The Communist Party of China has enhanced consensus on future reforms at the just-concluded national congress, which analysts say will pave the way for the new leadership to tackle public concerns essential to China's sustainable development.

In the newly amended Party Constitution endorsed by the 18th National Congress yesterday, reform and opening up are highlighted as "the path to a stronger China" and the "salient feature" of the new period in China.

A congress resolution said that the inclusion of this statement would help the Party acquire a deeper understanding of the importance of continuing reform and opening up, and help it to pursue this endeavor more consciously and with greater determination.

Xin Ming, a professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said that the amendment was "the right move at the right time."

A fundamental law of the Party, the Constitution holds the highest authority within the organization and has binding power over all Party members.

"China's reforms are not impeccable. Some people turn nostalgic or even wish for a stop to reforms. But at this moment, refusing to reform will only put China on the path to a dead end. Stagnation and going backward in reforms are no way out," Xin said.

Many people have been upset or perplexed by the country's social ills, such as inferior food, the yawning wealth gap, environmental woes, corruption and inequitable access to education, health care and social security.

Egalitarianism, previously lambasted as the culprit that stifled China's national vitality under the planned economy, no longer seems good-for-nothing.

"Apart from the bewilderment, another major hindrance relates to the disparity of opinions on the urgency of deepening reforms," said Liu Jingbei, research department director of the China Executive Leadership Academy-Pudong in Shanghai.

To those who vacillate, the Party has clarified in a keynote report to the congress that the upcoming reforms will emphasize comprehensive and coordinated economic, political, social, cultural and ecological development.

Five key issues

China watcher Robert Kuhun said the country's new leaders face five key issues: economic restructuring, improvement of people's livelihoods and social security, innovation, political participation, and beliefs and value systems.

All these challenges require the Party to take action, he said.

In the eyes of Chinese Communist leaders, the reform and opening up process masterminded by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s is like a relay race that must be advanced from one generation to the next. The primary impetus of the reforms, analysts say, is the people, while it is democracy that inspires people to pool their wisdom.

Zheng Changzhong, an expert on Party-building at Fudan University, said: "The Party's new leaders must figure out Chinese people's diversified requests, make a priority list, and advance reforms at proper time and with proper intensity."

Yu Pei, a world history researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes China can no longer feel its way through future reforms.

"Top-level policy design must be combined with grassroots innovation, while the linchpin of sound top-level policy design is to maintain people's interests, and to respect and inspire the people's driving role in history," Yu said.

Zheng said: "If the Party hopes to sustain its governance along the socialist path, it must always bear in mind the strategic choice of reforming for the good of the people."

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