The Party and the Chinese people have experienced unprecedented challenges in the past 30 years, given the dramatically changing international situation and the tough domestic task of reform and opening. Nevertheless, we have survived the hard times by successfully coping with various emergencies threatening China's sovereignty and security, while overcoming a series of difficulties and dangers ranging from the political and economic to natural disasters. No matter whether we confronted political upheaval in Eastern Europe, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, or domestic political turmoil, no matter whether we faced outside attempts to Westernize, split or block China, no matter whether we faced natural disasters of snowstorms and earthquakes or the SARS epidemic, no matter whether we faced the Asian financial crisis or the current global financial crisis – the Party and the people have acted as one to confront the future. At every critical moment in history that determined the fate and future of the Chinese nation as well as the Party, the Party relied on support from the Chinese people of various ethnic groups, and has devoted itself to the great cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics by firmly sticking to the development strategy set at the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee while removing obstacles now and then. By so doing, the Party has guaranteed that the correct road of reform and opening up and building a modernized socialist China never changed. Over the last year we coped impressively with the heavy snowfalls in the south and the major earthquake in Sichuan, successfully held the Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing, saw the successful completion of the Shenzhou 7 manned space mission, and have seen positive results from our measures to counteract the global financial crisis. These efforts and achievements vividly demonstrate the power of the Party and the Chinese government, which are developing in tandem with the reform and opening policy, the power of China's 1.3 billion population as it advances, the power of reform and opening and the power of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Duo to these unremitting efforts, we have fulfilled the goals of the first phase and second phase in our "three-step development strategy," and are striding forward to reach the third target now. The great achievements we made in the past 30 years have laid a solid foundation for our cause. Facts show clearly that the development strategy that the Party has taken with all of the Chinese people since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee and related theories based on that strategy are completely correct. The profound influence of the Session is evident in every part of our lives and it will continue to affect China's development in the future.
The great achievements of reform and opening up can be regarded as a result of efforts made by the Chinese people of various ethnic groups. Every Chinese person who experienced and contributed to the transformation of the past 30 years should feel proud of himself. Here, on behalf of the CPC Central Committee and State Council, I would like to salute the workers, peasants, intellectuals, civil servants, officers and soldiers of the People's Liberation Army and Armed Police, policemen, people affiliated with other parties and NGOs, and patriots from various walks of life, who have contributed their wisdom and works to the reform and opening-up movement and China's modernization drive. I convey our warm greetings to all the compatriots in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and those in Taiwan and overseas, who made great effort to the modernization of the motherland and the great cause of unification. I would also like to express our hearty thanks to people in foreign countries who have supported and paid close attention to China's modernization drive.
While celebrating our success in the past 30 years, we cherish the memory of Comrades Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and other revolutionaries of that generation. Without the struggle of the Chinese people led by the first-generation CPC Central Committee with Mao Zedong at its core, which was bathed in blood, there would be no New China; without the reform and innovation of the Chinese people led by the second-generation CPC Central Committee with Deng Xiaoping at its core, there would be no new era of reform and opening up and no socialism with Chinese characteristics. At this very moment, we should pay great respect to the third-generation CPC Central Committee with comrade Jiang Zemin at its core. It was this leading group that carried on and developed the great cause of reform and opening up while holding high the Deng Xiaoping theory, thus advancing the cause successfully into the 21st century. It is a must for our Party and Chinese people of various ethnic groups to remember forever the historical contributions of the leading groups of the past three generations.