Sun Yeli, spokesperson for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held a press conference on Saturday afternoon in Beijing and briefed media on the agenda for the upcoming congress and answered questions from journalists from China and abroad.

Here are some highlights of the press conference. 

About the event and agenda

The 20th CPC National Congress will open at 10 a.m. on Sunday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and conclude on October 22, lasting seven days.

The agenda of the congress was set at a preparatory meeting held Saturday afternoon in which Wang Huning was appointed as secretary-general of the congress, Sun said.

Qualifications of 2,296 delegates have been confirmed as valid. 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 delegates are expected to hear and examine a report of the 19th CPC Central Committee, examine a work report of the 19th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, deliberate and adopt an amendment to the CPC Constitution, and elect the 20th CPC Central Committee and the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

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

After the 20th CPC National Congress concludes, the 20th CPC Central Committee will hold its first plenary session.

Members of the new Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC will meet Chinese and foreign journalists after the conclusion of the first plenary session, Sun said.

On China's COVID-19 response

Sun said China's measures to tackle the COVID-19 epidemic are the most cost-effective and have worked the best for the country.

"Since the onset of the epidemic, China has put people and people's lives front and center," Sun said, responding to a question from a reporter about China's dynamic zero-COVID policy. "We give top priority to people's health and safety. This is part and parcel of our epidemic response efforts."

Dynamic zero-COVID policy has been adopted in light of China's national realities and is a science-based policy, he said.

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On Sino-U.S. relations

When asked how China will deal with risks of the already tense relations with the United States in the future, Sun said that China and the U.S. have far more common interests than differences and a healthy and stable Sino-U.S. relationship is in the common interest of people of both countries.

He said the interests of China and the U.S. are already deeply intertwined – in economic and trade relations, two-way trade between the two countries reached a record of over $750 billion in 2021, a 28.7-percent rise from the previous year. Bilateral trade cooperation has supported 2.6 million jobs in the U.S.

Moreover, "there are many challenges in today's world that require cooperation between the two countries," he continued. 

He said China and the U.S. must find the right way to get along in the next 50 years. "The key to this is the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation."

Read more:

China, U.S. share far more mutual interests than differences: CPC

On Taiwan question

To realize national reunification through peaceful means is the first choice to resolve the Taiwan question but non-peaceful means will remain the last resort, Sun told reporters at the press conference.

"In not promising to renounce the use of force, we are in no way targeting our Taiwan compatriots, but rather foreign interference and an extremely small number of 'Taiwan independence' elements and their separatist activities," he said.

"We are willing to continue working with the greatest sincerity and exerting our utmost efforts to achieve peaceful reunification," he said.

On opening-up

Sun said China will unswervingly advance opening-up to cover more fields in a broader scope and at a greater depth.

Pursuing high-level opening-up is an inherent part of the new development paradigm, he said.

"Fostering a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other will generate lasting momentum for the long-term development of the Chinese economy as well as the steady recovery of the world economy," he said.

He pledged that China will continue to be a popular destination for investment and state-owned capital and private capital, as well as investment from home and abroad are all protected by law in China, he said.

"The country will draw on the good practices in other parts of the world, enhance regulation while boosting development, and continue to improve a market-oriented and law-based business environment up to international standards," Sun said.

(With input from Xinhua)