The year 2023 is the starting year to fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which will set the tone for the whole picture and is decisive for the future, President Xi Jinping said at a New Year gathering on Friday held by the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), stressed in his speech at the gathering that officials must meet challenges with a fighting spirit, strive to achieve the goals and tasks for the next year, and lay a good foundation for realizing the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects.

Senior leaders Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Wang Qishan attended the gathering.

They were joined by leading officials of China's non-Communist parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC), personages with no party affiliation, officials of central Party and government departments, and individuals from various ethnic groups and sectors of society in Beijing.

On behalf of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the CMC, Xi extended New Year's greetings to all.

Looking back at the year, Xi hailed 2022 as a year of milestone significance, saying that the successful convening of the 20th CPC National Congress drew up a blueprint for achieving comprehensive modernization, the economy maintained positive growth over the year, with overall stability in employment, stable prices and considerable grain output, and optimized COVID-19 policies protected people's health and at the same time minimized its impacts on economic and social development.

In 2022, China hosted the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, celebrated the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, resolutely fought against external interference and the separatist activities of "Taiwan independence," and continued to advance major-country diplomacy, which helped maintain the overall stability of the external environment, Xi summarized.

Applauding the contributions by the CPPCC in the year, Xi said that the CPPCC has been adhering to the two major themes of unity and democracy: building consensus with and providing suggestions for the CPC. In 2022, the CPPCC held consultations on promoting common prosperity, and carried out democratic oversight on ecological and environmental protection along the Yangtze River, making new contributions to the development of the Party and the country, Xi said, adding the political handover in democratic parties and ACFIC this year has deepened the political handover and further consolidated the political and organizational foundation for multi-party cooperation.

Xi called on the CPPCC to adhere to the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress, further deepen consultation and communication, expansively express opinions and build consensus with the CPC in the next year, which will pool wisdom and strength for the realization of the goals and tasks of the new era.

"To realize the dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires the concerted efforts of all Chinese people at home and abroad," Xi said, adding the country needs to pool hearts, resources and wisdom from the patriotic united front, which will form a strong synergy to jointly realize the Chinese Dream.

Wang Yang, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, presided over the New Year gathering. He said the CPPCC will pay focus on the strategic plans laid out at the 20th CPC National Congress, effectively consult and discuss state affairs, build broad consensus, do solid work, and give full play to the CPPCC's role as a special consultative body, striving to make new contributions to the development of the Party and the country.

Zheng Jianbang, chairman of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang pledged to unite more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core, and keep upholding, developing and improving China's new type of political party system, making new and greater contributions to pushing forward socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era.