Upholding core position of Xi is vital requirement

A senior official of the Communist Party of China explained on Friday the significance of upholding the core position of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, saying that the move will help the nation brave any storms.

Jiang Jinquan, head of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, told a news conference in Beijing that the whole Party now has an anchor, the entire Chinese people now have a backbone and the giant vessel of China's rejuvenation has a helmsman by firmly upholding and safeguarding Xi's core position.

It would be unimaginable for the Party, which boasts over 95 million members, and China－with 56 ethnic groups and 1.4 billion people－to be without a core figure in its central leadership, Jiang explained at the news conference in Beijing on the sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee.

Without a core figure, it would be very easy to sink into disunity, and then nothing can be accomplished, he said.

It is the call of the times, the choice of history and the common aspiration of the people to establish the core position of Comrade Xi Jinping at the CPC Central Committee and the whole Party, he added.

Jiang hailed Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the Marxism of contemporary China and for the 21st century, saying that the Thought represents the essence of Chinese culture and China's spirit, and will provide a scientific guide to action for national rejuvenation.

By defining the guiding role of the Thought, the Party can adhere to the correct course of action, always grasp the pattern of development and employ a scientific world outlook and methodology to plan growth and respond to risks and challenges, he said.

He added that a keen realization from the political developments in and out of China is that China's political system must be deeply rooted in Chinese soil. "Blindly copying the political system of other nations will not work. Even worse, it will ruin the nation's future."

China's whole-process people's democracy is the most wide-ranging, genuine and effective socialist democracy and has guaranteed the rights of the people in running the country, he said.

"The fundamental reason for the Chinese people's high level of confidence in the political system lies in the highly substantial democratic nature of whole-process people's democracy and its strong popularity," he said.

He went on to say that democracy is not a patent held by Western nations and should not be defined by the West.

Democracy in some Western countries, he said, is "in fact dictated by capital", and represented power plays by capitalist groups. It is "a 'democracy' for the rich, not true democracy", he added.

Jiang lashed out at moves by certain Western nations, which, despite the hollowing out of their democracy, imposed their own democratic models on other nations, which ended in failure and brought about disasters and suffering to their people.

He said it was a great irony for the United States to convene the Leaders' Summit for Democracy next month even with the mounting issues facing such models of "democracy". Jiang added, "The purpose is nothing but to suppress other countries and to divide the world into two or several camps."

Qu Qingshan, head of the Institute for Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee, hailed the significance of the resolution passed at the plenum this week at the news conference.

The touchstone resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the Party's endeavors over the past century is a programmatic Marxist document and a political declaration for the CPC to remain firm to its original aspirations and missions and uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, Qu said.