CPC national congresses "catalysts" for China's development: expert

With the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) around the corner, Yan Shuhan a professor with the CPC Party School is suggesting National Congresses of the past have proved to be an important catalyst for the country's development over the past few decades.

Yan says previous national Party gatherings have a proven track record of helping push forward development every 5 years by reviewing what has been done the previous 5 years.

Yan Shuhan, a professor with the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). [Photo: people.com.cn]

"Summarizing past experiences is actually a process of exploring and practicing. By summarizing past experiences, we have come up with a variety of laws and regulations which have been helpful for guiding our work in the future. Summarizing past experiences helps lay a solid foundation for us to make plans for the future," says Yan.

As an example, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee held in 1978 decided to shift the focus of the Party's work toward socialist modernization, and set a policy of reform and opening-up to the outside world.

Since then, the idea of pursuing socialism with Chinese characteristics, put forward during the 12th CPC National Congress in 1982, has been consistently added to at each of the following National Congresses which have taken place every 5 years.

The pursuit of socialism with Chinese characteristics entered a new stage after the last National Congress in 2012, as the party determined that China had already made remarkable achievements with socialist modernization, as well as reform and opening-up.

Yan Shuhan with the CPC Party School suggests new ideas, thoughts and strategies toward state governance have taken shape since the 18th CPC National Congress was held.

"The new ideas include pursuing innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development. The integration of the five new ideas on development help guide our pursuit of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This is an important innovation in both theory, and in practice. The new thoughts include two major aspects. One is the idea of state governance under the 'new normal,' while the other one focuses on major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics," says Yan.

The new strategy is commonly known as the "Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy," which includes finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society, deepening reforms, advancing the law-based governance of China and strengthening Party's self-discipline.

It's widely expected that a new set of development strategies are going to be laid out at the end of the forthcoming CPC National Congress as the Party maps out its future plans for the next 5 years ahead of the 20th National Congress.