Xi sets steps for deepening overall reform

Initiatives must be people-centered and carried out under leadership of the Party

President Xi Jinping called for continuous and resolute efforts to deepen overall reform as the top reform agency convened on Monday for the first time since the Party's national congress established reform procedures in multiple areas.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, set down requirements while presiding over the first meeting of the 19th Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform. The group is headed by Xi.

During the meeting, Xi stressed that great achievements have been reached in deepening reform, and that there remains huge potential for further deepening of reform.

Members of the leading group, including Li Keqiang, Zhang Gaoli, Wang Yang and Wang Huning, attended the conference.

The president required local authorities to focus on reform tasks set at the CPC's 19th National Congress. The congress, which concluded last month, drew up the blueprint for the country's development in the coming decades.

Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi as the core, the Party advanced reform theories and practices, which has laid the basis for the coming steps of deepening reform, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The reform measures must be people-centered and carried out under the unified leadership of the Communist Party of China no matter how the reform has been deepened, the statement said.

The statement stressed that the Party's 19th National Congress has set new tasks to deepen overall reform, with more practical measures required. Local authorities are urged to be well prepared for more arduous tasks to implement the measures.

During the meeting, the senior leaders reviewed 17 documents and discussed a wide range of reform issues covering such areas as supervision of State-owned assets, poverty reduction, rural environmental protection, protection of lakes, education, rural farmland, health and intellectual property.

According to the conference, the State Council, China's Cabinet, should report the management situation of State-owned assets to the National People's Congress, the top legislature, because it is an important measure to enhance supervision of State-owned assets, as required at the Party's 19th National Congress.

The conference highlighted the importance of dispatching responsible teams to poverty-stricken villages as a method for the country's massive plan of lifting all poor people out of poverty by 2020. The dispatched teams must focus on targeted goals, make practical efforts and satisfy the people, said the statement.

The conference stressed that it's important to introduce a third party for appraisal when lawmaking procedures involve adjustments of major interests and controversies.