economic system reform, adhere to and improve the basic economic system, accelerate the improvement of the modern market system, macro-control system, and open economic system, accelerate the transformation of the economic development model, accelerate the building of an innovative nation, and promote more efficient, more equitable, and more sustainable economic development.

Closely focusing on upholding the organic unity of the Party’s leadership, the people being masters of the country, and governance according to law, we must deepen political system reform, accelerate the advancement of the institutionalization, standardization, and proceduralization of socialist democratic politics, build a socialist country under the rule of law, and develop broader, fuller, and more robust people’s democracy.

Closely focusing on building the socialist core value system and a strong socialist cultural nation, we must deepen cultural system reform, accelerate the improvement of the cultural management system and cultural production and operation mechanisms, establish and improve the modern public cultural service system and the modern cultural market system, and promote the great development and prosperity of socialist culture.

Closely focusing on better guaranteeing and improving people’s livelihood and promoting social fairness and justice, we must deepen social system reform, reform the income distribution system, promote common prosperity, advance institutional innovation in the social sphere, promote the equalization of basic public services, accelerate the formation of a scientific and effective social governance system, and ensure that society is both full of vitality and harmonious and orderly.

Closely focusing on building a Beautiful China, we must deepen the reform of the ecological civilization system, accelerate the establishment of ecological civilization institutions, strengthen systems and mechanisms for territorial space development, resource conservation and utilization, and ecological and environmental protection, and promote the formation of a new pattern of modernization featuring harmonious development between humans and nature.

Closely focusing on improving the level of scientific, democratic, and law-based governance, we must deepen the reform of the Party building system, strengthen the construction of democratic centralism, improve the Party’s leadership system and governance methods, maintain the Party’s advanced nature and purity, and provide a strong political guarantee for reform, opening up, and socialist modernization.

(3) To comprehensively deepen reform, we must base ourselves on the fundamental reality that our country is still and will long remain in the primary stage of socialism, adhere to the major strategic judgment that development remains the key to solving all problems in our country, focus on economic construction, leverage the traction role of economic system reform, promote the adaptation of the relations of production to the productive forces and the superstructure to the economic base, and promote sustained and healthy economic and social development.

Economic system reform is the priority of comprehensively deepening reform, and the core issue is to handle well the relationship between the government and the market, letting the market play the decisive role in resource allocation and better playing the government’s role. Market determination of resource allocation is a general law of the market economy, and improving the socialist market economy system must follow this law, focusing on solving problems such as an incomplete market system, excessive government intervention, and inadequate regulation.  

We must proactively and steadily advance market-oriented reform in breadth and depth, substantially reduce direct government allocation of resources, and promote resource allocation based on market rules, market prices, and market competition to achieve maximum benefit and optimal efficiency. The government’s responsibilities and roles are mainly to maintain macroeconomic stability, strengthen and optimize public services, ensure fair competition, strengthen market supervision, maintain market order, promote sustainable development, promote common prosperity, and make up for market failures.  

(4) The successful practice of reform and opening up has provided important experience for comprehensively deepening reform, which must be adhered to for the long term. Most importantly: uphold Party leadership, implement the Party’s basic line, neither tread the closed and rigid old path, nor the evil path of changing banners, firmly adhere to the road of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, and always ensure the correct direction of reform; uphold emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, advancing with the times, and being pragmatic, proceed from reality in all matters, summarize successful domestic practices, draw on beneficial foreign experiences, and be brave in promoting theoretical and practical innovation; uphold putting people first, respect the principal position of the people, give play to the pioneering spirit of the masses, rely closely on the people to promote reform, and promote the all-around development of the person; uphold correctly handling the relationship between reform, development, and stability, be bold and take steady steps, combine top-level design with crossing the river by feeling the stones, promote overall advancement and key breakthroughs in tandem, improve the scientific nature of reform decision-making, broadly build consensus, and form a joint force for reform.

Currently, our country’s development has entered a new stage, and reform has entered a critical phase and a deep-water zone. We must, with a strong sense of historical mission, concentrate the wisdom of the entire Party and society to the greatest extent, mobilize all positive factors to the greatest extent, dare to chew hard bones, dare to wade through dangerous shoals, and with greater determination break through the constraints of outdated ideas and overcome the barriers of vested interests, promoting the self-improvement and development of the system of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

By 2020, decisive results will be achieved in reform in important areas and key links, the reform tasks proposed in this Decision will be completed, a system framework that is systematically complete, scientifically standardized, and effectively operating will be formed, making systems in all aspects more mature and finalized. 

II. Uphold and Improve the Basic Economic System

The basic economic system, with public ownership as the mainstay and diverse forms of ownership developing together, is an important pillar of the system of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and the foundation of the socialist market economy system. Both the public sector economy and the non-public sector economy are important components of the socialist market economy and important foundations for our country’s economic and social development. We must unswervingly consolidate and develop the public sector economy, uphold the mainstay status of public ownership, give play to the leading role of the state-owned economy, and continuously enhance the vitality, control, and influence of the state-owned economy. We must unswervingly encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public sector economy, stimulating the vitality and creativity of the non-public sector economy.  

5) Improve the property rights protection system. Property rights are the core of ownership. Improve the modern property rights system with clear ownership, clear rights and responsibilities, strict protection, and smooth circulation. The property rights of the public economy are inviolable, and the property rights of the non-public economy are also inviolable.

The state protects the property rights and legitimate interests of various ownership economies, ensures that various ownership economies use production factors equally in accordance with the law, participate in market competition openly, fairly and impartially, and are equally protected by law, and supervises various ownership economies in accordance with the law.

(6) Actively develop the mixed-ownership economy. The mixed-ownership economy, featuring cross-shareholding and mutual integration of state-owned capital, collective capital, non-public capital, etc., is an important realization form of the basic economic system. It is conducive to amplifying the functions of state-owned capital, preserving and increasing its value, enhancing its competitiveness, and conducive to various forms of ownership capital complementing each other’s strengths, promoting mutual development, and achieving common development. Allow more state-owned economy and other forms of ownership economy to develop into mixed-ownership economy. Allow non-state-owned capital to participate as shareholders in state-owned capital investment projects. Allow mixed-ownership economy enterprises to implement employee stock ownership, forming a community of shared interests between capital owners and laborers.

Improve the state-owned asset management system, focusing on managing capital to strengthen state-owned asset supervision, reform the state capital authorized operation system, establish several state capital operating companies, and support qualified state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to restructure into state capital investment companies. State capital investment and operation should serve national strategic goals, invest more in important industries and key areas related to national security and the lifeline of the national economy, focus on providing public services, developing important forward-looking strategic industries, protecting the ecological environment, supporting scientific and technological progress, and ensuring national security.  

Transfer part of state-owned capital to replenish social security funds. Improve the state capital management budget system, increase the proportion of state capital gains submitted to public finance, raising it to 30 percent by 2020, using more to ensure and improve people’s livelihood.

(7) Promote state-owned enterprises to improve the modern enterprise system. SOEs belong to the whole people and are an important force for advancing national modernization and ensuring the common interests of the people. SOEs have generally integrated with the market economy, but must adapt to the new situation of marketization and internationalization. Focusing on standardizing operational decision-making, preserving and increasing asset value, participating fairly in competition, improving enterprise efficiency, enhancing enterprise vitality, and undertaking social responsibility, we will further deepen SOE reform.

Accurately define the functions of different SOEs. State capital will increase investment in public welfare enterprises, making greater contributions in providing public services. For natural monopoly industries where state capital continues to hold controlling stakes, reforms mainly featuring the separation of government functions from enterprise management, separation of government functions from state asset ownership, franchise operations, and government regulation will be implemented. Based on the characteristics of different industries, the separation of network operations from transport services and opening up competitive businesses will be carried out, promoting the market-based allocation of public resources. Further break down various forms of administrative monopoly.

Improve the corporate legal person governance structure featuring coordinated operation and effective checks and balances. Establish a professional manager system to better leverage the role of entrepreneurs. Deepen the institutional reform within enterprises allowing management personnel to be promoted or demoted, employees to be hired or dismissed, and incomes to rise or fall. Establish long-term incentive and constraint mechanisms, and strengthen accountability for SOE operational and investment responsibilities. Explore advancing the disclosure of major information such as SOE financial budgets.

SOEs should reasonably increase the proportion of market-based recruitment, reasonably determine and strictly regulate the salary levels, positional benefits, positional consumption, and business consumption of SOE management personnel.

(8) Support the healthy development of the non-public sector economy. The non-public sector economy plays an important role in supporting growth, promoting innovation, expanding employment, and increasing tax revenue. Uphold equality of rights, opportunities, and rules, abolish various forms of unreasonable regulations against the non-public sector economy, eliminate various hidden barriers, and formulate specific measures for non-public enterprises to enter franchised domains.  

Encourage non-public enterprises to participate in SOE reform, encourage the development of mixed-ownership enterprises controlled by non-public capital, and encourage qualified private enterprises to establish modern enterprise systems.

III. Accelerate the Improvement of the Modern Market System

Building a unified, open, competitive, and orderly market system is the foundation for the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation. We must accelerate the formation of a modern market system where enterprises operate autonomously and compete fairly, consumers choose freely and consume autonomously, and goods and factors flow freely and are exchanged equally, focusing on clearing market barriers and improving the efficiency and fairness of resource allocation.

(9) Establish fair, open, and transparent market rules. Implement a unified market access system. Based on a negative list, various market entities can依法 enter fields outside the list equally. Explore the management model of pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list for foreign investment. Facilitate the business registration system, reduce qualification accreditation items, change from requiring permits before licenses to licenses before permits, and gradually change the paid-in capital registration system to a subscribed capital registration system. Reform the domestic trade circulation system and build a law-based business environment.  

Reform the market supervision system, implement unified market supervision, clean up and abolish various regulations and practices that hinder the national unified market and fair competition, strictly prohibit and punish various acts of illegally implementing preferential policies, oppose local protectionism, and oppose monopoly and unfair competition. Establish and improve the social credit system, commending integrity and punishing dishonesty. Improve the market-based exit mechanism featuring survival of the fittest, and perfect the enterprise bankruptcy system.

(10) Improve the mechanism for prices to be primarily determined by the market. Anything whose price can be formed by the market should be left to the market, and the government should not intervene improperly. Advance price reforms in fields such as water, oil, natural gas, electricity, transportation, and telecommunications, and liberalize prices in competitive links. The scope of government pricing should mainly be limited to important public utilities, public welfare services, and network-type natural monopolies, increasing transparency and accepting social supervision. Improve the agricultural product price formation mechanism, emphasizing the role of the market in forming prices.

(11) Establish a unified urban-rural market for construction land. On the premise of complying with planning and usage controls, allow the transfer, lease, and shareholding investment of rural collective operating construction land, implementing the same entry into the market, same rights, and same price as state-owned land. Narrow the scope of land expropriation, standardize expropriation procedures, and improve the reasonable, standardized, and diversified safeguard mechanisms for farmers whose land is expropriated. Expand the scope of compensated use of state-owned land and reduce the allocation of land for non-public-welfare purposes. Establish a land value appreciation gains distribution mechanism that considers the interests of the state, the collective, and the individual, reasonably increasing individual income. Improve the secondary market for land leasing, transfer, and mortgage.

(12) Improve the financial market system. Expand the opening of the financial industry both domestically and externally. Under the premise of strengthened supervision, allow qualified private capital to依法 initiate the establishment of small and medium-sized banks and other financial institutions. Advance the reform of policy financial institutions. Improve the multi-level capital market system, advance the reform of the stock issuance registration system, promote equity financing through multiple channels, develop and standardize the bond market, and increase the proportion of direct financing. Improve the insurance economic compensation mechanism and establish a catastrophe insurance system. Develop inclusive finance. Encourage financial innovation, enriching financial market levels and products.  

Improve the market-based mechanism for forming the RMB exchange rate, accelerate the advancement of interest rate liberalization, and improve the government bond yield curve that reflects market supply and demand relationships. Promote the two-way opening of the capital market, orderly increase the convertibility of cross-border capital and financial transactions, establish and improve the foreign debt and capital flow management system under the macro-prudential management framework, and accelerate the realization of RMB capital account convertibility.  

Implement financial regulatory reform measures and prudential standards, improve the regulatory coordination mechanism, and define the financial regulatory responsibilities and risk disposal responsibilities of the central and local governments. Establish a deposit insurance system and improve the market-based exit mechanism for financial institutions. Strengthen financial infrastructure construction, ensuring the safe and efficient operation and overall stability of the financial market.

(13) Deepen the reform of the science and technology system. Establish and improve systems and mechanisms that encourage original innovation, integrated innovation, and re-innovation after introduction, digestion, and absorption. Improve the market-oriented mechanism for technological innovation, allowing the market to guide the direction of technological R&D, route selection, factor prices, and the allocation of various innovation elements. Establish a synergistic innovation mechanism combining industry, academia, and research institutes, strengthen the principal position of enterprises in technological innovation, leverage the backbone role of large enterprises in innovation, stimulate the innovation vitality of small and medium-sized enterprises, advance the market-oriented and enterprise-based reform of applied technology R&D institutions, and build a national innovation system.

Strengthen the application and protection of intellectual property rights, improve the incentive mechanism for technological innovation, and explore the establishment of intellectual property courts. Break administrative dominance and departmental segmentation, establishing a mechanism where the market primarily determines technological innovation projects and funding allocation, and evaluates results. Develop the technology market, improve the technology transfer mechanism, improve financing conditions for technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, perfect the venture capital mechanism, innovate business models, and promote the capitalization and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements.  

Integrate science and technology planning and resources, and improve the government support mechanism for basic, strategic, and cutting-edge scientific research and generic technology research. Major national scientific research infrastructure that should be open according to regulations must be open to society. Establish an innovation survey system and innovation reporting system, constructing an open and transparent national scientific research resource management and project evaluation mechanism.  

Reform the selection and management system for academicians, optimize disciplinary distribution, increase the proportion of young and middle-aged talent, and implement retirement and exit systems for academicians.

IV. Accelerate the Transformation of Government Functions

Scientific macro-control and effective government governance are inherent requirements for leveraging the advantages of the socialist market economy system. We must earnestly transform government functions, deepen the reform of the administrative system, innovate administrative management methods, enhance government credibility and execution capacity, and build a law-based government and a service-oriented government.  

(14) Improve the macro-control system. The main tasks of macro-control are to maintain the balance of the economic aggregate, promote the coordination of major economic structures and the optimization of productivity layout, mitigate the impact of economic cycle fluctuations, prevent regional and systemic risks, stabilize market expectations, and achieve sustained and healthy economic development. Improve the macro-control system guided by national development strategies and plans, with fiscal policy and monetary policy as the main tools, promote the institutionalization of macro-control target setting and policy tool application, strengthen the coordination and cooperation between fiscal policy, monetary policy, and industrial, price, and other policy tools, improve the level of discretionary decision-making, and enhance the foresight, targetedness, and coordination of macro-control. Form a mechanism for participating in international macroeconomic policy coordination and promote the improvement of the international economic governance structure.

Deepen the reform of the investment system and establish the principal position of enterprises in investment. For enterprise investment projects, except for those related to national security and ecological security, involving major national productivity layout, strategic resource development, and major public interests, enterprises shall make decisions independently according to law and regulations, and the government will no longer approve them. Strengthen market access standards such as energy saving, land saving, water saving, environment, technology, and safety, and establish and improve a long-term mechanism for preventing and resolving overcapacity.

Improve the performance assessment and evaluation system for development achievements, correct the bias of judging political performance solely based on economic growth speed, increase the weight of indicators such as resource consumption, environmental damage, ecological benefits, overcapacity, scientific and technological innovation, production safety, and new debt, and pay more attention to labor employment, resident income, social security, and people’s health status. Accelerate the establishment of a unified national economic accounting system, compile national and local balance sheets, establish a unified platform for basic data such as real estate and credit across the whole society, and promote information sharing among departments.

(15) Fully and correctly perform government functions. Further streamline administration and delegate power, deepen the reform of the administrative approval system, minimize the central government’s management of micro-affairs, cancel approvals for all economic activities that can be effectively regulated by market mechanisms, and standardize management and improve efficiency for retained administrative approval items; economic and social matters that are directly oriented towards the grassroots, large in volume and scope, and more convenient and effective when managed locally, shall all be delegated to local and grassroots management.

The government should strengthen the formulation and implementation of development strategies, plans, policies, standards, etc., strengthen the supervision of market activities, and strengthen the provision of various public services. Strengthen the macro-control responsibilities and capabilities of the central government, and strengthen the responsibilities of local governments in public services, market supervision, social management, environmental protection, etc. Promote government purchasing of services; for all transactional management services, competitive mechanisms should, in principle, be introduced, purchasing from society through contracts, delegation, etc.

Accelerate the classified reform of public institutions, increase government purchasing of public services, promote the rationalization of relationships between public institutions and their competent departments and de-administration, create conditions to gradually cancel the administrative ranks of units such as schools, research institutes, and hospitals. Establish a corporate governance structure for public institutions, and promote the transformation of qualified public institutions into enterprises or social organizations. Establish a unified registration and management system for all types of public institutions.

(16) Optimize the government organizational structure. Transforming government functions must deepen institutional reform. Optimize government institutional setup, functional allocation, and work processes, and improve the administrative operating mechanism where decision-making power, executive power, and supervisory power are both mutually constraining and mutually coordinated. Implement strict performance management, emphasize responsibility implementation, and ensure that authority and responsibility are consistent.

Coordinate the institutional reform of the Party, government, and mass organizations, and rationalize departmental responsibilities. Actively and steadily implement the large department system. Optimize the setup of administrative divisions, and explore promoting the reform of the system where provinces directly administer counties (cities) in places where conditions permit. Strictly control institutional staffing, strictly equip leading cadres according to stipulated positions, reduce the number of institutions and leading positions, and strictly control the total number of personnel supported by public finance. Promote the scientific, standardized, and law-based management of institutional setup and staffing.

V. Deepen Fiscal and Taxation System Reform

Finance is the foundation and important pillar of national governance, and a scientific fiscal and taxation system is the institutional guarantee for optimizing resource allocation, maintaining market unity, promoting social fairness, and achieving long-term national stability. We must improve legislation, clarify powers of office and expenditure responsibilities, reform the tax system, stabilize the tax burden, make budgets transparent, improve efficiency, establish a modern fiscal system, and mobilize the initiative of both the central and local authorities.  

(17) Improve the budget management system. Implement a comprehensive, standardized, open, and transparent budget system. The focus of budget review will shift from the balance status and deficit scale to the expenditure budget and policy. Clean up and standardize matters linking key expenditures to the growth rate of fiscal revenue and expenditure or gross domestic product; generally, linking methods should not be adopted. Establish a mechanism for cross-year budget balancing, establish an accrual-based government comprehensive financial reporting system, and establish a standardized and reasonable central and local government debt management and risk warning mechanism.

Improve the growth mechanism for general transfer payments, focusing on increasing transfer payments to old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, and impoverished areas. Funding gaps created at the local level by central government policies that increase expenditure should, in principle, be adjusted through general transfer payments. Clean up, integrate, and standardize special transfer payment projects, gradually cancel special projects in competitive fields and local counterpart funding requirements, strictly control guiding, relief, and emergency special projects, screen retained special projects, and classify those belonging to local affairs into general transfer payments.

(18) Improve the tax system. Deepen the reform of the tax system, improve the local tax system, and gradually increase the proportion of direct taxes. Advance VAT reform and appropriately simplify tax rates. Adjust the scope, links, and rates of consumption tax collection, bringing high-energy-consuming, high-polluting products and some high-end consumer goods into the scope of collection. Gradually establish an individual income tax system that combines comprehensive and classified elements. Accelerate property tax legislation and advance reform in a timely manner, accelerate resource tax reform, and promote the reform of environmental protection fees into taxes.

In accordance with the principles of a unified tax system, fair tax burden, and promoting fair competition, strengthen the standardized management of tax preferences, especially regional tax preference policies. Tax preference policies shall be uniformly stipulated by specific tax laws and regulations, and existing tax preference policies shall be cleaned up and standardized. Improve the national and local tax collection and administration systems.

(19) Establish a system where powers of office and expenditure responsibilities are commensurate. Appropriately strengthen central powers of office and expenditure responsibilities, with national defense, foreign affairs, national security, and matters related to national unified market rules and management designated as central powers; some social security, construction and maintenance of major cross-regional projects, etc., designated as joint central and local powers, gradually rationalizing the relationship of powers; regional public services designated as local powers. Central and local governments shall correspondingly undertake and share expenditure responsibilities according to the division of powers. The central government may entrust some expenditure responsibilities related to its powers to local governments through transfer payments. For cross-regional public services with significant impacts on other regions, the central government shall bear a portion of the local expenditure responsibility through transfer payments.

Maintain the overall stability of the existing central and local fiscal resource pattern, and in conjunction with tax system reform, considering the attributes of tax types, further rationalize the division of revenue between central and local authorities.

VI. Improve Systems and Mechanisms for Integrated Urban-Rural Development

The urban-rural dual structure is the main obstacle restricting integrated urban-rural development. We must improve systems and mechanisms to form a new type of worker-peasant and urban-rural relationship featuring industry promoting agriculture, cities leading the countryside, mutual benefit between workers and peasants, and urban-rural integration, allowing the broad masses of farmers to participate equally in the modernization process and jointly share the fruits of modernization.

20) Accelerate the construction of a new agricultural management system. Adhere to the fundamental position of family management in agriculture, and promote the innovation of agricultural management methods such as family management, collective management, cooperative management, and enterprise management. Adhere to the collective ownership of rural land, protect farmers’ land contracting and management rights in accordance with the law, and develop and strengthen the collective economy. Stabilize rural land contracting relations and keep them unchanged for a long time. Under the premise of adhering to and improving the strictest arable land protection system, give farmers the right to occupy, use, benefit, transfer and mortgage and guarantee the contracting and management rights of contracted land, and allow farmers to use contracting and management rights to invest in the development of agricultural industrialization. Encourage the transfer of contracting and management rights to professional households, family farms, farmers’ cooperatives, and agricultural enterprises in the open market, and develop various forms of large-scale operations.

Encourage the development of cooperative economy in rural areas, support the development of large-scale, specialized, and modern operations, allow fiscal project funds to be directly invested in cooperatives that meet the conditions, allow assets formed by fiscal subsidies to be transferred to cooperatives for holding and management, and allow cooperatives to carry out credit cooperation. Encourage and guide industrial and commercial capital to develop modern breeding and farming suitable for enterprise management in rural areas, and introduce modern production factors and business models into agriculture.

(21) Grant farmers more property rights. Protect the rights of members of farmers’ collective economic organizations, actively develop farmers’ shareholding cooperation, and grant farmers the right to possession, income, paid withdrawal, mortgage, guarantee, and inheritance of collective asset shares. Protect the usufruct rights of farmers’ homesteads, reform and improve the rural homestead system, select a number of pilot projects, carefully and steadily promote the mortgage, guarantee, and transfer of farmers’ housing property rights, and explore channels for farmers to increase property income. Establish a rural property rights transfer transaction market and promote the open, fair, and standardized operation of rural property rights transfer transactions.

(22) Promote the equal exchange of urban and rural factors and the balanced allocation of public resources. Protect farmers’ rights related to production factors, ensure migrant workers receive equal pay for equal work, ensure farmers fairly share land value appreciation gains, and ensure that deposits from rural areas in financial institutions are mainly used for agriculture and rural areas. Improve the agricultural support and protection system, reform the agricultural subsidy system, and improve the interest compensation mechanism for major grain-producing areas. Improve the agricultural insurance system. Encourage social capital to invest in rural construction, and allow enterprises and social organizations to establish various undertakings in rural areas. Coordinate urban and rural infrastructure construction and community building, promoting the equalization of basic public services.

(23) Improve systems and mechanisms for the healthy development of urbanization. Adhere to the path of new-type urbanization with Chinese characteristics, promote people-centered urbanization, promote the coordinated development of large, medium, and small cities and small towns, the integrated development of industry and towns, and promote the coordinated advancement of urbanization and new rural construction. Optimize the urban spatial structure and management pattern, and enhance the comprehensive carrying capacity of cities.

Innovate urban construction and management. Establish a transparent and standardized urban construction investment and financing mechanism, allow local governments to broaden urban construction financing channels through various methods such as issuing bonds, allow social capital to participate in urban infrastructure investment and operation through methods such as franchise operations, and study the establishment of policy financial institutions for urban infrastructure and housing. Improve the standards for establishing cities, strictly implement approval procedures, and allow counties that meet the conditions for administrative division adjustment to be orderly changed into cities. For towns that absorb large populations and have strong economic strength, management powers commensurate with their population and economic scale may be granted. Establish and improve cross-regional urban development coordination mechanisms.

Promote the granting of urban residency to the agricultural transfer population, gradually transforming eligible agricultural transfer population into urban residents. Innovate population management, accelerate the reform of the household registration (Hukou) system, fully lift settlement restrictions in designated towns and small cities, orderly lift settlement restrictions in medium-sized cities, rationally determine settlement conditions for large cities, and strictly control the population size of megacities. Steadily promote the full coverage of basic urban public services for the permanent resident population, fully incorporate farmers who have settled in cities into the urban housing and social security systems, and standardize the connection of pension insurance and medical insurance participated in rural areas to the urban social security system. Establish a mechanism linking fiscal transfer payments with the granting of urban residency to the agricultural migrant population, strictly and rationally supply urban construction land, and improve the utilization efficiency of urban land.

VII. Build a New System for an Open Economy

To adapt to the new situation of economic globalization, we must promote mutual promotion of domestic and foreign opening-up, and better combine bringing in and going out, promote the orderly and free flow of international and domestic factors, efficient allocation of resources, and deep integration of markets, accelerate the cultivation of new advantages in participating in and leading international economic cooperation and competition, and promote reform through opening up.

24) Relax investment access. Unify domestic and foreign investment laws and regulations, and keep foreign investment policies stable, transparent and predictable. Promote orderly opening up of financial, educational, cultural, medical and other service sectors, relax restrictions on foreign investment access in childcare, architectural design, accounting and auditing, trade and logistics, e-commerce and other service sectors, and further relax general manufacturing. Accelerate the integration and optimization of special customs supervision areas.

The establishment of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is a major measure taken by the Party Central Committee to promote reform and opening up under the new situation. It must be well built and managed to explore new ways and accumulate new experiences for comprehensively deepening reform and expanding opening up. On the basis of promoting existing pilot projects, select several qualified places to develop free trade parks (ports).

Expand overseas investment by enterprises and individuals, establish the main position of enterprises and individuals in overseas investment, allow them to give full play to their own advantages to carry out investment cooperation abroad, allow them to undertake engineering and labor cooperation projects in various countries and regions at their own risk, and allow innovative ways to go out to carry out greenfield investment, mergers and acquisitions, securities investment, joint investment, etc.

Accelerate the negotiation and signing of investment agreements with relevant countries and regions, reform the foreign investment approval system, improve the consular protection system, provide more services such as rights protection, investment promotion, and risk warning, and expand the space for investment cooperation.

(25) Accelerate the construction of free trade zones. Adhere to the rules of the world trade system, adhere to bilateral, multilateral, regional and sub-regional open cooperation, expand the convergence of interests with various countries and regions, and accelerate the implementation of the free trade zone strategy based on the surrounding areas. Reform the management system of market access, customs supervision, inspection and quarantine, accelerate the negotiation of new issues such as environmental protection, investment protection, government procurement, and e-commerce, and form a high-standard free trade zone network facing the world.

Expand open cooperation with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan.

(26) Expand the opening up of inland and border areas. Seize the opportunity of global industrial re-positioning and promote the coordinated development of inland trade, investment and technological innovation. Innovate the processing trade model and form a system and mechanism that is conducive to promoting the development of inland industrial clusters. Support inland cities to increase international passenger and cargo routes, develop multimodal transport, and form a foreign economic corridor that crosses the east, middle and west and connects the north and south. Promote customs clearance cooperation between inland and coastal and border areas, and realize information exchange, mutual recognition of supervision and mutual assistance in law enforcement between relevant port management departments.

Accelerate the pace of opening up along the border, and allow key border ports, border cities and economic cooperation zones to implement special methods and policies in terms of personnel exchanges, processing logistics, tourism and other aspects. Establish development financial institutions, accelerate the construction of infrastructure connectivity with neighboring countries and regions, promote the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road, and form a new pattern of all-round opening up.

VIII. Strengthen the Building of Socialist Democratic Political System

To develop socialist democratic politics, we must ensure that the people are the masters of the country as the fundamental principle, adhere to and improve the system of people’s congresses, the system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of my country, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of grassroots mass autonomy. We must pay more attention to improving democratic systems and enriching democratic forms, expand orderly political participation of citizens at all levels and in all areas, and give full play to the superiority of our socialist political system.

(27) Promote the people’s congress system to keep pace with the times. Uphold the people’s dominant position, promote innovation in the theory and practice of the people’s congress system, and give full play to the role of the people’s congress system as a fundamental political system. Improve the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, improve the mechanism for drafting, argumentation, coordination and deliberation of legislation, improve the quality of legislation, and prevent the legalization of local protectionism and departmental interests. Improve the system of “one government and two courts” being generated by the people’s congress, responsible to the people’s congress, and supervised by the people’s congress. Improve the system of the people’s congress discussing and deciding major matters, and governments at all levels report to the people’s congress at the same level before making major decisions. Strengthen the people’s congress’s functions of reviewing and supervising budgets and final accounts, and supervising state-owned assets. Implement the principle of legality of taxation. Strengthen the connection between the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress and people’s congress deputies, and give full play to the role of deputies. Close the connection between deputies and the people by establishing and improving representative liaison agencies and online platforms.

Improve the working mechanism of the people’s congress, expand the channels for citizens to participate in legislation in an orderly manner through forums, hearings, evaluations, and the publication of draft laws, and actively respond to social concerns through inquiries, interrogations, investigations on specific issues, and filing reviews.

(28) Promote the widespread, multi-level institutionalization of consultative democracy. Consultative democracy is a unique form and distinct advantage of our country’s socialist democratic politics, and an important embodiment of the Party’s mass line in the political field. Under the leadership of the Party, conduct broad consultation throughout society on major issues of economic and social development and practical issues involving the vital interests of the masses, adhering to consultation before decision-making and during the implementation of decisions.

Build a consultative democracy system with reasonable procedures and complete links, broadening the consultation channels of state power organs, the People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) organizations, party groups, primary-level organizations, and social organizations. Deepen legislative consultation, administrative consultation, democratic consultation, participatory consultation, and social consultation. Strengthen the construction of new-type think tanks with Chinese characteristics, and establish and improve the decision-making consultation system.  

Leverage the important role of the United Front in consultative democracy. Improve the political consultation between the CPC and various democratic parties, earnestly listen to the opinions of various democratic parties and personages without party affiliation. The CPC Central Committee proposes plans based on the annual work priorities and conducts consultations through consultation meetings, heart-to-heart talks, forums, etc. Improve the system for the central committees of democratic parties to directly make suggestions to the CPC Central Committee. Implement the Party’s ethnic policies, protect the legitimate rights and interests of ethnic minorities, and consolidate and develop socialist ethnic relations featuring equality, unity, mutual assistance, and harmony.  

Leverage the role of the People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) as an important channel for consultative democracy. Focus on promoting the institutionalization, standardization, and proceduralization of political consultation, democratic supervision, and participation in and deliberation of state affairs. Party committees and governments, and the CPPCC at all levels shall formulate and organize the implementation of annual consultation work plans, and solicit opinions from the CPPCC on some important decisions. Improve the CPPCC system framework, standardizing consultation content and procedures. Expand the forms of consultative democracy, organize thematic consultation, counterpart consultation, sector-based consultation, and proposal handling consultation more actively and orderly, increase the density of consultation, and improve the effectiveness of consultation. Improve member liaison offices within the CPPCC and perfect the member liaison system.  

(29) Develop grassroots democracy. Unblock democratic channels, improve primary-level mechanisms for elections, deliberation, disclosure, reporting, and accountability. Carry out various forms of primary-level democratic consultation, promote the institutionalization of primary-level consultation, establish and improve resident and villager supervision mechanisms, and promote the masses’ lawful self-management, self-service, self-education, and self-supervision in urban and rural community governance, primary-level public affairs, and public welfare undertakings. Improve the democratic management system of enterprises and public institutions with the workers’ congress as the basic form, strengthen the construction of democratic mechanisms in social organizations, and protect the democratic rights of workers to participate in management and supervision.

IX. Advance the Building of China, the Land of Rule of Law

Building Rule of Law China must adhere to jointly advancing governing the country according to law, exercising state power according to law, and administration according to law; adhere to integrating the building of a rule of law country, rule of law government, and rule of law society. Deepen the reform of the judicial system, accelerate the building of a just, efficient, and authoritative socialist judicial system, protect the rights and interests of the people, and let the people feel fairness and justice in every judicial case.

(30) Uphold the authority of the Constitution and laws. The Constitution is the fundamental law ensuring the prosperity and long-term stability of the Party and the country, possessing supreme authority. We must further improve the mechanism and procedures for supervising the implementation of the Constitution, raising the comprehensive implementation of the Constitution to a new level. Establish and improve a system for the entire society to be loyal to, abide by, uphold, and apply the Constitution and laws. Uphold equality before the law; no organization or individual shall have privileges exceeding the Constitution and laws, and all acts violating the Constitution and laws must be investigated.

Universally establish the legal counsel system. Improve the legality review mechanism for normative documents and major decisions. Establish a scientific indicator system and assessment standards for the construction of the rule of law. Improve the record-filing and review system for regulations, rules, and normative documents. Improve the social legal popularization and education mechanism, enhancing the public’s awareness of the rule of law. Gradually increase the number of “larger cities” with local legislative power.

(31) Deepen the reform of the administrative law enforcement system. Consolidate law enforcement bodies, centralize enforcement powers where appropriate, advance integrated law enforcement, focus on resolving issues of overlapping powers and responsibilities and jurisdiction by multiple bodies, and establish an administrative law enforcement system with unified powers and responsibilities that is authoritative and efficient. Reduce the levels of administrative law enforcement, and strengthen grassroots law enforcement capacity in key areas such as food and drugs, workplace safety, environmental protection, labor security, and maritime and island affairs. Streamline the urban management (Chengguan) law enforcement system, and improve the levels of law enforcement and service.

Improve administrative law enforcement procedures, standardize the discretion in law enforcement, strengthen supervision over administrative law enforcement, fully implement the administrative law enforcement responsibility system and the system where enforcement expenses are guaranteed by fiscal funds, ensuring strict, standardized, impartial, and civil enforcement. Improve the mechanisms connecting administrative enforcement and criminal justice.

(32) Ensure the independent and impartial exercise of judicial and procuratorial powers in accordance with the law. Reform the judicial management system, promote the unified management of personnel, finances, and assets of local courts and procuratorates below the provincial level, explore the establishment of a judicial jurisdiction system appropriately separate from administrative divisions, and guarantee the unified and correct implementation of national laws.

Establish a judicial personnel management system suited to professional characteristics, improve mechanisms for the unified recruitment, orderly exchange, and tiered selection of judges, prosecutors, and people’s police, refine the classified management system for judicial personnel, and improve the professional guarantee systems for judges, prosecutors, and people’s police.

(33) Strengthen the operating mechanisms for judicial power. Optimize the allocation of judicial powers and functions, strengthen mechanisms for the division of responsibilities, mutual cooperation, and mutual checks within the judiciary, and enhance and standardize legal and public supervision over judicial activities.

Reform the judicial committee system, improve the system of accountability for case handling by presiding judges and collegiate panels, ensuring that those who hear cases adjudicate them, and those who adjudicate are responsible. Clarify the functional positioning of courts at all levels, and standardize the supervisory relationship between higher and lower courts regarding trial levels.

Promote open trials and open procuratorial affairs, and record and preserve complete trial proceedings. Enhance the reasoning in legal documents and promote the public disclosure of effective court judgments. Strictly standardize procedures for commutation, parole, and medical parole, and strengthen supervisory systems. Widely implement the systems of people’s assessors and people’s supervisors, broadening channels for orderly public participation in the judiciary.

(34) Improve the system for the judicial protection of human rights. The state respects and protects human rights. Further standardize judicial procedures1 for the sealing, seizure, freezing, and handling of assets involved in cases. Strengthen mechanisms for preventing, correcting, and investigating wrongful convictions, strictly prohibit torture to extract confessions and corporal punishment or abuse, and strictly implement rules for excluding illegally obtained evidence. Gradually reduce the number of crimes subject to the death penalty.

Abolish the Re-education Through Labor system, improve laws for punishing and correcting illegal and criminal acts, and strengthen the community corrections system.

Strengthen the national judicial aid system and improve the legal aid system. Improve mechanisms for safeguarding lawyers’ rights to practice and disciplinary systems for illegal or irregular practice, enhance professional ethics, and leverage the important role of lawyers in safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of citizens and legal persons in accordance with the law.

X. Strengthen the System for Restraining and Supervising the Exercise of Power

Persisting in using institutions to manage power, affairs, and personnel, letting the people supervise power, and letting power operate in the sunshine is the fundamental strategy for confining power within the cage of institutions. It is imperative to build a power operation system featuring scientific decision-making, resolute execution, and effective supervision, strengthen the system for punishing and preventing corruption, build clean politics, and strive to achieve cadres’ probity, government integrity, and political uprightness.

(35) Form scientific and effective mechanisms for power restraint and coordination. Improve the Party and state leadership systems, adhere to democratic centralism, and give full play to the Party’s role as the core of leadership. Standardize the duties and authorities of principal leading cadres of Party and government organs at all levels, scientifically allocate the powers and functions of Party and government departments and their internal bodies, and clarify their responsibilities,2 positioning, and work tasks.

Strengthen the restraint and supervision over the exercise of power by principal leading cadres, and enhance administrative supervision and auditing oversight.

Implement the system of power lists for local governments at all levels and their working departments, and disclose power operation procedures following the law. Improve systems for openness in Party affairs, government affairs, and affairs in various fields, and promote openness in decision-making, management, services, and results.

(36) Strengthen innovation in anti-corruption systems and mechanisms and institutional safeguards. Strengthen the Party’s unified leadership over the building of Party conduct and clean government and the fight against corruption. Reform the Party’s discipline inspection system, strengthen the anti-corruption leadership system and working mechanisms, and reform and improve the functions of anti-corruption coordination groups at all levels.

Implement the responsibility system for building Party conduct and clean government, with Party committees bearing the primary responsibility and discipline inspection commissions bearing the supervisory responsibility, and formulate and implement feasible accountability systems. Discipline inspection commissions at all levels must fulfill their duties to assist Party committees in strengthening Party conduct construction and organizing and coordinating anti-corruption work, strengthen supervision over Party committees at the same level, especially members of their standing committees, and better play their role as specialized intra-Party supervisory organs.

Make the dual leadership system for the Party’s discipline inspection work more concrete, procedural, and institutionalized, strengthening the leadership of higher-level discipline inspection commissions over lower-level ones. The investigation of corruption cases shall primarily be led by higher-level discipline inspection commissions; the handling of leads and investigation of cases must be reported to the higher-level discipline inspection commission while also reporting to the Party committee at the same level. The nomination and assessment of secretaries and deputy secretaries of discipline inspection commissions at all levels shall primarily be handled by the higher-level discipline inspection commission in conjunction with the organization department.

Fully implement the system where the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection dispatches discipline inspection agencies to central-level Party and state organs, adopting unified names and unified management. Dispatched agencies are responsible to the dispatching organ and perform supervisory duties. Improve the central, provincial, autonomous region, and municipal patrol inspection systems to achieve full coverage of localities, departments, enterprises, and public institutions.

Strengthen the system of laws and regulations for combating corruption and promoting integrity, improve laws and regulations concerning the punishment and prevention of corruption, prevention and control of integrity risks, prevention of conflicts of interest, reporting of personal matters by leading cadres, and recusal from office, and pilot the system for disclosing relevant matters concerning newly promoted leading cadres. Strengthen mechanisms for democratic supervision, legal supervision, and public opinion supervision, and utilize and regulate internet-based supervision.

(37) Strengthen the institutionalization of regular efforts to improve work style. Accelerate reforms and construction of systems and mechanisms focused on opposing formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance. Improve mechanisms for leading cadres to take the lead in improving work style and conducting in-depth grassroots research, and refine systems for direct contact with and service to the masses. Reform the system of meetings and official documents, starting from the central level to take the lead in reducing meetings and documents, focusing on improving meeting and writing styles. Strengthen strict systems for financial budgeting, approval, and auditing, focusing on controlling expenditures on “three public expenses” (overseas visits, official vehicles, and official hospitality) and the construction of office buildings and guesthouses. Improve systems for special inspections and accountability regarding personnel selection and appointment, focusing on correcting unhealthy tendencies such as soliciting official positions. Reform performance evaluation mechanisms, focusing on addressing problems like “image projects,” “vanity projects,” inaction, and arbitrary action.

Standardize and strictly enforce the system for guaranteeing the work and living conditions of leading cadres; multiple occupations of housing and office spaces are not permitted; equipping office and living spaces beyond standards is not permitted; equipping official vehicles in violation of regulations is not permitted; equipping secretaries in violation of regulations is not permitted; security details exceeding standards are not permitted; official receptions exceeding standards are not permitted; issues such as enjoying benefits exceeding standards in violation of regulations will be strictly investigated and dealt with. Explore the implementation of an official residence system.

Improve and strictly implement relevant systems and regulations concerning leading cadres’ relatives engaging in business, holding public office or positions in social organizations, and settling abroad, prevent leading cadres from using public power or personal influence to seek private gain for relatives and other specific related persons, and resolutely oppose privileged thinking and style.

XI. Promote Innovation in Cultural Systems and Mechanisms

To build a strong socialist cultural country and enhance national cultural soft power, we must adhere to the direction of advanced socialist culture, follow the path of socialist cultural development with Chinese characteristics, cultivate and practice core socialist values, consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere, and consolidate the common ideological foundation for the unity and struggle of the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups nationwide. Adhere to a people-centered work orientation, prioritize social benefits while unifying social and economic benefits, focus on stimulating the cultural creativity of the entire nation as the central link, and further deepen cultural system reform.

(38) Improve the cultural management system. In accordance with the principles of separating government administration from enterprise management and separating government administration from public institution management, push government departments to shift from running culture to managing culture, and promote the further streamlining of relationships between Party and government departments and their affiliated cultural enterprises and public institutions. Establish management agencies for state-owned cultural assets supervised by Party committees and governments, implementing unified management of personnel, affairs, assets, and orientation.

Strengthen systems and mechanisms for adhering to the correct orientation of public opinion. Strengthen linkage mechanisms for work such as basic management, content management, industry management, and the prevention and crackdown on online illegal activities and crimes, improve mechanisms for handling online emergencies, and form a pattern of online public opinion work that combines positive guidance with management according to law. Integrate news media resources and promote the integrated development of traditional and emerging media. Promote the institutionalization of the press release system. Strictly implement the professional qualification system for journalists, attach importance to the use and management of new types of media, and regulate the order of communication.

(39) Establish and improve a modern cultural market system. Improve market access and exit mechanisms for culture, encourage fair competition and survival of the fittest among various market entities, and promote the nationwide flow of cultural resources. Continue to advance the transformation of state-owned operational cultural units into enterprises, accelerating corporatization and shareholding reforms. Explore the implementation of special management share systems for key state-owned media enterprises transformed according to regulations. Promote cross-regional, cross-industry, and cross-ownership mergers and reorganizations of cultural enterprises, enhancing the scale, intensification, and specialization of the cultural industry.

Encourage the development of non-publicly owned cultural enterprises, lower the entry threshold for social capital, allow participation in foreign publishing and online publishing, and permit participation in the restructuring and operation of state-owned film and television production institutions and literary and art troupes through controlling stakes. Support the development of small and micro cultural enterprises in various forms.

While adhering to the licensed operation of publishing and broadcasting rights, allow the separation of production from publishing and production from broadcasting. Establish multi-level markets for cultural products and factors, and encourage the combination of financial capital, social capital, and cultural resources. Improve cultural economic policies, expand government cultural funding and procurement, and strengthen copyright protection. Improve the evaluation system for cultural products, reform the award system, and introduce more high-quality cultural works.

(40) Construct a modern public cultural service system. Establish a coordination mechanism for the construction of the public cultural service system, coordinate the construction of service facility networks, and promote the standardization and equalization of basic public cultural services. Establish mechanisms for public evaluation and feedback, promoting the effective alignment of cultural projects benefiting the people with public cultural needs. Integrate grassroots facilities for publicity and culture, Party member education, science popularization, and physical fitness to build comprehensive cultural service centers.

Clarify the functional positioning of different cultural public institutions, establish corporate governance structures, and improve performance evaluation mechanisms. Promote the establishment of boards of directors for public libraries, museums, cultural centers, science and technology museums, etc., attracting representatives from relevant parties, professionals, and the public to participate in management.

Introduce competitive mechanisms and promote the socialized development of public cultural services. Encourage social forces and social capital to participate in the construction of the public cultural service system, and cultivate cultural non-profit organizations.

41) Improve the level of cultural openness. Adhere to the principle of government-led, enterprise-based, market-operated, and social participation; expand foreign cultural exchanges; strengthen international communication capabilities and the construction of a foreign discourse system, and promote Chinese culture to the world. Streamline the internal and external propaganda system, and support key media to develop domestically and internationally. Cultivate export-oriented cultural enterprises and support cultural enterprises to explore markets abroad. Encourage social organizations, Chinese-funded institutions, etc. to participate in the construction of Confucius Institutes and overseas cultural centers and undertake cultural exchange projects.

Actively absorb and learn from all excellent cultural achievements from abroad, and introduce talents, technologies, and management experience that are conducive to the development of our country’s culture. Effectively safeguard national cultural security.

XII. Promote Reform and Innovation in Social Undertakings

To ensure that development outcomes benefit all people more and more equitably, it is imperative to accelerate the reform of social undertakings, effectively address the issues of most concern, most direct relevance, and most practical importance to the people, strive to provide diverse services to society, and better meet the needs of the people.

(42) Deepen comprehensive reform in the field of education. Fully implement the Party’s educational policy, adhere to fostering virtue through education, strengthen education in the socialist core value system, improve education in outstanding traditional Chinese culture, form effective forms and long-term mechanisms for activities promoting love of learning, love of labor, and love of the country, and enhance students’ sense of social responsibility, innovative spirit, and practical ability. Strengthen physical education classes and extracurricular exercise to promote the physical and mental health and fitness of young people. Improve aesthetic education teaching to enhance students’ aesthetic and humanistic qualities. Vigorously promote educational equity, improve the financial aid system for students from families with economic difficulties, construct effective mechanisms using informatization to expand the coverage of high-quality educational resources, and gradually narrow regional, urban-rural, and inter-school gaps. Coordinate the balanced allocation of compulsory education resources between urban and rural areas, implement standardized construction of public schools and the exchange and rotation of principals and teachers, eliminate key schools and key classes, tackle the problem of school selection, and address both symptoms and root causes to reduce students’ academic burden. Accelerate the construction of a modern vocational education system, deepen industry-education integration and school-enterprise cooperation, and cultivate high-quality workers and skilled personnel. Innovate talent cultivation mechanisms in higher education institutions, promoting distinctive development and striving for first-class status. Advance the reform and development of preschool education, special education, and continuing education.

Advance the reform of the examination and enrollment system, explore operating mechanisms featuring relative separation of enrollment and examination, multiple examination choices for students, independent enrollment by schools according to law, implementation by professional institutions, macro-management by the government, and supervision with social participation, to fundamentally resolve the drawback of a single exam determining one’s future. Implement compulsory education admission nearby without examination, pilot the school district system and nine-year coherent counterpart enrollment. Implement academic proficiency tests and comprehensive quality evaluations for junior and senior high schools. Accelerate the promotion of classified enrollment or registration-based admission for vocational colleges. Gradually implement a comprehensive evaluation and diversified admission mechanism for regular higher education institutions based on unified college entrance examination scores and high school academic proficiency test results. Explore reducing subjects in the national unified examination, not distinguishing between arts and sciences, and holding multiple socialized examinations per year for subjects like foreign languages. Pilot credit transfer among regular higher education institutions, higher vocational colleges, and adult colleges to broaden lifelong learning channels.

Deeply promote the separation of management, operation, and evaluation, expand the educational planning authority of provincial governments and the autonomy of schools in running themselves, and improve the internal governance structure of schools. Strengthen national education supervision, and entrust social organizations to carry out educational assessment and monitoring. Improve systems such as government subsidies, government procurement of services, student loans, fund awards, and donation incentives, and encourage social forces to establish educational institutions.

(43) Strengthen systems and mechanisms for promoting employment and entrepreneurship. Establish a linkage mechanism between economic development and employment expansion, and strengthen the government’s responsibility system for promoting employment. Standardize recruitment and employment systems, eliminating all institutional barriers and employment discrimination affecting equal employment, such as urban-rural, industry, status, and gender differences. Improve preferential policies supporting entrepreneurship, forming a new mechanism where the government encourages entrepreneurship, society supports entrepreneurship, and workers bravely start businesses. Improve the equal public employment and entrepreneurship service system for urban and rural areas, and construct a lifelong vocational training system for workers. Enhance the functions of the unemployment insurance system in preventing unemployment and promoting employment, and improve employment and unemployment monitoring and statistical systems. Innovate labor relations coordination mechanisms and smooth channels for employees to express reasonable demands.

Promote the employment of young people, focusing on college graduates, as well as rural migrant workers, urban residents with difficulties, and demobilized military personnel. Develop more jobs suitable for college graduates in conjunction with industrial upgrading. Government procurement of grassroots public management and social service positions should be used more to absorb college graduates for employment. Improve service guarantee mechanisms encouraging college graduates to work at the grassroots level, and increase the proportion of targeted recruitment for civil servants and priority recruitment for public institutions. Implement policies encouraging college graduates to start their own businesses, and integrate and develop national and provincial employment and entrepreneurship funds for college graduates. Implement the employment promotion plan for unemployed college graduates upon leaving school, including the unemployed in employment preparation activities such as internships and skills training, and provide comprehensive employment services for those with special difficulties.

(44) Form a rational and orderly income distribution pattern. Focus on protecting labor income, strive to achieve synchronization between labor remuneration growth and labor productivity improvement, and increase the share of labor remuneration in primary distribution. Improve mechanisms for wage determination and normal growth, refine systems for minimum wages and wage payment guarantees, and improve the enterprise collective wage negotiation system. Reform the wage and allowance systems for government organs and public institutions, and improve the mechanism for increasing allowances in remote and hardship areas. Strengthen mechanisms for remuneration determined by factor markets, such as capital, knowledge, technology, and management. Expand channels like investment and leasing services, optimize the investor return mechanism for listed companies, protect the lawful rights and interests of investors, especially small and medium-sized investors, and increase residents’ property income through multiple channels.

Improve the redistribution adjustment mechanism mainly based on taxation, social security, and transfer payments, and increase the intensity of tax regulation. Establish a mechanism for the reasonable sharing of proceeds from the transfer of public resources. Improve the tax exemption and reduction system for charitable donations, supporting the positive role of charities in poverty alleviation and assisting the needy.

Regulate the income distribution order, improve the income distribution regulation systems, mechanisms, and policy framework, establish a personal income and property information system, protect lawful income, regulate excessive income, clean up and standardize hidden income, ban illegal income, increase the income of low-income earners, expand the proportion of middle-income earners, strive to narrow income distribution gaps between urban and rural areas, regions, and industries, and gradually form an olive-shaped distribution structure.

(45) Establish a more equitable and sustainable social security system. Adhere to the basic old-age insurance system combining social pooling and individual accounts, improve the individual account system, strengthen incentive mechanisms for contributing more and receiving more, ensure the rights and interests of participants, achieve national pooling of basic pensions, and adhere to the principle of actuarial balance. Advance the reform of the old-age insurance system for government organs and public institutions. Integrate the basic old-age insurance systems and basic medical insurance systems for urban and rural residents. Promote the coordinated development of the urban and rural minimum living standard guarantee systems. Establish and improve a mechanism for determining and normally adjusting social security benefits that reasonably considers all types of personnel. Improve policies for the transfer and continuation of social insurance relationships, expand the coverage of participation and payment, and appropriately reduce social insurance contribution rates when conditions permit. Research and formulate policies for gradually delaying the retirement age. Accelerate the strengthening of the social security management system and service network. Strengthen the housing security and supply system that suits national conditions, establish a public and standardized housing provident fund system, and improve mechanisms for the withdrawal, use, and supervision of the housing provident fund.

Strengthen the fiscal input system for social security and improve the social security budget system. Strengthen the investment management and supervision of social insurance funds,4 and promote market-oriented and diversified investment operations of funds. Formulate and implement preferential policies such as tax exemptions and deferred taxation, accelerate the development of enterprise annuities, occupational annuities, and commercial insurance, and construct a multi-level social security system.

Actively respond to population aging, accelerate the establishment of a social elderly care service system and the development of the elderly service industry. Strengthen the care service system for left-behind children, women, and the elderly in rural areas, and strengthen systems for safeguarding the rights and interests of persons with disabilities and classified security for children in difficult situations.

(46) Deepen the reform of the pharmaceutical and healthcare system. Coordinate and advance comprehensive reforms in medical security, medical services, public health, drug supply, and regulatory systems. Deepen the comprehensive reform of grassroots medical and health institutions, and strengthen the networked operating mechanism for urban and rural grassroots medical and health services. Accelerate the reform of public hospitals, implement government responsibilities, establish scientific medical performance evaluation mechanisms and talent cultivation and personnel salary systems adapted to industry characteristics. Improve a rational hierarchical diagnosis and treatment model, and establish contractual service relationships between community doctors and residents. Fully utilize informatization methods to promote the vertical flow of high-quality medical resources. Strengthen the integration of regional public health service resources. Abolish the practice of subsidizing medical services with drug sales, rationalize pharmaceutical prices, and establish scientific compensation mechanisms. Reform medical insurance payment methods and strengthen the universal medical insurance system. Accelerate the strengthening of medical insurance and assistance systems for major and critical illnesses. Improve policies and mechanisms for the development of traditional Chinese medicine.

Encourage social investment in healthcare, prioritizing support for the establishment of non-profit medical institutions. Social capital can be directly invested in service areas with scarce resources and meeting diverse needs, and participate in the restructuring and reorganization of public hospitals in various forms. Allow physicians to practice at multiple sites, and allow private medical institutions to be included in the scope of designated medical insurance institutions.

Adhere to the basic national policy of family planning, initiate the implementation of the policy allowing couples where one spouse is an only child to have two children, gradually adjust and improve fertility policies, and promote long-term balanced population development.

XIII. Innovate Social Governance Systems

To innovate social governance, we must focus on safeguarding the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people, maximize harmonious factors, enhance the vitality of social development, improve the level of social governance, comprehensively promote the construction of a Peaceful China, safeguard national security, and ensure that the people live and work in peace and contentment and society is stable and orderly.

(47) Improve social governance methods. Adhere to systemic governance, strengthen Party committee leadership, leverage the leading role of the government, encourage and support the participation of all sectors of society, and achieve benign interaction between government governance, social self-regulation, and resident autonomy. Adhere to governance according to law, strengthen the guarantee of the rule of law, and use rule of law thinking and methods to resolve social conflicts. Adhere to comprehensive governance, strengthen moral constraints, regulate social behavior, adjust interest relations, coordinate social relations, and solve social problems. Adhere to source governance, address both symptoms and root causes with emphasis on the latter, use grid management and community-based services as the direction, strengthen grassroots comprehensive service management platforms, and timely reflect and coordinate the interests and demands of the people at all aspects and levels.

(48) Stimulate the vitality of social organizations. Correctly handle the relationship between government and society, accelerate the separation of government administration and social organizations, promote social organizations to clarify rights and responsibilities, govern themselves according to law, and play their roles. Public services and matters suitable for provision or resolution by social organizations should be entrusted to them. Support and develop volunteer service organizations. Achieve genuine decoupling of industry associations and chambers of commerce from administrative organs within a time limit, focus on cultivating and prioritizing the development of social organizations such as industry associations/chambers of commerce, science and technology, public welfare and charity, and urban and rural community services; they shall directly apply for registration according to law upon establishment. Strengthen the management of social organizations and overseas non-governmental organizations in China, guiding them to carry out activities according to law.

(49) Innovate effective systems for preventing and resolving social conflicts. Strengthen the mechanism for assessing social stability risks of major decisions. Establish smooth and orderly mechanisms for expressing demands, psychological intervention, conflict mediation, and rights protection, so that the public’s problems can be reflected, conflicts can be resolved, and rights are guaranteed.

Reform the administrative review system, improve the hearing mechanism for administrative review cases, and correct illegal or improper administrative actions. Improve the coordinated working system of people’s mediation, administrative mediation, and judicial mediation, and establish a comprehensive mechanism for mediating and resolving conflicts and disputes.

Reform the petition (letters and visits) work system, implement an online petition acceptance system, and strengthen mechanisms for promptly resolving the reasonable demands of the masses locally. Bring law-related petitions into the orbit of the rule of law for resolution, and establish a system for legally terminating law-related petitions.

(50) Strengthen the public security system. Improve unified and authoritative food and drug safety regulatory agencies, establish the strictest regulatory system covering the entire process, establish a food origin traceability system and quality labeling system, and ensure food and drug safety. Deepen the reform of the workplace safety management system, establish systems for hazard investigation and governance and safety prevention and control, and curb major and catastrophic safety accidents. Strengthen the system for disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief. Strengthen comprehensive management of public security, innovate a multi-dimensional public security prevention and control system, and strictly prevent and punish various illegal and criminal activities according to law.

Adhere to the policy of active utilization, scientific development, management according to law, and ensuring safety, increase the intensity of managing the internet according to law, accelerate the improvement of the internet management leadership system, and ensure national network and information security.

Establish the National Security Council, improve the national security system and national security strategy, and ensure national security.

XIV. Accelerate the Construction of Ecological Civilization Institutions

To build an ecological civilization, it is imperative to establish a systematic and complete institutional framework for ecological civilization, implement the strictest systems for source protection, damage compensation, and accountability, improve environmental governance and ecological restoration systems, and use institutions to protect the ecological environment.

(51) Strengthen the natural resource asset property rights system and the use control system. Conduct unified confirmation and registration of natural ecological spaces such as water flows, forests, mountains, grasslands, undeveloped land, and tidal flats, forming a natural resource asset property rights system with clear ownership, defined rights and responsibilities, and effective supervision. Establish a spatial planning system, delineate development control boundaries for production, living, and ecological spaces, and implement use controls. Strengthen systems for the economical and intensive use of energy, water, and land.

Strengthen the national natural resource asset management system, and uniformly exercise the responsibilities of the owner of state-owned natural resource assets owned by all the people. Improve the natural resource regulatory system, and uniformly exercise the responsibilities for controlling the use of all national land space.

(52) Delineate ecological protection red lines. Unswervingly implement the main functional area system, establish a system for the development and protection of national land space, strictly promote development according to the positioning of main functional areas, and establish a national park system. Establish a monitoring and early warning mechanism for resource and environmental carrying capacity, and implement restrictive measures in areas overloaded with water and soil resources, environmental capacity, and marine resources. Abolish the GDP assessment for restricted development zones and ecologically fragile key counties in national poverty alleviation and development work.

Explore the compilation of natural resource balance sheets and implement departure audits of natural resource assets for leading cadres. Establish a system of lifelong accountability for ecological environmental damage.

(53) Implement a system of paid use of resources and an ecological compensation system. Accelerate the price reform of natural resources and their products to fully reflect market supply and demand, resource scarcity, the cost of ecological environmental damage, and restoration benefits. Adhere to the principles of paying for resource use and holding polluters and ecological destroyers responsible for payment, gradually expanding resource taxes to the occupation of various natural ecological spaces. Stabilize and expand the scope of returning farmland to forests and grasslands, adjust the use of cultivated land in areas with severe pollution and serious groundwater overdraft, and orderly allow cultivated land, rivers, and lakes to rest and recuperate. Establish an effective mechanism for regulating the reasonable price ratio between industrial land and residential land, and increase industrial land prices. Adhere to the principle of “who benefits, compensates,” improve the ecological compensation mechanism for key ecological function zones, and promote the establishment of horizontal ecological compensation systems between regions. Develop the environmental protection market, implement trading systems for energy saving quotas, carbon emission rights, pollution discharge rights, and water rights, establish market-based mechanisms to attract social capital investment in ecological environmental protection, and promote third-party governance of environmental pollution.

(54) Reform the ecological environmental protection management system. Establish and improve a strict environmental protection management system that supervises the discharge of all pollutants, and conduct independent environmental supervision and administrative law enforcement. Establish regional linkage mechanisms for land and sea integrated ecosystem protection, restoration, and pollution prevention and control. Strengthen the management system for state-owned forest areas, and improve the reform of the collective forest rights system. Timely release environmental information, improve the reporting system, and strengthen social supervision. Improve the pollutant discharge permit system and implement a total pollutant discharge control system for enterprises and public institutions. Strictly implement a compensation system for those responsible for causing ecological environmental damage, and pursue criminal responsibility according to law.

XV. Deepen National Defense and Military Reform

Closely focusing on the Party’s goal of building a strong military in the new situation—a people’s army that obeys the Party’s command, can fight and win battles, and possesses a fine work style—efforts should be concentrated on resolving prominent contradictions and problems restricting the development of national defense and the military, innovating and developing military theory, strengthening military strategic guidance, improving military strategic guidelines for the new era, and constructing a modern military force system with Chinese characteristics.

(55) Deepen the reform of military system and structure adjustment. Advance the reform of the leadership and management system, optimize the functional configuration and institutional setup of the leadership organs of the Central Military Commission (CMC) headquarters, and improve the leadership and management systems of various services and arms. Strengthen the CMC’s joint operations command organs and theater joint operations command systems, and advance reforms in joint operations training and support systems. Improve the leadership system for new types of combat forces. Strengthen centralized and unified management of informatization construction. Optimize the force structure and command and management system of the Armed Police Force.

Optimize the scale and structure of the military, adjust and improve the proportions of services and arms, officers and soldiers, and troops and organs, and reduce non-combat institutions and personnel. Reform troop formations based on security needs and combat tasks in different directions. Accelerate the construction of new types of combat forces. Deepen the reform of military academies, and strengthen the new military talent cultivation system integrating military academy education, troop training practice, and military vocational education.

(56) Advance the adjustment and reform of military policies and systems. Strengthen and improve military human resource policies and systems adapted to the needs of the military’s functions and tasks and the innovation of national policies and systems. Guided by the establishment of a military officer professionalization system, gradually form a scientific and standardized military cadre system. Strengthen and improve the civilian personnel system. Improve supporting policies for the reform of the military service system, the non-commissioned officer system, and the resettlement system for demobilized military personnel.

Strengthen the military expenditure management system, and establish a mechanism where needs drive planning and planning guides resource allocation. Strengthen and improve the system of standards for managing funds and materials. Deepen reforms in systems such as budget management, centralized payment, material procurement, and military personnel’s medical care, insurance, and housing security.

Strengthen the system of military laws and regulations, and explore and improve methods for the scientific management of troops.

(57) Promote the deep development of civil-military integration. Establish at the national level unified leadership, military-local coordination, demand alignment, and resource sharing mechanisms to promote civil-military integration. Strengthen the national defense industrial system, improve the collaborative innovation system for national defense science and technology, reform the management of national defense research and production and the weapon and equipment procurement systems and mechanisms, and guide superior private enterprises into the fields of military product research, production, and maintenance. Reform and improve policies and systems for cultivating military talent relying on national education. Expand the areas of socialized support for the military. Deepen national defense education reform. Strengthen national defense mobilization systems and mechanisms, and improve laws and regulations for peacetime requisition and wartime mobilization. Deepen the reform of the militia and reserve force systems. Adjust and streamline border, maritime, and air defense management systems and mechanisms.

XVI. Strengthen and Improve the Party’s Leadership Over Comprehensively Deepening Reform

Comprehensively deepening reform must strengthen and improve the Party’s leadership, give full play to the Party’s core leadership role of overseeing the overall situation and coordinating all parties, build a learning-oriented, service-oriented, and innovative Marxist ruling party, improve the Party’s leadership level and governance capability, and ensure the success of the reforms.

(58) All comrades in the Party must unify their thinking and actions with the Central Committee’s major decisions and arrangements on comprehensively deepening reform, correctly handle the relationships between the central and local authorities, the overall and the partial, and the current and the long-term, correctly treat adjustments in the pattern of interests, fully promote intra-Party democracy, resolutely safeguard the authority of the Central Committee, ensure that government decrees are unimpeded, and unswervingly implement the Central Committee’s reform decisions and arrangements.

The Central Committee establishes a Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, responsible for the overall design, overall coordination, holistic advancement, and supervision of implementation of reforms.

Party committees at all levels must earnestly fulfill their leadership responsibilities for reform, improve scientific and democratic decision-making mechanisms, be guided by major issues, and ensure that all reform measures are implemented effectively. Strengthen the building of leading bodies at all levels, improve systems for cadre education, training, and practical experience, and continuously enhance the ability of leading bodies and leading cadres to promote reform. Innovate grassroots Party building work, strengthen the Party’s grassroots organizational system, give full play to the fighting bastion role of grassroots Party organizations, guide the vast number of Party members to actively participate in the cause of reform, carry forward the “spirit of hammering nails,” leave marks when grasping iron and footprints when stepping on stone, and make positive contributions to comprehensively deepening reform.

(59) Comprehensively deepening reform requires strong organizational guarantees and talent support. Adhere to the principle of the Party managing cadres, deepen the reform of the cadre personnel system, construct effective, practical, simple, and feasible mechanisms for selecting and appointing personnel, enabling outstanding cadres from all aspects to fully emerge. Give play to the leadership and gatekeeping role of Party organizations, strengthen the weight of Party committees (Party groups), responsible leaders, and organization departments in the selection and appointment of cadres and the responsibility for cadre assessment and identification, reform and improve the cadre assessment and evaluation system, improve methods for competitively selecting cadres, improve mechanisms for cultivating and selecting outstanding young cadres, distinguish and implement methods for selecting cadres through election and appointment systems, resolutely correct phenomena such as selecting people solely based on votes or scores, make good use of cadres of all age groups, and truly select good cadres who have firm beliefs, serve the people, are diligent and pragmatic, dare to take responsibility, and are clean and upright.

Break down the departmentalization of cadres, broaden the vision and channels for selecting personnel, and strengthen the cross-sectoral and cross-field exchange of cadres. Break the “official-centric” mentality, and promote the ability of cadres to move up and down, in and out. Improve and implement the accountability system for leading cadres, and improve the institutional system for strictly managing the cadre team. Deepen the reform of civil servant classification, implement the system of parallel tracks for civil servant positions and ranks, linking ranks to benefits, and accelerate the establishment of management systems for professional and technical, administrative law enforcement, and appointed civil servants. Improve the recruitment system for grassroots civil servants, and appropriately lower the entry threshold in remote and hardship areas.

Establish systems and mechanisms for attracting talent, selecting and using talent from all over the world. Break down institutional barriers, remove identity obstacles, create channels for everyone to grow, become talented, and stand out, and provide broad platforms for all types of talent to display their abilities. Improve the institutional system for the smooth flow of talent among Party and government organs, enterprises and public institutions, and all sectors of society. Strengthen incentive mechanisms for talent to flow to the grassroots, to hardship areas and positions, and to start businesses on the front lines. Accelerate the formation of institutional advantages for talent with international competitiveness, improve talent evaluation mechanisms, enhance the openness of talent policies, and widely attract outstanding overseas talent to return to China or come to China for entrepreneurship and development.

(60) The people are the main body of reform. We must adhere to the Party’s mass line, establish social participation mechanisms, fully unleash the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the people, fully leverage the role of people’s organizations such as trade unions, the Communist Youth League, and women’s federations, and work together to advance reform. Encourage bold exploration by localities, grassroots units, and the masses, strengthen pilot work on major reforms, summarize experiences in a timely manner, tolerate mistakes in reform, strengthen publicity and public opinion guidance, and create a favorable social environment for comprehensively deepening reform.

All comrades in the Party must unite closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as General Secretary, forge ahead with determination, overcome difficulties, write a new historical chapter in the great cause of reform and opening up, and strive for the comprehensive building of a moderately prosperous society, the continuous achievement of new victories for socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the realization of the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese6 nation!