The fine traditions of the Communist Party of China were formed during brutal war years. The life-and-death struggle is a powerful screening mechanism, under which only the party with the best work style can win. But this mechanism disappeared along with the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In times of peace, adhering to the Party's leadership under the premise of serving the people requires officials to win the trust of the masses and provide services to them in a more reliable way through peaceful competition. For this reason, we must pay special emphasis on political reform. Without political reform, the CPC will degenerate. To effectively curb corruption, it is undoubtedly necessary to carry forward and deepen political reform. Therefore, to uphold the Party's leadership, a socialist democratic system with both inner-party democracy and people's democracy must be established.

In this important issue concerning the overall situation, Deng Xiaoping has made it very clear: the defects of the Soviet model are over-centralization of power and little democracy. The defects would ultimately lead to degeneration of the party. China has to reform its Soviet styled political system, establish a socialist democracy and legal system, and realize socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics. The method is to stress the need for decentralization and autonomy, separate the functions of the Party and the government and gradually realize universal election.

Party leadership should be limited to a right and reasonable range. Civic rights and political power should be given their rightful place. "Over-centralization of power" means that the Party leadership goes beyond its borders and takes place of the rights of the National People's Congress, government, judicial and social sectors.

Of course, the political reform we are talking about must also consider the current situation in China. It should be a reform with consideration of the interests of all parties. To this end, we must compromise to achieve a win-win situation for all parties. Only in this way can political reform be pushed forward smoothly and the Party's fine traditions be restored and carried forward.

Prof. Wang Zhanyang is dean of the Political Science Sector at the Central Institute of Socialism.

(A version of this article was written in Chinese and translated by Li Huiru.)

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