BEIJING - China should adhere to its reform and opening-up policy on its development path, the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said in a signed commentary on Monday, the day after the 20th anniversary of the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Against an international backdrop of looming ideological differences and as China faces external attempts to intervene in its development and squeeze its strategic space, the collapse of the Soviet Union should be taken as a reference for China to reflect upon the path of a nation's development and social progress, said the commentary under the byline of Guo Jiping.

An important factor leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union was that it failed to carry out real reform, the commentary said.

The commentary said that the current development and stability in China owes to the reform and opening-up policy and the fact that the country independently chose a path suitable to its own national conditions instead of copying others' paths or following other countries' instructions.

With the world moving toward multi-polarization, the development paths of different countries are also getting diversified, it said.

The commentary also called for more wisdom, innovation and courage for the reforms and told the country to be sober-minded in regards to existing problems. Efforts to deal with the problems will propel reform and create an environment for healthy development, it said.

The reform in China costs, but it pays more. Development in China over the past 30 years is the benefit of reform, and reform efforts are widely accepted by the Chinese people, the commentary said.