CLOSING ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE CLOSING SESSION OF THE EIGHTEENTH NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA

November 14, 2012

Hu Jintao

Comrades,

All the items on the agenda of the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China have been completed by now. Thanks to the concerted efforts made by all the delegates, we have at this congress held high our banner and built on past achievements to forge ahead in unity.

The report of the Seventeenth Party Central Committee adopted at the congress, holding high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics and following the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development, analyzes the developments and changes in the international and domestic environment, reviews our work in the past five years and the historic achievements we have made in the course of our endeavors since the Sixteenth Party Congress, and establishes the historical position of the Scientific Outlook on Development. The report sets forth the basic requirements we must meet without fail for winning new victory for socialism with Chinese characteristics, and sets the goals of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and deepening reform and opening up in an all-around way. It formulates an overall plan for advancing the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and sets forth explicit requirements for making Party building more scientific in all respects. The report also draws up a grand blueprint for completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and accelerating socialist modernization, thus charting the course for making continued progress in the cause of the Party and country. It is the crystallization of the wisdom of the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups in China. It is a political declaration and a program of action for the Party to rally and lead the people of all ethnic groups in China in winning new victory for socialism with Chinese characteristics. The report is a guiding Marxist document.

The revised Party Constitution adopted at the congress embodies the Party’s theoretical innovations and the progress it has made through practice, the important theories, principles and policies as well as work plans set forth in the political report to the Party’s Eighteenth Congress and the new achievements made in Party building in recent years. The revised Party Constitution also sets out new requirements for strengthening and improving the Party’s work and Party building.

The congress deliberated on and approved the report on the work of the Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The congress elected a new central committee of the Party and replaced older leaders with younger ones. It also elected a new central commission for discipline inspection.

We are convinced that all the decisions and plans adopted and all the achievements made at the congress, which are of major current and far-reaching historical significance, will play an important role in guiding the all-around development of the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the great new undertaking of Party building.

As delegates to the Party’s National Congress, we are entrusted with both a glorious mission and heavy responsibilities. We must keep firmly in mind our sacred duties, conscientiously study and implement the Party’s theories, line, principles and policies, and diligently study, observe, implement and uphold the Party Constitution. We must closely follow the Party Central Committee politically and in thinking and action. We must maintain close ties with both other Party members and the people and properly exercise our rights as delegates. We must strive to be role models, bring out our best in working for the cause of the Party and country, and prove ourselves worthy of the trust other Party members have placed in us and the expectation they have of us.

During the congress, political parties and organizations in many foreign countries sent us congratulatory messages. The central committees of the democratic parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce as well as public figures of all ethnic groups and in all sectors in China also offered their congratulations, so did the general public in various forms. The presidium of the congress wishes to express its heartfelt thanks to all of them.

Comrades,

The congress stressed that the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the system of theories of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics are the fundamental accomplishments made by the Party and people in the course of arduous struggle over the past 90 years and more. These accomplishments provide the fundamental guidance for furthering the cause of the Party and country, and we must cherish them all the more, uphold them all the time and continue to enrich them. All Party members should rally closely around the Party Central Committee, hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and follow the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development. We should free up our minds, implement the policy of reform and opening up, pool our strength, overcome difficulties, firmly march on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive to make progress in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. We should lead the people in seizing and making the most of the strategic opportunities for China’s development that we have in this important period, and let us forge ahead in a pioneering spirit and work hard in unison to fulfill the goals set forth at the Party’s Eighteenth National Congress.

Please all rise and sing the Internationale.

I now declare the successful closing of the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China.