China has established a complete industrial system with comparatively strong international competitiveness. Labeled as the world's manufacturing workshop, the country's manufacturing volumes now rank No 1 in the world. Because of its continuous economic buildup, China has successfully lifted a nearly 500 million people out of poverty, a big contribution to the global endeavor to reduce the world's impoverished population.

With its ever-deepening integration into the international system, China has successfully demonstrated it is a responsible power. As a member of the international community, China persistently adheres to long-cherished policies aimed at maintaining world peace and promoting common development. It has established relationships with developed countries, deepened friendly and good-neighborly ties with neighboring countries and consolidated its traditional friendship with developing nations. It has also actively participated in international multilateral affairs, undertaken more international obligations and played a constructive role in the settlement of many international issues.

History proves and will continue to prove the wisdom of the CPC and its able leadership of the Chinese people in their endeavor to build a prosperous, civilized, democratic and harmonious modern socialist state and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. During the past more than 30 years of reform and opening-up and amid complex and volatile international circumstances, the CPC has led the Chinese people in overcoming unprecedented challenges and successfully attained the objective of the first two stages of the country's three-stage development strategy. Now we are striding forward toward the strategic objective of the third stage. From now to the mid-21st century, China will be in a period of in-depth development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, marketization and internationalization, an important period of strategic opportunities for economic and social development, but also a period with prominent social contradictions.

We must recognize the basic reality that China is still a developing country with a huge population and a weak economic foundation, as well as relatively inadequate resources per capita. There are still prominent domestic problems, including imbalanced, uncoordinated or unsustainable development, while at the same time unstable factors abroad are increasing. These are its basic national conditions.

The opportunities and challenges that lie ahead are a huge new test for the Party's governing capability. The success of reform and opening-up only justifies the past. In the future we need to keep on making unrelenting efforts to improve peoples' livelihoods. Praxis is endless, and reform and innovation are endless, too. We should continue to take reform and opening-up as a strong driving force to accelerate the transition of the economic development pattern and as a powerful weapon to address the country's contradictions.

We should continue to promote reform in a comprehensive way with greater determination and courage, and develop a package of reform and opening-up plans that are comprehensive, systematic, forward-looking and strategic. We should make breakthroughs in some key areas and make sure all the people in China share the fruits of reform and opening-up.

After more than 30 years of successful development, we should earnestly absorb and draw on the fruits of all advanced civilizations, while contriving new strategies, new initiatives and new policies of opening-up that will strengthen China's advantages while participating in international economic cooperation and competition. We should also strive for a more favorable international environment for China's sustainable development.

On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the CPC and reviewing China's extraordinary progress since the launch of reform and opening-up, we feel confident that only socialism can continue to propel China forward and only reform and opening-up can develop China. And we firmly believe that the CPC is capable of leading the Chinese people to new heights and a new chapter in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The author is former vice-premier of China

(China Daily 06/25/2011 page6)