After its 16th National Congress held in November 2002, the CPC, with Hu Jintao (b. 1942) as the chief representative, developed the Scientific Outlook on Development, which is people-oriented and calls for comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development.
The Scientific Outlook on Development defines development as the primary task. Development is very important to the Party in governing and rejuvenating the country. It must stay committed to the central task of economic development and focus on building the economy and driving growth in order to unleash and develop the productive forces.
It is a people-centered outlook. This means that the aim and outcome of all work of the Party and the state is to serve, safeguard and promote the fundamental interests of all the people, and that the Party must respect the people's status as the principal actors of the country, give play to their creativity, protect their rights and interests, pursue prosperity for all, and promote their well-rounded development.
Comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development is the basic requirement. This means that in line with the overall plan for advancing socialism with Chinese characteristics, the Party should promote all-round economic, political, cultural and social progress, coordinate all aspects of the modernization drive, and strike a balance between the relations of production and productive forces and between the superstructure and the economic base. It must pursue sound development that promotes production, prosperity and a healthy ecosystem, build a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society, and ensure that the economy is well structured and delivers quality and efficient growth and that the economy grows in harmony with the population, resources and the environment, so that the Chinese people will live and work in a healthy environment and China's economy and society will develop in a sustainable way.
Conducting unified planning and taking all factors into consideration is the basic approach. This means that the Party should gain a full appreciation of the major relationships involved in building socialism with Chinese characteristics and handle them accordingly, balance urban and rural development, balance cross-regional development, balance economic and social development, ensure harmony between humanity and nature, and balance domestic development with opening to the outside world, while also taking all factors into account when handling the relationships between the central authorities and the local governments, between personal and collective interests, between interests of the part and those of the whole, and between immediate and long-term interests, so as to keep all parties motivated.
At the 17th CPC National Congress held in October 2007, the Scientific Outlook on Development was written into the Constitution of the CPC. At the 18th CPC National Congress in November 2012, the Scientific Outlook on Development, together with Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Theory of Three Represents, was designated as a long-term guiding thought of the Party. At the First Session of the 13th NPC in March 2018, it was written into the Chinese Constitution and reconfirmed as the guideline in the political and social life in China.
The Scientific Outlook on Development is an important component of the system of theory on Chinese socialism. It offers in-depth answers to major questions of development. It is a systematic scientific theory that covers reform, development and stability, domestic and foreign affairs and national defense, Party matters, and running the country and the military. It is another timely update of the CPC's guiding thought and a new development of Marxism in contemporary China.
