How can the CPC sustain the people's support?

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BEIJING, March 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- An interview with Wang Xiaohui, editor-in-chief of China.org.cn, on people-centered philosophy:

Over the past 70-plus years, China has transformed from a poor country into the world's second largest economy, completely eradicated extreme poverty, and seen a significant rise in average life expectancy. It's fair to say that the country's achievements, and the outcomes of the CPC's commitments to represent, safeguard and realize the fundamental interests of all Chinese people, have been witnessed by all.

This can be attributed to various factors. But from the perspective of the CPC's governance, there is only one fundamental logic and concept, and that is a people-centered philosophy.

Some may argue that the governing party in every democratic country emphasizes "the people." However, the key is how to put the concept into practice and not simply pay lip-service.

In the view of the CPC, which believes in Marxism, the people are the creators of social history. Therefore, a people-centered philosophy aims to ensure the principal position of the people. When pursuing development, it is particularly important to safeguard the people's fundamental interests, rely on the people to build the country, and ensure that the fruits are shared by all the people.

I'd like to share with you some of my observations. A few years ago, we filmed a documentary on poverty alleviation in Yanchuan county of Yan'an city in western China. We visited one family, where a father with mental health issues and his three daughters previously lived in a cave house damaged by a fire. Meanwhile, another family was thrown into poverty by the cost of medical treatment for seriously ill members.

People like these faced problems. We saw village officials knock on each and every door, to learn about the situation of the poor households, and on this basis, formulate specific measures. This epitomizes China's targeted poverty alleviation strategy. Thanks to these measures, the families solved their housing and employment problems and sent their children to school.

Committed to practicing a people-centered philosophy, the CPC requires those in power at all levels to stay engaged with the people and their communities, resolve the most practical problems that are of the greatest and most direct concern of the people, and improve the people's wellbeing.

Over the past decade, China has made a big push to improve rural infrastructure such as roads, water supply and electricity, and ensure more equal access to education, health care and other public services. As the CPC applies a people-centered philosophy, at present, it is especially important to ensure that the country's modernization drive benefit all the people.

To advance toward their goals, the CPC and the Chinese government often formulate major strategic plans for the next five or ten years. Some grand objectives, such as the vision of building a moderately prosperous society, were put forward decades ago and have been continuously enriched and refined by successive leaderships. Making medium- and long-term strategic plans is also a manifestation of the CPC's commitment to safeguard the people's fundamental and long-term interests, as the practice helps keep the direction and the way ahead clear.

You may wonder how these major development plans came into being. Take the recent report to the 20th CPC National Congress as an example. Drafting the report began with surveys and studies in various fields. As early as January 2022, the drafting team arranged survey and research tasks on a variety of topics. In the following three months, 179 survey groups visited urban and rural communities, factories and enterprises in provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities; conducted written surveys on 465 organizations; and held more than 1,000 symposiums. The surveys and studies enabled the CPC to better understand the evolution of practices and the people's opinions and needs, laying the foundation for discussing major reform and development measures.

Over the past decades, many of China's major decisions have embodied the people's wisdom. For example, the household contract responsibility system adopted in the late 1970s was in fact initiated by a group of farmers. Another example comes from the early 1980s, when 55 business leaders in Fujian province published a letter calling for greater autonomy of enterprises, and later the Chinese government introduced relevant measures ushering in the management reform of China's state-owned enterprises.

The CPC believes that any theory comes from practice and must be applied in practice to be tested and verified. Therefore, committed to a people-centered philosophy, the CPC works to ensure that it is relying on the people. In its practical work, the Party collects public opinions and absorbs the people's wisdom, turns them into concentrated and systematic ideas through study, explains these ideas to the people, and translates them into action. During this process, the people's creations and views will be accommodated again. And so on, in a continuous spiral, with the ideas becoming more correct, more vital and richer each time.

Just a few examples are not enough to demonstrate the rich connotations of the people-centered philosophy. But it is clear that the CPC is working hard to follow a path of respecting public opinion, pooling the people's wisdom, gathering the people's strength, and improving the people's wellbeing. As I said at the beginning, there are numerous reasons behind China's achievements. However, without this path or the unity of the hundreds of millions of Chinese people, these achievements would have been impossible.

The CPC remains committed to the people-centered philosophy and keeps improving the systems for "acting for the people and relying on the people" so that the Party can realize the fundamental interests of all Chinese people and sustain the people's support.