6. To push forward reform of the political structure and bring about great advances in socialist democracy and in the legal system.

To keep pace with economic development and the reform of the economic structure, it is imperative to push forward reform of the political structure, bearing in mind that promotion of democracy must be closely combined with improvement of the legal system. The goal of this reform is to build a socialist democracy suited to Chinese conditions and in no respect a Western, multiparty, parliamentary system. The Constitution of our country provides that the state organs of the People's Republic of China shall apply the principle of democratic centralism, which is a fundamental principle in China. Democracy among the people is an essential requirement for socialism and one of its intrinsic characteristics. Without democracy and a legal system, there can be no socialism or socialist modernization. We should make notable progress in developing socialist democracy and perfecting the socialist legal system, so as to consolidate the stable social and political environment and ensure the smooth progress of economic development, the reform and the opening to the outside world.

We should further improve the system of people's congresses, strengthen the functions of the congresses and their standing committees in legislating, exercising supervision and so on and expand the role of the people's deputies. We should improve the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party. In this new period we should consolidate and broaden the patriotic united front and let the people's political consultative conferences play a greater part in political consultation and in democratic supervision. We should continue to abide by the principles of "long-term coexistence and mutual supervision" of the various parties and "treating each other with all sincerity and sharing weal or woe". We should reinforce the practice of consulting with the democratic parties and support the appointment of their members and of persons without party affiliations to leading posts in state organs, with a view to solidifying the alliance of our Party with non-Party people.

For our unified, multinational state, the great solidarity of all nationalities is an important guarantee that the motherland will remain unified and that socialist modernization will be realized. It is essential to implement all the Party's policies with regard to the nationalities. We must perfect the system of regional autonomy in areas inhabited by minority nationalities and adhere to the principle of equality, mutual assistance, unity and co-operation among all nationalities so as to promote common prosperity. The Party's policies on religion and on the affairs of overseas Chinese must likewise be carried out conscientiously in the service of socialist modernization.

Scientific and democratic decision-making is essential to democratic centralism and to the building of socialist democracy. Leading organs and leading cadres must listen attentively to the opinions of the people, seek advice from experts in different fields and from research and consultancy institutions and establish a system of democratic and scientific decision-making as soon as possible. We must strengthen democracy at the grassroots level and see to it that the congresses of workers and other employees, the neighbourhood committees and the village committees function well. We should improve the work of the organs supervising law enforcement and government administration, recognize the importance of supervision by public opinion through the media and gradually perfect the supervisory mechanism, so that government organs at all levels and their staff will be brought under effective supervision.

All due attention should be given to the legal system. To establish a socialist market economy, we urgently need to strengthen legislation. In particular, we need to draw up laws and regulations that will ensure smooth progress of the reform and the opening up, and provide for better management of the overall economy and standardize the economic behaviour of enterprises and individuals. It is essential to enforce the Constitution and other laws strictly, to supervise their enforcement, to put an end to arbitrary intervention by persons in authority and to correct the practice of replacing imprisonment for criminal offenses with lighter punishment. We must ensure the independence of the people's courts and procuratorates in their work. We should strengthen public security, the procuratorates and the people's courts and improve the quality and competence of their personnel. To enhance the understanding of the people, including the cadres, of democracy and the legal system, education must be combined with practice.

Good public order is of major importance because it is of immediate concern to the people and because it is necessary to ensure social stability and economic development. We must adopt effective measures to put an end to the disorder that exists in some places. We must strengthen the people's democratic dictatorship and rely on close cooperation between the relevant organs and the people in an effort to improve all facets of public security. To uphold justice and protect the people, we must crack down on the activities of hostile forces and of criminals.

7. To reform the administrative system and the organizational structure of the Party and the government so as to bring about a change in their functions, straighten out their relations, simplify administration and improve efficiency.

If we are to reform the political structure, deepen the economic reform, establish a market economy and accelerate the modernization drive, we must make it our urgent task to reform the organizational structure and to simplify administration. At present, the overstaffing, overlapping and inefficiency of many Party and government organizations cut them off from the masses and so greatly hamper the efforts to change the way enterprises operate that there is no alternative to reform. Party committees and governments at all levels must reach a common understanding on this matter. They must make up their minds to reform the current administrative system and their organizational structure, in accordance with the principles of separating the administration of the government from the management of enterprises and achieving simplification, uniformity and efficiency.

The departments in charge of the overall balance of the economy should turn their attention to enhancing macro-economic control. Some specialized economic departments and some organizations whose functions overlap or whose work is similar must be abolished or merged, and the number of temporary, ad hoc organizations should be considerably reduced. Party and government organs must cut back personnel so that they do not exceed their authorized size.

To reform organizational structure and simplify administration is an arduous task that will demand overall planning, meticulous organization, concerted efforts by people at all levels and phased implementation. We should try to complete it basically within three years. In the course of reducing personnel, we should raise efficiency and develop the productive forces. On the one hand, we want to rationalize the structure of Party and government departments and improve the quality of personnel; on the other, we want to transfer to the service sector and to other jobs where they are needed large numbers of professionally trained people, who will become a vital new force in the modernization drive.

We must accelerate the reform of the personnel and labour systems and gradually establish scientific management systems and effective incentive mechanisms appropriate to Party and government departments, to enterprises and to institutions. The reform in this connection must be combined with the reform of the organizational structure and of the wage system. The system of public service must be put in place as soon as possible.