Party shows a clear vision of how to sustain development, protect the environment and improve people's well-being

The report delivered by the Communist Party of China General Secretary Hu Jintao to the 18th National Congress of the CPC on Thursday, highlighted the achievement of the Party in guiding the nation through the storms that have battered the global economy and the course the nation will chart in the future.

For a country of China's size and population, its helmsmen not only need courage and determination, but also the cool-headed judgment and the good weather eye that comes with experience if they are to safely navigate all the external and domestic uncertainties.

Hu's report reveals the CPC's sober analysis of the current situations at home and abroad and its broad vision for China's development in the future.

Instead of emphasizing the magnificent achievements that have been accomplished since the 17th CPC National Congress in 2007, Hu described the past five years as an "arduous advancement along the socialist road with Chinese characteristics during which China has survived various kinds of hardships and tests and achieved a brand-new victory in its campaign for the building of an all-round well-off society".

He then outlined the problems the country is facing, from the lack of coordination and sustainability in its current economic development to the institutional obstacles that lie in the way of the country's further development, the wide gaps between urban and rural areas and the rich and poor, and the inefficiency of grassroots Party organizations. Nor did he shirk from such sensitive issues as the serious challenge the Party faces in fighting corruption. In doing so, he demonstrated the CPC's courage and willingness to take an honest look at itself and carry on its tradition of "self-criticism".

The CPC's clarity of vision was also reflected in Hu's notable emphasis on the need to build an ecological civilization to achieve lasting and sustainable development and improve people's well-being. In the face of scarce resources, environmental pollution and ecological degradation, he stressed that China must establish an ecological civilization as soon as possible by giving high priority to making ecological progress and incorporating it into the nation's economic, political, cultural, and social advancement.

In sharp contrast with the idea developed five decades ago that "man can conquer nature" and the praise lavished on campaigns such as "moving mountains to fill up the sea" that followed, China's decision-makers now realize that respecting and protecting nature are an important and necessary guarantee for the country's sustainable development. Such a major change in national policies and governance is reflected in the emphasize placed on the Scientific Outlook on Development, the "most important achievement" of the past ten years, which is the theoretical guidance that provides new scientific answers to the major questions of what kind of development the nation should seek and how the country should achieve it.

Also noticeable in Hu's report was his highlighting of culture, which he said is a nation's lifeblood and "a spiritual homeland of its people" and the application of the "Great Culture" concept for China's future cultural development. Such a concept not only includes the creation of cultural works, but also refers to the whole nation's creative vigor. To promote this, he said culture should not be confined to the profitability and development of cultural products, it should also promote the emancipation and development of cultural productivity and carry on academic and artistic democracy to boost its creativity in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

In his report, Hu also included credibility into the country's cultural and moral construction, by clearly putting forward the goal of strengthening China's administrative, commercial, social and judicial credibility.

Given the framework outlined by Hu, the CPC, as China's ruling party, will further develop its self-awareness and self-confidence so that it can continue to chart the course for the great renewal of the nation.

The author is a research scholar with the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies.

(China Daily 11/13/2012 page9)