The third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1978 was epoch-making in that it launched reform and opening-up, and initiated the process of socialist modernization. Similarly, the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2013 was also epoch-making, as it initiated a new era of comprehensively deepening reform and expanding high-level opening-up.

The third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, held in July, is also very important as it vowed to further deepen reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization, and defined the new reform goals and principles.

In advancing reform and opening-up, the CPC has always adhered to a people-centric development idea. And in the historical process of reform and opening-up, the Party has given full play to the role of the leadership, united and led the people, helped emancipate their minds, sought truth from facts, kept pace with the times, pursued truth and pragmatism, and vigorously promoted the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Reform and opening-up not only changed the face of China, but also profoundly influenced the world.

Reform is a powerful driving force for development and the key to achieving Chinese modernization. By comprehensively deepening reform, China can overcome the drawbacks of the system, strengthen the relationship between the economic base and superstructure, and national governance and social development, and advance Chinese modernization.

On the other hand, the Party's efforts should be focused on achieving Chinese modernization through deepening of reform and expanding of high-level opening-up. This means that China has to constantly deepen reform to solve practical problems, promote socioeconomic development, meet the needs of the people for a better life, and advance Chinese modernization.

Thanks to reform and opening-up, China has made remarkable achievements, injecting new vitality into the Chinese economy and society. For example, the reform of the Party and State institutions, and the administrative scrutiny and approval system has promoted the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics and helped advance Chinese modernization.

Besides, the overall goal of further deepening reform is to continue developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, and modernizing the national governance system and governance capacity, in order to build a high-level socialist market economy by 2035, laying a solid foundation for building a "modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious" by the middle of this century.

The third plenum's resolution also said the country will follow the six major principles of comprehensively deepening reform, namely adhering to the comprehensive leadership of the Party, putting the people at the center, upholding integrity and innovation, focusing on institutional construction, promoting the rule of law, and adopting a systematic approach to address issues.

As the plenum stressed, there is a need to adhere to the Party's comprehensive leadership because it is the fundamental guarantee for further deepening reform to advance Chinese modernization. Also, the people need to be put at the center so they can live a better life. This is to say that, the purpose of deepening reform is to better serve the people, and ensure the fruits of reform are shared by the people.

The plenum emphasized the importance of maintaining integrity, promoting innovation, and intensifying institutional construction. So efforts should be made to channel the enthusiasm and creativity of all parties to deepen reform and ensure reform yields practical results.

The resolution also said that achieving high-quality development is the primary goal of building a modern socialist country. Also, the resolution highlighted the need for building a high-level socialist market economy, improving the institutional mechanisms for promoting high-quality development and urban-rural integrated development, promoting high-level opening-up, strengthening the institutional system for improving people's livelihoods, better protecting the environment and preserving the ecology, and reforming the education sector and the scientific and technological system.

The implementation of these measures will help overcome old constraints, and promote the comprehensive and coordinated development of China's economy and society.

Besides, the importance of the plenum held last month lies not only in highlighting the necessity of comprehensively deepening reform and opening-up in the new era, but also in demonstrating China's determination to overcome difficulties on way to achieving high-quality development.

China seems set to make new achievements on the economic, social and legal fronts, further improve people's living standards and livelihoods, and achieve the goal of common prosperity. In other words, the plenum has drawn a new blueprint for comprehensively deepening reform at a new historical starting point.

The author is a senior research fellow at the China Institute of Macroeconomics, and former director of the Market and Price Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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