China's socialist political democracy has enabled the Chinese people, who account for one fifth of the world's population, to become masters of their own country and society, and enjoy extensive democratic rights. This is a great contribution to the development of the political civilization of mankind.

China's socialist political democracy accords with the national conditions, ensures that the people give full play to their enthusiasm, initiative and creativity in building and managing the state as masters of the country and society, and promotes China's economic development and social progress in an all-round way. Despite the tremendous achievements scored in building a socialist political democracy, the CPC and the Chinese people are clearly aware of the many problems yet to be overcome. The major ones include: The democratic system is not yet perfect; the people's right to manage state and social affairs, economic and cultural undertakings as masters of the country in a socialist market economy are not yet fully realized; laws that have already been enacted are sometimes not fully observed or enforced, and violations of the law sometimes go unpunished; bureaucracy and corruption still exist and spread in some departments and localities; the mechanism of restraint and supervision over the use of power needs further improvement; the concept of democracy and legal awareness of the whole society needs to be further enhanced; and the political participation of citizens in an orderly way should be expanded. There is still a long way to go in China's building of political democracy, which will be a historical process of continuous improvement and development.

The history and reality of human political civilization have proved that there is no one single and absolute democratic mode in the world that is universally applicable. To say whether a political system is democratic or not, the key is to see whether the will of the overwhelming majority of the people is fully reflected, whether their rights as masters of the country are fully realized, and whether their legitimate rights and interests are fully guaranteed.

The arduous explorations and struggles made by the Chinese people over the past 100 years and more in order to realize democracy, and especially China's success in building a socialist political democracy, have made the CPC and the Chinese people realize that China must base the building of political democracy on its reality, review its own experience gained in practice, treasure its own achievements, and learn from the experience and achievements of the political civilization of other countries. But, it must not copy any model of other countries.

China's building of political democracy will abide by the following principles:

- Upholding the unity of the leadership of the CPC, the people being the masters of the country and ruling the country by law. This is the most important and fundamental principle for developing socialist political democracy in China. Leadership by the CPC is the fundamental guarantee for the people to be the masters of the country and the country to be ruled by law. The people being masters of the country is the essential requirement of socialist political democracy. Ruling the country by law is the basic principle the CPC pursues while it leads the people in running the country. Only by upholding the unity of these three in China's building of political democracy is it possible to ensure that it is on the right track, and that socialist political democracy is institutionalized and standardized, and in good order.

- Giving play to the characteristics and advantages of the socialist system. The biggest characteristic and advantage of China's socialist system is as follows: Under the leadership of the CPC, the people of all ethnic groups, being masters of the country, give full scope to their enthusiasm, initiative and creativity in building a socialist country, and are united in striving to realize socialist modernization and the great cause of rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Sticking to this characteristic and this advantage is the fundamental guarantee for the Chinese people to grasp their own destiny in their own hands, create a better and happier life, and build a prosperous, democratic and civilized modern country.

- Being conducive to social stability, economic development and continuous improvement of the people's life. Social stability, economic development and the continuous improvement of people's life are both important goals and necessary conditions for the people to be masters of the country. The political development, economic development and cultural development of a country interact and precondition one another. Without social stability, smooth economic development cannot be expected, while the goal of development is to let the people enjoy the fruits of development together. The CPC and the Chinese government will firmly concentrate on economic construction, and make every effort to solidify the material and cultural foundations for continuously raising the level of socialist political democracy.

- Facilitating the safeguarding of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and state dignity. The Chinese people's struggle for democracy was closely related to the safeguarding of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and state dignity from the very beginning. If state sovereignty, territorial integrity and state dignity, which represent one of common and basic interests of the whole Chinese people, cannot be safeguarded, democratic achievements they have obtained will be lost.

- Being in accord with the objective law of progress step by step and in an orderly way. China's building of socialist democracy is a historical process with continuous progress in realizing the goal and enhancing the level of the people being the masters of the country. A complete model of democracy cannot be built overnight. The CPC and the Chinese people are unswervingly pressing ahead with an all-round and coordinated development of socialist material, political and cultural civilization and the building of a harmonious society, continuously studying new situations and new problems arising in the course of the building of political democracy, exploring and creating new mechanisms and new ways to ensure that the people become the masters of the country, and developing socialist political democracy under prescribed leadership, step by step and in an orderly way in line with the objective law of the development of socialist political democracy.

The socialist system has been introduced and practiced in China for only a few decades, which is a short period compared with other social systems adopted in the history of mankind. To keep improving and developing socialist political democracy to enable the people to fully enjoy and exercise their rights as the masters of the country has always been the firm goal of all the endeavor of the CPC and the Chinese people. At present and for a period to come, the CPC and the Chinese government will actively and steadily push forward the reform of the political system, stick to and improve the socialist democratic system, strengthen and improve the socialist legal system, reform and improve the methods of leadership and rule of the CPC, reform and improve the government's decision-making mechanism, promote the reform of the system of administrative management, boost the reform of the judicial system, deepen the reform of the cadre and personnel system, reinforce the restraint and supervision over power, strive to maintain social stability, and promote economic development and social progress in an all-round way.

The immense achievements of the construction of the socialism with Chinese characteristics have made the CPC and the Chinese people full of confidence in the road of political development chosen by themselves. Along with economic development and social progress, China's socialist political democracy will be further perfected, and with its great advantages and strong vitality, fully demonstrated. In the future, the Chinese people will surely enjoy more and more substantial fruits of their political civilization.