BEIJING -- On the morning of Oct 29, a study session for senior provincial and ministerial-level officials to study and implement the guiding principles of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was inaugurated at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance). Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at the opening ceremony. He emphasized the need to further study and implement the guiding principles of the third plenum, calling for guiding the entire Party and the nation to have more confidence in reform, and pool collective wisdom and strength to advance reform in a steady and sustained manner.

Li Qiang presided over the opening ceremony. Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi attended the event. They are all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Han Zheng, Chinese vice-president, also attended the event.

Xi noted that the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee heralded a new journey to comprehensively deepen reform and to advance reform through systematic and comprehensive design in the new era. This session has broken new ground for reform and opening up, and is of epoch-making significance. Comprehensively deepening reform in the new era has yielded significant outcomes in practice, system, and theory, representing one of the most remarkable chapters in China's history of reform and opening up. It has provided strong momentum and institutional support for building China into a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and for carrying on the "two great miracles" (sustained rapid economic growth and lasting social stability). It has also laid a solid foundation and offered valuable experience for further comprehensively deepening reform on the new journey.

Xi emphasized that maintaining the right political orientation and breaking new ground is a major principle that must be firmly upheld in further comprehensively deepening reform. China's reform has direction and principles to follow. We must uphold the Party's overall leadership, Marxism, socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the people's democratic dictatorship, with promoting social fairness and justice as well as enhancing people's well-being as our starting point and ultimate goal. These principles are fundamental, directional, and long-term, reflecting the nature and mission of the Party, conforming to China's realities, and tallying with the fundamental interests of the people. They must be firmly upheld on any occasion and at any time. We should continue to improve and develop the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, work hard to realize the reform's overall goal of modernizing the national governance system and governing capabilities, and consistently march forward in the direction guided by this overall goal, decisively reforming what should be reformed and never reforming what should not be reformed. In response to the new trends of the times, the new requirements for development, and the new expectations of the people, efforts should be made to advance reform in all aspects in a comprehensive and coordinated manner with an emphasis on economic structural reform, Xi said, urging vigorous work to promote innovations in theories, practice, institutions, culture, and other areas, so as to provide strong impetus and institutional support for Chinese modernization.

Noting that reform is a systematic undertaking, Xi said relevant work should be done through proper means and by carefully balancing concerns in various aspects. He underlined the need to adhere to the coordination between reform and the rule of law, advance the rule of law with reform measures, further deepen reform in the realm of law-based governance, and continuously better the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. The role of the rule of law should be given better play in removing the obstacles in reform and consolidating the achievements of reform, and it is important to think in terms of the rule of law and adopt a law-based approach in advancing reform to ensure that major reforms are carried out in accordance with the law and the legitimate rights and interests of all citizens and legal entities are under equal protection, Xi said. He added that it is necessary to adhere to the dialectical unity of breaking the old and establishing the new, focusing on both parts with efforts for the latter coming first. What needs to be established should be put in place proactively; what is no longer needed should be repudiated in due course after what is needed is established; and reform should be promoted in a steady and rapid manner in the balanced development of both, Xi said. It is a must to maintain a unified approach to reform and opening up, steadily expand institutional opening up, actively align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, and deepen the reform of the management systems for foreign trade, foreign investment, and outbound investment, so as to create a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized. It is essential to effectively manage the relationship between how work plans are made and how the arrangements are implemented. The design of reform plans must be made on the basis of how things should be done reasonably, and various measures for reform must be compatible with and support each other, so as to keep the orientation of the reform consistent. It is imperative to establish a working mechanism, under which responsibilities are clearly defined, and work in various aspects is well connected. Follow-up evaluation of work results must be strengthened to make sure that reform measures are implemented thoroughly and effectively.

Xi emphasized that officials, particularly senior officials, bear the crucial responsibility of advancing reform. They must cultivate a strong sense of political responsibility and historical mission, confront problems and challenges head-on with political courage to tackle difficulties, decisively address entrenched issues, face up to risks without hesitation, and strive to break new ground for reform and development. The right approach should be adopted to promote reform, arrangements must be made systematically, and actions should never be taken before decisions are made.

Xi noted that extensively building consensus and fully mobilizing all positive factors are quite important for smooth reform. It is imperative to do a good job in guiding public opinion, intensify efforts to conduct positive public communication, champion the overarching theme, and project positive energy. It is essential to conduct further research and interpretation on the major theoretical propositions put forward in the resolution adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, with a focus on strengthening public communication and interpretation of the propositions to the people. It is imperative to timely address confusions, respond to the concerns of society, and extensively build consensus, so as to consolidate the intellectual foundation and public support for the whole Party and entire society to jointly promote reform. Officials and the general public should be guided to think with a broad perspective and have a correct understanding of the adjustment of interests and personal gains and losses in the reform.

Xi finally stressed that all regions and departments must conscientiously implement a slew of major measures decided by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, implement the existing and new policies to the letter, and employ a combination of policies to ensure that good results are delivered from the work in the next two months, and the economic and social development goals and tasks set for this year are fulfilled.

Li Qiang, when presiding over the ceremony, said General Secretary Xi's important speech is visionary, thought-provoking, incisive, and substantive. He said that the speech is of political, theoretical, targeted and guiding significance, and is of great importance for the Party, especially for senior officials, to comprehensively and faithfully understand the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and to grasp the guiding principles, overall targets, key rules and scientific methodology of the ongoing drive to further deepen reform. Studying the speech is also important for them to boost confidence in reform, follow the right direction, have a stronger sense of responsibility for reform, leverage synergies, and push for the desired delivery of reform measures.

It is imperative to study Xi's speech with a sense of mission and responsibility, and a focus on solving problems to have a thorough understanding of the connotations, essence and practical requirements of the speech. It is imperative to profoundly understand the decisive significance of "Two Affirmations", resolutely act on "Two Upholds", effectively align our thoughts and actions with the spirit of Xi's speech and the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, and creatively implement the reform tasks, Li said.

Those who attended the ceremony included members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, vice-chairpersons of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress who are Party members, State Councilors, the president of the Supreme People's Court, the vice-chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference who are Party members, and members of the Central Military Commission.

Those who participated in the study session included leading officials of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the relevant central and state departments, relevant people's organizations, centrally-administered financial institutions, enterprises, universities, as well as leading officials from various units of the People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force. Leaders of the central committees of the other political parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and relevant sectors sat in on the opening ceremony.