All preparatory work for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) upholds democracy and is fully open to suggestions and opinions, Sun Yeli, spokesperson for the congress, said Saturday during a press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The four major preparations of the 20th CPC National Congress include drafting the report of the 20th CPC National Congress, amending the Party Constitution, electing the delegates to the 20th CPC National Congress, and preparation for electing the Party's new Central Committee and new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Drafting the report

To draft the report, the Central Committee organised thorough surveys and studies and entrusted the central Party and state organs with the task of conducting surveys and research on 26 key topics. In total, 80 reports were submitted, Sun explained.

Opinions were also solicited online regarding work on the congress and received more than 8.542 million comments, Sun said, adding that all this work laid a solid foundation for drafting the report to the congress.

Democracy was fully practiced in drafting the report and suggestions and opinions from both inside and outside the Party were broadly solicited, Sun said.

Opinions of more than 4,700 people were collected on a draft report of the 19th CPC Central Committee to the 20th CPC National Congress, he added.

Sun said that during the drafting process, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held multiple meetings to deliberate on the draft. It was adopted at the seventh plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC and will be submitted to the upcoming congress for examination and deliberation, he noted.

CPC Constitution amendment

The amendment to the Party Constitution at the upcoming 20th CPC National Congress will incorporate the major theoretical views and strategic thinking included in the report of the 19th CPC Central Committee to the 20th CPC National Congress, Sun said.

The amendment will fully embody the latest achievements in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and to the needs of the times, said Sun.

It will also enshrine the new ideas, thoughts and strategies on national governance that the CPC Central Committee has set forth since the 19th CPC National Congress, while reflecting the latest experience in the Party's development and work, he said.

He noted that the amendment will meet new requirements for advancing the Party's development and work in the face of new circumstances and new tasks.

Election of delegates

Qualifications for 2,296 delegates to the 20th CPC National Congress have been confirmed as valid and they will attend the 20th CPC National Congress, representing more than 96 million CPC members and over 4.9 million primary-level Party organizations, the spokesperson said.

These elected delegates meet the criteria set by the Party's Central Committee, Sun said, adding that their composition is balanced across every category as required by the Central Committee, and hence, they are broadly representative.

The delegates come from various sectors of society, administrative levels and institutions, including those linked with the Party, government departments, enterprises, public institutions and people's organizations.

Preparation for electing the Party's new Central Committee and new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

To facilitate these elections, the Party's Central Committee set up a special working group with General Secretary Xi Jinping as head of its leading team, Sun said.

Under the leadership of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the group was in charge of the recommendation, evaluation and nomination of candidates for the Party's new Central Committee and new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, he added.

The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Party's Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the Party's Central Committee convened meetings respectively for discussions and prepared a proposed list of preliminary candidates for the new Central Committee and the new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which will be submitted to the presidium of the 20th CPC National Congress for deliberation, he said.

(Cover: A view of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, September 29, 2022. /CFP)