While developing productivity and immensely increasing material wealth, China needs to gradually secure fairness and social justice, said Premier Wen Jiabao in an essay published on February 26. He called these the "two interrelated and mutually beneficial tasks" that will form the backbone of socialism for many years to come. Excerpts of the essay, entitled "Historical Tasks in the Primary Stage of Socialism and China's Foreign Policy," follow:

Primary stage of socialism

China is and will remain at the primary stage of socialism for some time. This is an underdeveloped period. By "underdeveloped," first we mean the underdevelopment of productivity. Therefore, we must stick to the principle of centering on economic development, and spare no effort to promote productivity. However, the primary stage refers to not only underdeveloped productivity, but also the underdeveloped and immature socialist system. Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping used to point out that the essence of socialism is the emancipation and development of productivity, the elimination of exploitation and polarization between the rich and the poor and the final achievement of common prosperity. Thus, to consolidate and develop socialism, we must carefully fulfill two major tasks. One is to emancipate and develop productive forces with a view to increasing the material wealth in society as a whole, and the other is to gradually realize fairness and social justice so as to encourage the creativity of the entire nation. Without sustained and rapid development, it's impossible to secure fairness and social justice that lies within the essence of socialism; without efforts to promote fairness and social justice by keeping pace with the development of productive forces, it's impossible to fully inspire the enthusiasm and creativity of the whole society, which will in turn hamper sustained and rapid development.

When China first took the road of socialism, it fell far behind developed countries in terms of productivity levels. It will take a long time for China to develop into a modern and industrial country. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and particularly since China adopted the policy of reform and opening up in the late 1970s, China has witnessed great progress in its social productivity, comprehensive national strength and people's living conditions.