The "China model" has attracted a great deal of attention and has been the subject of much debate. What do you think is the CPC's most successful experience in leading the Chinese people to achieve enormous economic growth?

There is no doubt that the more than 30 years of reform and opening-up which began in 1978 is one of the most remarkable transformations of a country in human history. The CPC's great innovation, pioneered by Deng Xiaoping, was to focus on practice more than on theory, which changed the character and contributions of the CPC.

Although "reform and opening-up" is often said as a single stock phrase, I believe that "opening up" was the real key to China's success, because it gave the Chinese people a sudden, uncolored view of the real world, so that they were finally able to learn the best international practices and processes while keeping Chinese distinctiveness and culture.

Such opening-up has been promoted by the enlightened CPC leadership. Reform, on the other hand, has often begun at the grass-roots levels and put into "gray" practice, and it was only after the reform had been working in society did the CPC leadership recognize the reform's success and make it official policy.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the CPC? What's the cause of it and how can it be tackled?

Challenges can be classified broadly as economic or political. Economically, the challenge is to keep the country's GDP growing briskly and steadily while reducing the great imbalances in society, between urban and rural, coastal and inland. To accomplish this, productivity is the key. Without increasing efficiencies in all areas of production and consumption - from industrial output to consumer utilization, even including new knowledge creation - all of which is based on intelligence and investment, China will be mortgaging the future while improving the present.

The great challenge for China's leaders is to enhance the standards of living of underdeveloped sectors of society without restraining or unintentionally undermining national productivity. The key here is innovation, driven by science and technology. The fact that most CPC senior leaders are scientifically literate is a vital, if underappreciated factor, in China's continuing economic success.

I suggest policies that have a high, rapid impact on poorer citizens, such as electronic education for children, efficient modern healthcare, and access to media and entertainment.

Politically, I believe that at least for the current times China should continue with its one-party CPC rule, provided, of course, that the CPC remains true to its policies of the past 30 years, continues to put the people's welfare first, and works to institute careful political reform.

For saying this, I am, as you would expect, criticized in the West. But what I also say is that because the CPC has a monopoly on power, it has a greater burden to institute reforms and to promote a democratic and prosperous society. Transparency in governance, as well as an increasingly free media, are critical tasks for the CPC.

I also believe that the increasing involvement of professionally competent non-governmental organizations contributes to pluralistic governance and facilitates the CPC's leading role. The CPC should be proud of China's accomplishments and should have the confidence to encourage new organizations to emerge which compete in society, thus attaining optimum benefits for the people.

Examples are new roles for labor unions which are independently empowered to represent workers in their negotiations with corporate management and diverse kinds of charitable organizations serving the needy.