Building the Party’s Governing Capacity

The Party’s governing capacity is the Party’s capability to put forward and apply correct theories, lines, principles, policies and strategies, lead the formulation and implementation of the constitution and laws, adopt scientific leadership system and leadership style, mobilize and organize the people to manage state and social affairs, economic and cultural causes according to law, effectively run the Party, country and armed forces, and build a socialist modern country.

In 2002, the report of the 16th CPC National Congress put forward the “building the Party’s governing capacity”, and required to improve “the capability of judging the situation scientifically, to control the market economy, coping with complex situations, governing according to law, and exercising overall leadership” according to the changes of governing conditions and social environment.

In September 2004, the 4th Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee adopted the “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening the Construction of the Party’s Governance Capability”. According to the fact of opportunities and challenges coexisting and the need to realize the three historic tasks, it proposes that vigorously strengthening the construction of governing capacity affects the cause of Chinese socialist, the future of Chinese nations and the governing status of the CPC and the safety of China.

The 4th Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee comprehensively summed up the main experience of the Party in governing for more than half a century, clearly put forward the guiding ideology, overall objectives and main tasks of strengthening the Party's governing capacity, and focused on five aspects based on the actual situation, namely “the capacity to control the socialist market economy, develop socialist democratic politics, build advanced socialist culture, build a harmonious socialist society, and deal with international affairs”. These five aspects involve economy, politics, culture, society, diplomacy, national sovereignty and security, covering reform, development and stability, internal affairs, foreign affairs and national defense, and running of the Party, the country and the army. They are all-round thinking and deployment of the Party's governing capacity construction based on the overall situation at home and abroad. The overall goal of strengthening the Party's governing capacity construction is to make the Party always be a governing Party for the public and the people, a governing Party for scientific, democratic and law-based governance, a governing Party for seeking truth and being pragmatic, pioneering and innovative, diligent and efficient, honest and clean, and a Marxist governing Party that will always maintain advancement and stand the test of various storms.

The “Decision of the Central Committee of the CPC on Several Major Issues Concerning Strengthening and Improving Party Construction under the New Circumstances” adopted at the 4th Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee in 2009 summarized the adherence to the construction of the Party’s governing capacity and advancement as one of the basic experiences in the governing Party building. In 2012, the 18th CPC National Congress, with “making Party building more scientific in all respects” as the title of the Party building part, included the passage as : “We should maintain the Party's advanced nature and purity, strengthen its creativity, cohesiveness and capability and enhance its capacity to govern in a scientific and democratic way and in accordance with the law”, which defined the general requirement of making Party building more scientific in all respects as a “main line”, so as to ensure that the Party always firmly remains the leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.