Jiang Zemin, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), started delivering an important speech at a grand gathering marking the 80th founding anniversary of the CPC.
The meeting is being held at the Great Hall of the People Sunday morning.
Jiang Zemin hailed the remarkable changes that have taken place in China as "a historic miracle".
The CPC now has a membership of over 64 million, and the Chinese people are living in their prosperous socialist motherland, Jiang said.
Jiang Zemin has urged to combine the basic principles of Marxism with the practical conditions in China. China should pursue its own path.
He summed up the CPC's achievements and experience over the past 80 years, saying that the CPC should rely on the people and serve the people wholeheartedly.
Jiang Zemin said that efforts should be made to strengthen Party building, in order to meet the challenges of the times.
He said that the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is needed to pull together the strength of more than 1. 2 billion people of various ethnic groups.
He called on the people to implement the basic theory and the basic line of the CPC and strengthen and improve the leadership of the CPC in accordance with the requirements of "three represent's."
He said that the CPC should always be the vanguard of the times in the historical process of profound changes of the world situation, the backbone of the Chinese people in the historical process of weathering all kinds of domestic and international tests, and the core of leadership in the historical process of building socialism with Chinese characteristics.
(Xinhua 07/01/2001)
