Foreign Experts: Xi’s Party Congress Report Points to Priorities of Governance

Overall, President Xi Jinping’s report could be summed up in one word: continuity, according to Jon Taylor, Chair of the Political Science and Geography Department at the University of Texas in San Antonio, the U.S. Taylor shared his thoughts with Beijing Review after watching Xi deliver a report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on behalf of the 19th CPC Central Committee via live-stream on October 16. 

The report is the most authoritative public recitation of Party policy on major matters. Xi emphasized how China still faces challenges, especially regarding imbalances and inadequacies in development, modernization and reform.

“To build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must first and foremost pursue high-quality development,” Xi said in the report. 

Xi underlined the importance of fully and faithfully applying the new development philosophy on all fronts, continuing reforms to develop the socialist market economy, promoting high-standard opening up, and accelerating efforts to foster a new pattern of development that focuses on the domestic economy and features the positive interaction between domestic and international economic flows.

In Taylor’s view, Xi listing the achievement of Chinese modernization as part of the Party’s central agenda was one of the report’s most important highlights.

“From this day forward, the central task of the CPC will be to lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization,” Xi said.

Taylor pointed out that Xi’s summary of the Chinese path to modernization bears watching because it’s a multifaceted policy, one related specifically to China’s large population, peaceful development, science and technology, national security, culture, and environmental harmony.

One chapter in Xi’s speech focused on national security, referring to it as the bedrock of national rejuvenation and the key to social stability. “We must resolutely adopt a holistic approach to national security and promote national security in all areas and stages of the work of the Party and the country to ensure national security and social stability,” Xi said.

“I believe the Party congress demonstrates the underlying stability and continuity in China’s political system which allows it to attain real ‘results-based’ success in the pursuit of national development,” British political and international relations analyst Tom Fowdy told Beijing Review. “Despite the negativity espoused by Western media, China’s approach has shown a consistent ability to overcome challenges and to make necessary adjustments to continue economic growth and development, which stand in contrast to the short-termist and chaotic rendering of Western liberal democracy.”