The seventh plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee is held on October 9-12, 2022 in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua

The 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded its seventh plenary session in Beijing on Wednesday with a communiqué issued to thoroughly review the achievements of the Party and the state in the past five years, and also discussed and adopted a report of the 19th Central Committee to the 20th CPC National Congress and an amendment to the CPC Constitution. 

Analysts said the event showed that the CPC is fully prepared for the upcoming 20th National Congress that will have great historic significance.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made an important speech at the four-day session, which was presided over by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. It was decided at the plenary session that the 20th CPC National Congress will open on October 16 in Beijing, according to the communiqué released by the Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday.

Entrusted by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Xi delivered a work report to the plenum. The plenary session also discussed and adopted a report to be made by the 19th CPC Central Committee to the 20th CPC National Congress, a work report of the 19th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) to the congress, and an amendment to the CPC Constitution. The three documents will be submitted to the upcoming Party Congress for examination and deliberation, read the communiqué.

During the session, Xi delivered explanatory remarks on the draft report by the 19th CPC Central Committee to the 20th CPC National Congress. Wang Huning made explanations on the draft amendment to the CPC Constitution.

The seventh plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee opened in Beijing on October 9, with 199 full members and 159 alternate members present. Members of the CCDI and leading officials of related departments were also present in a non-voting capacity. 

Chinese experts said that the plenary session is like a final preparation for the 20th CPC National Congress, to finish the procedure and to open the overture for the upcoming significant political event. 

Key achievements  

It was noted at the session that over the past year since the sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee when Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century was adopted, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, confronted with a complex and challenging international situation and demanding tasks of advancing reform, promoting development, and maintaining stability at home, has fully implemented Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and united and led the whole Party, the armed forces and the people of all ethnic groups in securing new and major achievements in the undertakings of the Party and the state, creating favorable conditions for convening the 20th CPC National Congress.

The media center for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China starts services on October 12, 2022 in Beijing. Photo: VCG

The communiqué has also reviewed the key achievements the Party has made and the challenges the Party has overcome in the past five years.

Over the past five years, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has united and led the whole Party, the armed forces and the people of all ethnic groups in effectively coping with the grave and complex international situation and a series of major risks and challenges, and pushing forward socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era in an energetic manner, according to the communiqué.

The past five years since the 19th CPC National Congress have been unusual and extraordinary, said the communiqué. 

These major achievements have been the result of concerted efforts of all Party members and all Chinese people under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. 

The communiqué emphasized that, the Party has established Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and has defined the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This reflects the common will of the Party, the armed forces, and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, and is of decisive significance for advancing the cause of the Party and the country in the new era and for driving forward the historic process of great national rejuvenation.

Zhang Xixian, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the communiqué has reflected the difficulties and high complexity of the international situation and the challenges that we have had in domestic governance and development in the past five years, and even in such a tough period, the Party still achieved so many remarkable goals, this truly reflected the extraordinary performance of the 19th CPC Central Committee. 

Zhang Shuhua, director of the institute of political sciences of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that "the communiqué showed that the mission of the 19th CPC Central Committee has accomplished, so the baton of history will soon be handed to the next central committee which will be elected in the upcoming 20th National Congress."

The session took stock of the work of the 19th CPC CCDI, noting that discipline inspection commissions at all levels, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, had resolutely implemented the Party's strategic decisions of self-reform and full, rigorous self-governance.

The session also endorsed the expulsion of Fu Zhenghua, Shen Deyong and Zhang Jinghua from the CPC, as was decided by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, as well as the punishment on Li Jia, who was removed from his post in the Party.

The session analyzed the current situation and the tasks, and hosted in-depth discussion on major issues including upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics on the new journey in the new era, and building a modern socialist country in all respects. It made full preparations for the upcoming 20th CPC National Congress.