Transcripts and Key Points of Official Third Plenum Press Conference

As promised, I am sharing the updated transcripts of the official press conference for the Third Plenum. This is probably the longest transcript I have ever written. If you find this helpful, please consider clicking the subscribe button to receive future updates.

Source: http://www.news.cn/politics/jshjdszqh/index.html

Who Joined the press conference?

• Mu Hong（穆虹）： a deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission. He has also been serving since 2014 as the executive deputy director of the Office of Deepening Reform (minister-level)

• Han Wenxiu(韩文秀): Executive Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs

• Shen Chunyao(沈春耀): Chairperson of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

• Huai Jinpeng(怀进鹏): current Minister of Education, party secretary of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST)

• Tang Fangyu(唐方裕): Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China(minister-level)

  

What did they say during the press conference?

About “The Decision“: Introduced by Tang Fangyu

"Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese-Style Modernization" consists of 15 sections and 60 articles, divided into three main parts. The first part is the general discussion, which mainly elaborates on the significance and overall requirements of further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-style modernization. The second part is the specific discussion, which comprehensively deploys reforms in various fields and aspects, with economic system reform as the driving force. The third part mainly discusses strengthening the Party's leadership over reform and deepening the reform of the Party's construction system. The 'Decision' proposes more than 300 important reform measures, all of which involve the content at the system, mechanism, and institution level. Some of them are improvements and enhancements to previous reform measures, while others are newly proposed reform measures based on practical needs and pilot explorations.

Achievements and the overall goals and principles for further comprehensively deepening reform: Introduced by Mu Hong

Achievements:

1. The advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics have been consolidated and developed, with the fundamental system becoming increasingly consolidated, the basic system constantly improving, and important institutional innovations achieving fruitful results. Through the development of the whole-process people's democracy system, the system of the people being the masters of the country is more sound, comprehensive, broad, and organically connected. The building of a socialist rule-of-law system with Chinese characteristics and the mechanisms for scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, fair justice, and universal law-abiding has been further improved. The guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field has been upheld, and the socialist system of advanced culture has been continuously improved and developed.

2. Strong impetus has been injected into economic development, propelling China's economy onto the path of high-quality development. Adhering to the direction of reform of the socialist market economy, improving the modern market system, promoting the reform of factor marketization, deepening the reform of state-owned assets and enterprises, encouraging the development and growth of the private economy, building a system and mechanism to support comprehensive innovation, deepening the reform of the fiscal and financial system, improving the integrated urban-rural development system and mechanism, accelerating the construction of a new development pattern, building a higher-level open economic system, and constantly improving an institutional environment with effective market mechanisms, dynamic micro-entities and appropriate macro regulation.

3. Many fields have undergone historic changes, systemic remodeling, and overall reconstruction, and the level of modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities has been further enhanced. For example, two rounds of large-scale Party and state institutional reforms have been carried out, and the system of functions of Party and state institutions adapted to the new situation has been continuously improved. An ecological civilization system has been established, forming an ecological civilization institutional framework with strict prevention at the source, strict control in the process, compensation for damages, and severe punishment for consequences, with blue skies and clear waters becoming the norm. The most extensive and profound reform of national defense and the military since the founding of New China has been carried out, realizing the overall revolutionary remodeling of the people's military.

4. The people's sense of gain, happiness, and security has been continuously enhanced. Institutional innovations have been promoted in key areas such as income distribution, employment, education, healthcare, and social security, leading to the building of the world's largest education system, social security system, and healthcare system. A targeted poverty alleviation system and mechanism has been established and improved, helping to win the largest-scale poverty alleviation battle in human history. The centralized and unified, efficient, and authoritative national security leadership system has been improved, emergency management mechanisms have been established and improved, and a social governance system of co-construction, co-governance, and sharing has been built.

5. The Party has become stronger and more powerful through revolutionary tempering. The system of the Party's leadership has been continuously improved, the Party and state supervision system has been perfected, and a system and mechanism for advancing the fight against corruption in an integrated manner has been established and improved to ensure the authority and centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee and ensure that the Party plays its role as the core of overall leadership and coordination.

Overall goals and principles for further comprehensively deepening reform

Standing at a new historical starting point, the "Decision" clarifies the overall goal of further comprehensively deepening reform: to continue to improve and develop the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and advance the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities. By 2035, a high-level socialist market economy system will be fully established, the socialist system with Chinese characteristics will be more improved, the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities will be basically realized, socialist modernization will be basically achieved, and a solid foundation will be laid for comprehensively building China into a great modern socialist country by the middle of this century. This overall goal not only carries on the overall goal of comprehensively deepening reform put forward by the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee but also aligns with the strategic deployment made by the 20th CPC National Congress, clarifying the goal orientation for further comprehensively deepening reform.

The "Decision" proposes that to further comprehensively deepen reform, we must follow the major principles of upholding the Party's overall leadership, putting the people at the center, upholding integrity and innovation, taking institutional building as the main line, comprehensively advancing law-based governance, and upholding a systematic approach. These six principles embody the core essence of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on comprehensively deepening reform and are a scientific summary of the valuable experience of reform and opening up, especially the comprehensive deepening of reform in the new era, which we must strictly follow and adhere to for a long time in further comprehensively deepening reform.

Reforms in the areas of the economy and people's livelihood: Introduced by Han Wenxiu

1. Constructing a high-level socialist market economy system. The "Decision" emphasizes the need to better play the role of market mechanisms, create a fairer and more dynamic market environment, and stimulate the endogenous power and innovative vitality of the whole society. It is necessary to adhere to and implement the "two unshakable" principles and promote the complementary advantages and common development of various forms of ownership. On the one hand, we need to deepen the reform of state-owned assets and enterprises, promote state-owned capital and enterprises to become stronger, better, and bigger, enhance their core functions, and improve their core competitiveness. We should carry out value-added accounting for the state-owned economy. State-owned enterprises should become the source of original technology. We should promote the reform of independent operation in natural monopoly segments and marketization in competitive segments in industries such as energy and railways. On the other hand, we need to create a good environment and provide more opportunities for the development of the non-public sector, improve the long-term mechanism for private enterprises to participate in major national projects, support capable private enterprises to lead major national technological research tasks and standardize administrative inspections related to private enterprises. The rule of law is the best business environment, and we should formulate and introduce a law to promote the private economy. The "Decision" emphasizes the need to carry forward the entrepreneurial spirit and accelerate the building of more world-class enterprises, which is a common requirement for all types of business entities.

   Accelerating the construction of a high-standard market system is a major reform task. The "Decision" clarifies three key reform measures: First, building a unified national market, including a unified urban and rural construction land market, a nationwide integrated technology and data market, a unified and standardized information sharing bidding and public resource trading platform system, integrated circulation rules and standards, and a unified national electricity market. Second, promoting the reform of factor marketization and improving the market system and rules for factors such as labor, capital, land, knowledge, technology, management, and data. Third, the basic system of the market economy should be improved, including property rights protection, information disclosure, market access, bankruptcy exit, and credit supervision. The market economy is essentially a rule-of-law economy. The "Decision" particularly proposes to prevent and correct the use of administrative and criminal means to intervene in economic disputes and to implement the same responsibility, crime, and punishment for acts that infringe on the property rights and legitimate interests of various forms of ownership.

2. Improving the system and mechanism for promoting high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively proposed to "develop new quality production forces according to local conditions", which is a major theoretical and practical innovation that will inject new impetus into high-quality development. The "Decision" proposes to accelerate the formation of production relations that are more compatible with new quality production forces, improve the system and mechanism for optimizing and upgrading traditional industries, improve the development policies and governance system for strategic industries, establish an investment growth mechanism for future industries, improve the policy system for promoting the digitalization of industries and the industrialization of digital technologies, promote the gathering of various advanced production factors to develop new quality production forces, and significantly improve total factor productivity. The "Decision" emphasizes the need to promote the deep integration of the real economy and the digital economy, accelerate the development of the modern service industry, strengthen the construction of modern infrastructure, and enhance the resilience and security level of industrial and supply chains, which are all inherent requirements for high-quality development.

3. Improving the macroeconomic governance system. The "Decision" emphasizes the need to build a mechanism for formulating and implementing national strategies, improve the national economic and social development planning system, deepen the reform of the fiscal taxation system and financial system, and enhance the consistency of macroeconomic policy orientation. It is necessary to build a new mechanism for cross-administrative regional cooperative development. In response to the difficulties faced by local governments and grassroots finances, it is proposed to improve the relationship between central and local finances, increase local fiscal autonomy, expand local tax sources, enhance the matching degree between county-level fiscal capacity and affairs, appropriately strengthen central affairs, increase the proportion of central fiscal expenditure, and prohibit irregular requirements for local governments to arrange matching funds. We should study a tax system that is compatible with new business forms. After more than 40 years of rapid development, China's social wealth has continued to accumulate. The "Decision" requires exploring the implementation of national macro asset and liability sheet management and optimizing the adjustment of various stock structures.

4. Improving the system and mechanism for urban-rural integrated development. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that to do a good job in rural revitalization, we must take the path of urban-rural integrated development. Focusing on promoting people-oriented new urbanization, the "Decision" proposes to implement a system of providing basic public services based on the place of usual residence registration and accelerate the citizenization of the agricultural transfer population. In order to continuously consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation and promote the strengthening of agriculture, benefiting farmers and enriching farmers, the "Decision" proposes to improve the normal mechanism to prevent the return to poverty, establish a hierarchical and classified assistance system for low-income rural populations and underdeveloped areas, coordinate and establish a horizontal interest compensation mechanism between food production and sales provinces, improve the investment mechanism for rural revitalization, and cultivate new rural industries and new business forms.

5. Promoting high-level opening up. The "Decision" requires taking the initiative to align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, steadily expanding institutional opening up, and building a higher-level open economic system. We should expand unilateral opening up to the least developed countries, expand autonomous opening up, orderly expand the opening up of commodity markets, service markets, capital markets, labor markets, etc., improve the convenience system for overseas personnel's entry, residence, medical care, payment and other living aspects, coordinate and promote major landmark projects and "small but beautiful" livelihood projects, and build the "Belt and Road" with high quality so that China's large market can become a great opportunity for the world.

6. Improving the system to ensure and improve people's livelihood. The "Decision" adheres to what the people care about and look forward to, and reform should focus on and promote it. It emphasizes the need to improve the mechanism for promoting high-quality and full employment, improve the social security system for flexible employment personnel, migrant workers, and personnel in new forms of employment, promote the expansion and sinking of high-quality medical resources, promote the construction of a birth-friendly society, and improve the policy mechanism for developing the elderly care industry. The implementation and effectiveness of these measures will further enhance people's sense of gain, happiness, and security.

7. Deepening the reform of the ecological civilization system. Chinese-style modernization is a modernization in which man and nature coexist in harmony. The "Decision" emphasizes the need to accelerate the improvement of the system and mechanism for implementing the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, improve the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products, accelerate the planning and construction of a new energy system, build a carbon emission statistical accounting system, product carbon labeling certification system, and product carbon footprint management system, and better promote green, low-carbon and circular development.

   In short, the "Decision" has a large force, practical measures, and high gold content for the deployment of reforms in the economic and livelihood fields, and we must do a good job in implementation and effectiveness.

Reforms in the fields of education, science and technology, talent, and innovation: Introduced by Huai Jinpeng

China has built the world's largest education system. The level of education at all levels has reached or exceeded the average level of middle and high-income countries. The gross enrollment rate of higher education exceeds 60%, entering the universally recognized stage of popularization. The average years of education for the new labor force exceeds 14 years. The population receiving higher education reaches 250 million.

China's total R&D personnel ranks first in the world. China's R&D expenditure ranks second in the world. Basic research and original innovation are continuously strengthened. Major breakthroughs have been achieved in key core technologies. The vitality of innovation entities and talents has been further released. China has successfully entered the ranks of innovative countries.

There is an urgent need to take the path of independent talent cultivation and achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance. The "Decision" makes important arrangements for deepening the integrated reform of education, science and technology, and talent system and mechanism.

1. Deepening comprehensive education reform involves accelerating the construction of a high-quality education system, improving the mechanism of fostering virtue through education, promoting the integrated reform and innovation of ideological and political courses in universities, middle and primary schools, and improving the comprehensive training system of morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics and labor. It also involves promoting the reform of universities by classification, establishing a discipline adjustment mechanism and talent training model driven by scientific and technological development and national strategic needs, adhering to the principle of strengthening education by strengthening teachers, improving teachers' ability to teach and educate people, and improving the long-term mechanism for building teachers' ethics and style. Effective use of world-class educational resources and innovation elements, as well as promoting high-level educational opening-up, are also important aspects.

2. Deepening the reform of the science and technology system requires optimizing the organizational mechanism for major scientific and technological innovation, strengthening the construction of national strategic scientific and technological forces, and coordinating and strengthening the tackling of key core technologies. It also involves improving the management of science and technology plans and strengthening forward-looking and leading layouts in basic research, interdisciplinary frontier areas, and key areas. Focusing on the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, it is necessary to strengthen the dominant position of enterprises and enhance the deep integration of industry, academia, and research led by enterprises. Deepening the reform of the scientific and technological achievement transformation mechanism and constructing a scientific and technological financial system that is compatible with scientific and technological innovation is also crucial.

3. Deepening the reform of the talent development system and mechanism aims to accelerate the formation of effective mechanisms for talent training, use, evaluation, service, support, and incentives. The "Decision" emphasizes implementing more active, open, and effective talent policies and improving the mechanism for independent talent cultivation. It also involves accelerating the construction of national strategic talent forces, focusing on cultivating strategic scientists, first-class scientific and technological leaders, innovation teams, outstanding engineers, great craftsmen, and highly skilled talents, and improving the quality of all kinds of talents. Strengthening the talent incentive mechanism, adhering to the authorization of employers and untying talents, establishing a talent evaluation system oriented by innovation ability, quality, effectiveness, and contribution, and creating a good environment for talent growth are also important aspects.

   In short, further reform is necessary to accelerate the construction of a strong country in education, science and technology, and talents, as well as to form a multiplier effect that promotes high-quality development and supports and leads Chinese-style modernization.

Reforms in areas such as democracy and the rule of law: Introduced by Shen Chunyao

In the new journey of further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-style modernization, it is necessary to widely mobilize and effectively organize all the people under the leadership of the Party to participate in reform and opening up and the construction of Chinese-style modernization with the attitude of being masters of the country, and to unite and struggle for the realization of the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation. This is the inherent requirement and proper meaning of further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-style modernization under the new situation.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee has determined the overall goal of further comprehensively deepening reform, which includes focusing on developing whole-process people's democracy, adhering to the organic unity of the Party's leadership, the people being masters of the country, and the rule of law, promoting the improvement of the system of the people being masters of the country, the broad and multi-layered institutionalized development of consultative democracy, and the further improvement of the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, and achieving a higher level of building a socialist country under the rule of law.

Developing whole-process people's democracy means always adhering to the people's principal position on the road ahead, giving full play to the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the people, gathering wisdom and strength from all sides, and better transforming our institutional advantages into national governance efficiency. The Plenary Session emphasized that developing whole-process people's democracy is the essential requirement of Chinese-style modernization, made important arrangements for "improving the whole-process people's democracy system", and proposed reform tasks for strengthening the system of the people being masters of the country, improving the mechanism of consultative democracy, improving the grassroots democracy system, and improving the pattern of the united front work. The overall requirement is to unswervingly follow the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, adhere to and improve our country's fundamental political system, basic political system and important political system, enrich democratic forms at all levels and embody the people's status as masters of the country in all aspects of national political life and social life.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has incorporated comprehensive law-based governance into the strategic layout of the "Four Comprehensives", and has promoted comprehensive law-based governance with unprecedented determination, measures and strength, achieving historic achievements. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized that the rule of law is an important guarantee for Chinese-style modernization, and it is necessary to adhere to law-based governance, deepen reform, and advance Chinese-style modernization on the track of the rule of law, so as to achieve unity between reform and the rule of law and ensure that major reforms are based on law and that reform achievements are elevated to legal systems in a timely manner.

The Plenary Session made important arrangements for "improving the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics," which is to systematically promote the building of a law-based China with the construction of the legal system as the overall focus and to form a complete system of legal norms, an efficient system of law enforcement, a strict system of legal supervision, a powerful system of the legal guarantee, and an improved system of Party regulations at a higher level.

On the new journey, in order to better play the role of the rule of law in solidifying the foundation, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting the long-term, it is necessary to implement the Constitution comprehensively, maintain the authority of the Constitution, coordinate the promotion of reforms in legislation, law enforcement, justice and law-abiding, improve the mechanism for ensuring equality before the law, promote the spirit of socialist rule of law, maintain social fairness and justice, and comprehensively promote the law-based governance of all aspects of the country's work. The Plenary Session focused on deepening reforms in the legislative field, further promoting law-based administration, improving the fair law enforcement and judicial system and mechanism, improving the mechanism for promoting the building of a law-based society, and strengthening foreign-related legal construction, and putting forward reform tasks and requirements in the field of the rule of law.

In adhering to law-based governance and improving the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, the following important principles should be followed. First, we should adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping's Thought on the Rule of Law and firmly grasp the correct political direction of building a law-based China. Second, we should adhere to the Party's overall leadership over the building of a law-based China and ensure that the Party's lines, principles, policies, and decisions are fully implemented and effectively enforced from the perspective of the rule of law. Third, we should adhere to the people's principal position in comprehensively advancing law-based governance and implement the people-centered approach throughout the whole process and all aspects of building a law-based China. Fourth, we should adhere to the position of the Constitution as the country's fundamental law, strengthen the implementation of the Constitution, fulfill the mission of the Constitution, and safeguard the authority of the Constitution. Fifth, we should adhere to the unity of promoting reform under the rule of law and improving the rule of law in reform, and properly handle the relationship between reform and the rule of law.

The situation of leadership in comprehensively deepening reform and deepening the reform of the Party's institution-building: Introduced by Tang Fangyu

The "Decision" specifically uses one section to deploy the reform of the Party's leadership and institution building, mainly in three aspects:

1. It emphasizes the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over further comprehensively deepening reform. The "Decision" stresses that the Party Central Committee leads the overall design, coordination, and advancement of the reform and encourages all regions and departments to explore and innovate based on their actual conditions, creating fresh experiences that can be replicated and promoted. It proposes to walk the mass line of the Party in the new era, fully absorbing social expectations, the wisdom of the masses, expert opinions, and grassroots experience into the reform design. It suggests setting up reform topics around solving prominent contradictions, optimizing the generation mechanism of key reform plans, and promptly discovering problems and correcting deviations.

2. It calls for deepening the reform of the Party's institution building. The "Decision" emphasizes the focus on stimulating the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the entire Party to promote reform and development, strengthening the Party's armament with innovative theories, deepening the reform of the cadre and personnel system, clearly establishing the correct orientation for selecting and appointing people, comprehensively improving the modernization construction ability of cadres, establishing and practicing the correct view of political achievements, and striving to solve the problems of cadres' improper actions, inaction, unwillingness to act, and inability to act well. It stresses the implementation of the "three distinctions" to motivate cadres to pioneer and innovate. It proposes to enhance the political and organizational functions of Party organizations, explore effective ways to strengthen Party building in new economic organizations, new social organizations, and new employment groups, and improve the mechanism for Party member education, management, and role play.

3. It calls for deepening the fight against corruption and the construction of Party conduct and clean government. The "Decision" emphasizes improving the specific, precise, and normalized mechanism of political supervision, perseveringly implementing the spirit of the eight-point regulation of the Central Committee, resolutely opposing formalism and bureaucratism, and effectively reducing the burden on the grassroots. It stresses deepening the use of the "four forms" of supervision and discipline enforcement, comprehensively utilizing the educational restraint, guarantee, and incentive functions of Party discipline, improving the working mechanism of not daring to be corrupt, not being able to be corrupt, and not wanting to be corrupt, and striving to eradicate the soil and conditions for the breeding of corruption. It emphasizes improving the Party and state supervision system, strengthening the main responsibility and supervision responsibility for comprehensively and strictly governing the Party. It also stresses strengthening the governance of false accusation behavior, etc.

Q&A

Question by CMG: Further comprehensively, deepening reform involves all aspects of economic and social development and is a systematic project. This plenary session emphasizes that reform should both highlight key points and achieve systematic integration. How can we coordinate and promote reform to ensure that various reform measures are linked and coordinated, forming a joint force in advancing Chinese-style modernization?

Mu: Adhering to a systematic perspective is an inherent requirement for comprehensively deepening reform and an important method for advancing reform. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CPC Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has coordinated the overall strategy for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the unprecedented changes in the world over the past century. It has comprehensively implemented the new development concept and coordinated the planning and advancement of reforms under the overall layout of the "Five-in-One" and the strategic layout of the "Four Comprehensives." General Secretary Xi Jinping, in view of the characteristics of comprehensively deepening reform in the new era, particularly emphasized the need to focus on improving the systematicness, integrity, and synergy of reforms to enhance the overall effectiveness of reform. A prominent feature of the "Decision" of this plenary session is its greater emphasis on systematic integration. It strengthens the overall planning and systematic layout of reforms based on the goals and tasks of advancing Chinese-style modernization and the major issues faced, introducing a series of major reform measures to ensure that reforms are more focused, coordinated, and efficient. Regarding how to coordinate and promote reform to ensure that various reform measures are linked and coordinated, General Secretary Xi Jinping has already made arrangements in his important speech at the plenary session. Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, we will improve the existing top-down reform work promotion mechanism and focus on implementing it in three aspects. First, we will promptly refine and classify the major reform measures proposed in the "Decision," scientifically formulate reform task books, roadmaps, and timetables, and reasonably arrange the primary and secondary relationships, order, pace, and timing of reforms. Second, we will vigorously promote the coordinated advancement of reforms. The focus is on clarifying the division of reform tasks, responsible entities, and coordinating units to ensure that each performs its own duties and responsibilities while also serving the overall situation and actively cooperating, ensuring top-down integration, horizontal and vertical coordination, and left-right linkage to form a joint force. We need to handle major relationships well. For some reforms with complex interest relationships and great coordination difficulties, we will establish a strong coordination and promotion mechanism, increase the intensity of supervision and accountability, and implement reforms with a spirit of perseverance. Third, we will promote the organic combination of top-level design and grassroots exploration. We will fully rely on the people, and under the premise of clarifying reform principles and safety baselines, encourage and support local grassroots to emancipate their minds, dare to try and explore, and carry out innovations based on actual conditions and local circumstances. We will fully respect the pioneering spirit of the grassroots and the masses and promote the timely replication, promotion, consolidation, and enhancement of successful experiences.

Question by The Paper: We have noticed that for some time, China's economy has maintained a sustained positive trend from the perspective of macroeconomic data. However, there exists a certain "temperature difference" between the macroeconomic data and the experiences of micro-level entities. In the process of further comprehensively deepening reform, how can we respond to this "temperature difference" through macroeconomic policies and institutional reforms to bridge this gap and achieve a virtuous economic cycle?

Han: Currently, China's economy maintains a trend of recovery and improvement, high-quality development is solidly promoted, and the main macro indicators are in line with expectations. At the same time, we are also facing some difficulties and challenges, mainly insufficient effective demand, operational difficulties for some enterprises, and financial difficulties for some localities, indicating that China's economic recovery is not strong enough, and there is a phenomenon of differentiation between different regions, industries, and enterprises. The next step is to promote the continuous recovery and improvement of the economy and achieve more balanced, inclusive, and beneficial development. One relies on strong policy support, and the other relies on reform efforts.

We need to implement macroeconomic control policies more vigorously and effectively. Proactive fiscal policy should be better leveraged and effective, accelerating the pace of issuance and use of special bonds, ensuring timely and full payment of "three guarantees" at the grassroots level, and giving full play to the leveraging role of fiscal funds in economic growth and structural adjustment. Prudent monetary policy should be flexible, appropriate, precise and effective, maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity, actively develop technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance, and digital finance, and provide a source of living water for the real economy. We need to implement the decisions and deployments of "two new" and "two important", implement the policy of large-scale equipment renewal and replacement of old consumer goods with new ones, invest more real money, increase policy support, and let enterprises and consumers obtain tangible benefits.

We need to combine long-term growth momentum with short-term stable growth, make good use of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, and strengthen the construction of national major strategic and key area security capability projects. We need to include both economic policies and non-economic policies in the consistency assessment of macroeconomic policy orientation to form a powerful synergy to promote high-quality development. We need to solidly promote reforms that the people and enterprises can feel and reach. Reform and development are both for the people and rely on the people, and the fruits of reform and development are shared by the people.

According to the deployment of the Third Plenary Session, we need to strengthen the construction of inclusive, basic, and bottom-line livelihood, improve the mechanism for determining, reasonably increasing, and ensuring payment of workers' wages, increase residents' property income through multiple channels, effectively increase the income of low-income groups, steadily expand the size of middle-income groups, and enhance residents' consumption ability and willingness. We need to improve the long-term mechanism for expanding consumption. We need to improve the mechanism for promoting high-quality and full employment, and support and standardize the development of new forms of employment. We need to improve the system and mechanism for government investment to effectively drive social investment, and form an endogenous growth mechanism for effective investment led by the market. We need to improve the system and mechanism for promoting equal opportunities, ensure that all types of ownership economies can use production factors equally in accordance with the law, participate in market competition fairly, and receive equal protection from the law, open up channels for social mobility, and create an environment for diligent wealth.

We believe that through the "dual-wheel drive" of strong policy support and reform efforts, China's economic development will be stronger, more balanced, and more sustainable, allowing micro entities to have more real feelings and gains.

Question by Phoenix Television: In the 2023 National Science and Technology Awards announced last month, about two-thirds of the three major awards were led by universities. The two top science and technology award winners, Academician Li Deren and Academician Xue Qikun are also from universities. So, how can we further enhance the scientific and technological innovation capabilities of universities through deepening reform in the next step, improve the quality of independent talent cultivation, and more effectively serve the country's major strategic needs?

Huai: colleges and universities are the concentrated confluence of education, science and technology, and talent, and are the main force of basic research and the source of major scientific and technological breakthroughs. I understand that colleges and universities are the most valuable resources of the country. In recent years, colleges and universities have played an important role in the national innovation system. For example, in the fields of quantum science and technology, life sciences, material sciences, and space science, a number of major original achievements have been made. In the next step, we will optimize the layout of higher education, focus on strengthening the targeted and organized talent cultivation, scientific and technological innovation, and social services of colleges and universities, strengthen the "dual-wheel drive" of institutional innovation and scientific and technological innovation, and provide strong support for accelerating the construction of an important talent center and innovation highland in the world.

First, we will promote the reform of colleges and universities by classification. The actual needs of economic and social development for schools and talents are diverse. In colleges and universities, both "all-around players" and "single event champions" are needed. We will clarify the development positioning of various types of colleges and universities, establish a classification management and evaluation mechanism, guide different types of colleges and universities to shape and play their advantages in different fields and tracks, pursue excellence, and develop their own characteristics. We will accelerate the construction of world-class universities and advantageous disciplines with Chinese characteristics, implement actions to cultivate first-class disciplines, focus on breakthroughs in advantageous directions, build a number of first-class discipline benchmarks, and improve the capacity of discipline construction in the completion of major tasks.

Second, we will focus on strengthening the cultivation of innovation ability. Education that fosters innovation cultivates innovative talents, and innovative talents create an innovative country. We will focus on the major strategic needs of the country and the trends of scientific and technological development, dynamically adjust the discipline setup of colleges and universities, optimize the talent cultivation model, and make extraordinary arrangements for urgently needed disciplines and majors. We will deeply implement the strategic action of cultivating top talents in basic disciplines of the country, deepen the construction of new engineering, new medicine, new agriculture, and new liberal arts, build first-class core courses, textbooks, practical projects, and teaching teams, strengthen the coordination of science and technology education and humanities education, promote the improvement of scientific and technological innovation thinking through the enhancement of students' humanistic qualities, and construct a high-quality, independent cultivation system for top innovative talents.

Third, we will improve the scientific and technological innovation mechanism of colleges and universities. We will implement a plan to make breakthroughs in basic disciplines and interdisciplinary disciplines, improve the degree of organization of basic research, use major tasks as the "engine" of the integration of science and education, lead the integration of disciplines, and promote the output of more original and disruptive scientific and technological innovation achievements. In particular, we will strengthen the cultivation of young scientific and technological talents and guide and support a group of young college teachers with a strong sense of home and country and outstanding innovation ability to carry out high-level independent exploration and challenge the "no man's land" of science through long-cycle stable support and long-cycle evaluation. We will improve the efficiency of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in colleges and universities, build regional technology transfer and transformation centers in colleges and universities, accelerate the layout and construction of higher research institutes, promote the "two-way rush" of colleges and universities and enterprises, promote the high-level creation and efficient transformation of scientific research achievements in colleges and universities, and continuously help develop new quality productive forces.

Question by Xinhua: How do you view the status and role of the rule of law in further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing the new journey of Chinese-style modernization? How can we achieve the unification of reform and the rule of law, ensure that major reforms have a legal basis, and promptly elevate reform achievements into the legal system?

Shen: Reform and the rule of law are mutually reinforcing and go hand in hand. On the surface, reform implies "breaking" and "changing", while the rule of law implies "establishing" and "fixing", which seem to be contradictory. However, in essence, reform and the rule of law are a dialectical unity of "breaking" and "establishing", "changing" and "fixing". Various reforms and new policies in history have been closely linked to legislation and the establishment of systems. The practice of China's reform and opening up also shows that the realization of the rule of law is inseparable from the promotion of reform, and the deepening of reform also inevitably requires the guarantee of the rule of law.

After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Third and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee made strategic arrangements for comprehensively deepening reform and comprehensively advancing the rule of law, respectively. The two decisions adopted at the two plenary sessions constitute a complementary pair of sister articles, with reform and the rule of law being like two wings of a bird or two wheels of a vehicle. In recent years, we have adhered to the two-pronged approach of reform and the rule of law, achieving many important results and valuable experiences.

From the perspective of legislative work, among the 303 currently effective laws in China, 78 were newly formulated after the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, such as the Civil Code, which is a significant and substantial piece of legislation. Out of the 303 laws, 147 have been amended a total of 334 times, and the intensity of revision is also very significant.

On the new journey, further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-style modernization should be organically integrated with further comprehensively advancing the rule of law, giving better play to the important role of the rule of law. Many of the important measures and task requirements deployed in the "Decision" involve the formulation, amendment, abolition, interpretation, and compilation of laws, as well as related authorization and approval work, which pose many new issues and requirements for legislative work and require new answers through deepening reform in the legislative field.

The "Decision" clearly puts forward some important legislative and amendment tasks in relevant parts, including the formulation of the Private Economy Promotion Law, the Financial Law, the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, and the Anti-Cross-Border Corruption Law, as well as the amendment of the Supervision Law and the Supervisory Law, and the compilation of the Ecological and Environmental Law Code.

We must fully implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, actively adapt to new situations and requirements, and strive to properly handle the relationship between reform and the rule of law. For laws and regulations that need to be formulated to deepen reform, they should be formulated in a timely manner. For matters that require pilot projects and exploration due to insufficient practical experience, authorization decisions can be made in accordance with the law. For current legal provisions that do not adapt to the requirements of reform and development, they should be promptly revised, improved or abolished according to law. For matters that have been clearly decided by relevant reform decisions and require corresponding amendments to multiple laws, a "packaged" amendment approach can be adopted to deal with them together. For institutional innovation measures that need to be promoted in stages, a "decision + legislation" or "decision + amendment" approach can be adopted, first making relevant decisions according to law and then promptly deploying and promoting related legislative and amendment work.

Question by CNBC: Under the situation of intensified trade tensions with major economies, how can China strike a balance between slowing down real estate and cultivating new engines of economic growth?

Han: China's real estate market is large in scale and has a wide range of implications, exerting a systemic impact on the macroeconomic operation. Currently, the supply and demand relationship in the real estate market is undergoing major changes, and the market is in the process of adjustment. We must adhere to seeking progress while maintaining stability and establishing the new before abolishing the old, using reform methods to solve problems encountered in moving forward, accelerating the transformation of old and new growth drivers, and providing diverse and strong dynamic support for high-quality development. We need to continue focusing efforts in three aspects.

First, we need to promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market. Recently, positive changes have begun to emerge in the real estate market. We must adhere to the combination of digesting inventory and optimizing incremental supply, further implement and improve new real estate policies, effectively ensure the delivery of pre-sold houses, and revitalize existing commercial housing and land resources. In the next step, we need to thoroughly implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, accelerate the construction of a new development model for real estate, eliminate the drawbacks of the past model of "high debt, high turnover, and high leverage", build "good houses" that meet the new expectations of the people, better satisfy rigid and improved housing demands, and establish corresponding basic systems for financing, taxation, land, and sales. It should be noted that China's new urbanization is still ongoing, and there is still considerable room for high-quality development of real estate.

Second, we need to accelerate the development of emerging and future industries and cultivate and strengthen new engines of economic growth. In recent years, China has formed a number of advantageous industries such as high-end equipment, new energy vehicles, and photovoltaics. Emerging industries such as the new generation of information technology, new materials, low-altitude economy, and new energy storage are developing well, and more than 140,000 specialized and sophisticated SMEs have been cultivated. In accordance with the deployment made in the "Decision" of the Third Plenary Session, we need to develop new quality productive forces based on local conditions, vigorously cultivate and strengthen emerging industries, lay out and build future industries, transform and upgrade traditional industries, promote the high-end, intelligent, and green development of the manufacturing industry, form a number of new pillar industries, and continuously enhance new growth drivers and new advantages.

Third, we need to expand domestic demand, especially consumer demand, and enhance the endogenous power and reliability of the domestic circulation. Facing the new international environment, we need to stabilize the foundation of foreign trade and investment and continuously expand China's development space. At the same time, we need to fully tap the potential of domestic demand, fully utilize the advantage of China's super-large-scale market, give full play to the fundamental role of consumption and the key role of investment, and promote the qualitative and effective improvement and reasonable quantitative growth of China's economy. China's economy is a large economy with great potential for domestic demand and internal circulation. As long as we handle our own affairs well, we can ensure the smooth circulation and steady and far-reaching development of the national economy.

Question by Lianhe Zaobao: At present, the world situation is turbulent, and the external uncertainties faced by China are also increasing. Will this affect China's continued efforts to advance reform and expand opening-up?

Mu: Xi Jinping once said, "Maintaining strategic focus, strengthening confidence, and concentrating on doing our own things well are the keys to coping with various risks and challenges." Reform and opening up is an important magic weapon for China to catch up with the times in big strides, and it has become a distinct banner of the Communist Party of China and a consensus of the broad masses of the people. Since the new era, in the face of a severe and complex international and domestic situation, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has always held high the banner of reform and opening up, using the thinking and methods of reform to solve problems in development. From the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, which opened the curtain of comprehensively deepening reform in the new era, to the strategic deployment of further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese-style modernization made at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, we have been moving forward step by step towards the set goals, not afraid of any risks and not distracted by any disturbances, fully demonstrating our party's strong determination and firm will to carry out reform to the end. Practice has also fully proven that it is precisely because our party has unswervingly and consistently promoted reform and opening up that we can accurately identify changes, scientifically respond to changes, and actively seek changes, win the initiative in the ever-changing situation, and always firmly grasp the destiny of development and progress in our own hands.

Adhering to opening up to the outside world is China's basic national policy. Reform and opening up are mutually reinforcing, and promoting reform and development through opening up is a successful practice of China's reform and development. At present, the world is undergoing changes unseen in a century, and external uncertainties are increasing, but it will not affect China's firm determination and confidence to continue deepening reform and expanding opening up. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized on many occasions that "China's door to opening up will not be closed, but will only open wider and wider," and "We will adhere to the basic national policy of opening up, adhere to promoting reform, development, and innovation through opening up, and continue to advance a higher level of opening up to the outside world." The "Decision" of this plenary session also made special arrangements for opening up to the outside world, involving expanding institutional opening up, reforming the foreign trade system, managing foreign investment and outbound investment, optimizing the regional opening up layout, improving the mechanism for promoting high-quality co-construction of the "Belt and Road," etc., releasing a clear signal to expand high-level opening up. China is accelerating the construction of a new development pattern, relying on the advantages of its super-large-scale domestic market, constantly expanding the depth and breadth of opening up in the process of promoting the dual circulation, shaping new advantages of a higher-level open economy, actively participating in the reform of global economic governance, and sharing development opportunities and creating a better future with countries around the world.

Question By People’s Daily: From the communique of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee that has been released, this plenary session put forward a series of important reform measures, and the task of implementing the reforms is very arduous. We noticed that the plenary session emphasized the need to implement with the spirit of "driving a nail"” so how should we understand and carry out this requirement?

Tang: The "Decision" of the plenary session emphasizes "implementing reforms with the spirit of nailing nails," which is the last of the 60 articles in the "Decision" and carries great weight. We all know that implementation is very important for all work. People often say "one part deployment, nine parts implementation," which is an important recognition of the regularity of career development and leadership activities. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "If we don't put our hearts into implementation, even the best goals and the best blueprints are just flowers in the mirror and the moon in the water." What I want to say in particular is that the deeper the reform progresses, the more complex and acute the conflicts of interest involved, the harder the hard bones are to chew, and the more difficult it is to move forward every step. Only by putting more effort into implementation can we overcome various obstacles, break through the barriers of vested interests, benefit the broad masses of people with more and better modernization achievements, and constantly achieve the success of reform.

To implement the requirements of the "Decision" on implementing reforms with the spirit of nailing nails, I feel that we need to pay attention to grasping the following points:

1. Fully understand the requirements of reform. Correctly understand the layout of further comprehensively deepening reform, accurately understand the background and positioning, direction and connotation of each reform measure, figure out where the starting point and key point of innovation are, where the content boundary and the connection with other related reform measures are, so as to grasp the implementation of reform in a targeted and precise manner.

2. Carefully organize and implement. Transform the "freehand brushwork" of the "Decision" into "fine brushwork" and "construction drawings." Determine the start and end time limits of each reform task according to priorities, and advance and complete them one node at a time.

3. Ensure responsibility implementation. Clarify the implementation subjects and responsibilities of each reform, and clarify the lead unit, participating units, responsible matters, and responsible persons one by one. For cross-field and cross-departmental reform measures that are difficult for a single unit to take the lead in implementing, the Party committee and government should directly organize and implement them, grasping them deeply and thoroughly, and preventing the phenomenon of "nine dragons controlling water."

4. Strengthen supervision and accountability. Continuously carry out special supervision, comprehensive supervision, and integrated supervision, and put effort into discovering and solving problems. Include the implementation of major reforms in the content of inspections and tours, and test reforms with actual results and effectiveness and the satisfaction of the people.

5. Persist in long-term efforts. Deeply understand the complexity and arduousness of reform, adhere to the correct direction, enhance the determination to move forward, grasp iron and leave marks, step on stones and leave prints, do one crop after another, and draw a blueprint to the end.

As long as the whole Party implements the tasks of further comprehensively deepening reform with the spirit of nailing nails, the comprehensive advancement of building a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernization will surely take solid steps forward.

Question by Guangming Daily： The people's need for "good education" is getting higher and higher. How can we accelerate the narrowing of the gaps in education between urban and rural areas, between regions, between schools, and between groups through further deepening reform so that every child can enjoy fair and quality education?

Huai: Enabling every child to enjoy fair and quality education is an inevitable requirement for adhering to the people-centered development of education. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), all 2,895 county-level administrative units in China have achieved basic balance in compulsory education, and the level of education popularization has achieved a historic leap, among which preschool education and compulsory education have reached the average level of high-income countries in the world. In the next step, we will take high-quality development as the lifeline of education at all levels and types, integrate the promotion of fairness into all aspects and links of deepening comprehensive education reform, and promote the fundamental transformation from "having access to education" to "receiving good education." The focus will be on deepening the reform of "four categories":

1. In terms of resource allocation, we will focus on expanding and improving quality, and increase the supply of high-quality educational resources. We will make forward-looking arrangements in response to the changes in the school-age population, optimize the allocation of regional educational resources, and establish a basic public education service supply mechanism that is coordinated with population changes. We will improve the mechanism for promoting high-quality and balanced compulsory education, deepen group-based schooling and urban-rural pairing assistance, promote the growth of new high-quality schools, and make "good schools" recognized by the public more and more.

2. In terms of education and teaching, we will focus on student-centeredness, strengthen quality-oriented education, and promote the all-round development of all students. We will implement the fundamental task of moral education, continuously improve the pertinence and attractiveness of ideological and political courses, strengthen the cultivation of students' sports interests, aesthetic ability and labor habits, comprehensively popularize mental health education, and promote the healthy growth of students. We will continue to promote the "double reduction" reform, comprehensively improve the quality of classroom teaching, improve the quality of after-school services, and strengthen the cultivation of core literacy. We will improve the mechanism of collaborative education among schools, families, and society, improve the care system for migrant children, left-behind children, and disabled children, and create a good environment of common care and concern from the whole society.

3. In terms of the guarantee mechanism, we will focus on respecting teachers and valuing education, and build a high-quality and professional teaching team. We will further improve the teacher education system with Chinese characteristics, deeply implement the "National Outstanding Primary and Secondary School Teacher Training Program", and rely on "double first-class" universities to expand the scale of high-level primary and secondary school teacher training. We will promote outstanding primary and secondary school principals and teachers to teach in rural and weak schools, improve the guarantee and incentive mechanism, and support teachers to go down, teach well, and play a leading role.

4. In terms of opening up new paths, we will focus on digital empowerment and give play to the new advantages of intelligent education. Digital education is an effective way to narrow the education gap and improve the quality of education. We will deeply implement the national education digitalization strategic action, build and make good use of the national intelligent education public service platform, and promote the extensive sharing of high-quality educational resources. We will vigorously promote the construction of smart campuses, build a Chinese version of AI education large model, explore large-scale teaching according to aptitude, innovative and personalized teaching, and better meet the needs of the public for "receiving good education."

Question by MNI: Since the beginning of this year, foreign direct investment has decreased somewhat, but foreign investors' attention to China's capital market is on the rise. What new measures is China taking to expand, open up, and attract foreign investment?

Han: Opening up to the outside world is our basic national policy, and foreign-funded enterprises are important participants and active contributors to China's economic development. Affected by factors such as changes in the international environment, China's actual use of foreign capital has declined recently. This is a temporary phenomenon. With the continuous improvement of the business environment and the continuous increase of market opportunities, China's utilization of foreign capital will continue to expand. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made important arrangements for promoting high-level opening up and expanding the use of foreign capital. Here, I emphasize three points.

First, steadily expand institutional opening up. We should take the initiative to align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, achieve the interconnection and interoperability of rules, regulations, management, and standards in areas such as property rights protection, industrial subsidies, environmental standards, labor protection, government procurement, e-commerce, and finance, establish an efficient, convenient and secure mechanism for cross-border data flow, and create a transparent, stable and predictable institutional environment. Recently, we have implemented a unilateral visa-free policy for some countries, which has been widely welcomed and achieved good results. We will further improve the convenience system for people coming to China for business and tourism, such as residence, medical care, and payment.

Second, further relax market access. We should implement the requirement of "zeroing out" restrictive measures on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector as soon as possible, expand the catalog of industries that encourage foreign investment, and rationally reduce the negative list of foreign investment access. We should expand the opening up of the service industry, fully implement the negative list of cross-border service trade, and promote the orderly expansion of opening up in the fields of telecommunications, Internet, education, culture, and medical care. We should accelerate the development of offshore trade.

Third, effectively guarantee national treatment and legitimate rights and interests of foreign-funded enterprises. We should support the development of domestic and foreign-funded enterprises without discrimination, and guarantee national treatment for foreign-funded enterprises in terms of factor acquisition, qualification licensing, standard setting, and government procurement. In recent years, many good cases have emerged in various regions in terms of protecting the trade secrets and intellectual property rights of foreign-funded enterprises, which have effectively safeguarded the investment rights and interests of foreign-funded enterprises.

At present, economic globalization faces huge challenges. Opposing unilateralism and protectionism, and maintaining the security and stability of the global economic order and industrial and supply chains are the common responsibilities of governments and enterprises of all countries. China remains a fertile ground for investment from all countries. We will continue to improve the first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, and are willing to share with foreign-funded enterprises the huge opportunities contained in China's new quality productive forces and the advancement of Chinese-style modernization. We are happy to see foreign-funded enterprises grow together with China's economy.