China's top leaders and representatives from all walks of life gathered at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Sunday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the late leader Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of China's reform and opening-up drive. 

Hu Jintao, state president and general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, delivered a speech at the meeting. Hu described Deng Xiaoping as a great man of the world whose scientific judgment of the modern times and deep vision into the international situation provide a basis for China's domestic and foreign policies.

He also enriched the diplomatic theory and practice of socialist China, said Hu.

Based on the international situation in the 1980s, Deng reached a major conclusion that peace and development were the two important issues of the contemporary world, which laid a foundation for the Party and government to shift the focus of work to socialist modernization, Hu said.

Deng unswervingly advocated opening to the outside world and expanding exchange with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and at the same time highly cherished and safeguarded China's independence and rights the Chinese people had gained after long-term struggle.

The late leader always paid great attention to the destiny of developing countries, ardently supported their development and appealed to the international community to help them. Noting China shares the same destiny with all other Third World countries, Deng stressed China will never seek hegemony and will always stand by the side of the Third World.

Deng had stressed again and again China is opposed to hegemonism in any form and will devote itself to safeguarding world peace, Hu said.

China will stick to its independent foreign policy of peace and expand exchange and cooperation with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, Hu said.

The development of China needs a peaceful international environment and such development is conducive to world peace and development, Hu said, adding that China will "stick to the path of peaceful development."

China will always be a firm force in maintaining world peace and promoting common development, Hu said.

At the same time, China will always put its state sovereignty and national security in the first place, and steadfastly safeguard the nation's political, economic, cultural and defense security, he said.

The Chinese people will work with the people of other countries in the world to promote global multipolarization and the democratization of international relations, push economic globalization toward common prosperity, oppose hegemonism and power politics, fight terrorism in all forms, and devote to the establishment of a new, just and rational international political and economic order, he said.

Hu said Deng Xiaoping has set a shining example for the people through his unremitting efforts to struggle for the Chinese nation, his indelible contributions to the Party and his noble moral character as a great leader.

At the meeting Hu enumerated Deng's achievements and contributions in various stages of his life.

One hundred years ago, Deng Xiaoping was born in Guang'an County, Sichuan Province. At that time, the Chinese nation sustained deep misery under feudal oppression and aggression of foreign powers. People with high ideals were groping the correct way to save China.

From his childhood, Deng Xiaoping was determined to join the struggle to rejuvenate and save the country and nation. He went to study in Europe under a work-study program in his early years and there became a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), beginning his revolutionary career.

After he returned to China, he devoted himself whole-heartedly to the CPC-led fight for national independence and the liberation of the people. From the Agrarian Revolutionary War to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, Deng was a close comrade-in-arms of Mao Zedong. He made outstanding contributions to the triumph of the New-Democratic Revolution and the birth of the People's Republic of China and became one of the founders of the People's Republic of China.

After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, Deng became an important member of the first generation of central collective leadership with Mao Zedong at the core.

During the "Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976), Deng was wrongly criticized and had all his posts deprived of. He resumed working in 1973, and in 1975 took charge of the day-to-day affairs of the Party, the state and the military. In the tit-for-tat struggle with the Gang of Four, Deng was again wrongly criticized and deprived of his posts.

Following the downfall of the Gang of Four and the end of the "Cultural Revolution," Deng was restored to his former posts. Under his guidance, the 11th CPC Central Committee held its Third Plenary Session in December 1978. It was at the meeting that the CPC Central Committee re-established the ideological line of emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts, and made the important decision to shift the focus of the work of the Party and the state to socialist modernization, and carry out reform and opening up.

"The convening of the Third Plenary Session marked that Comrade Deng Xiaoping has become the core of the second generation of the Party's central collective leadership," said Hu.

Deng worked with the central collective leadership to guide the Party in systematically summing up the historical experience since the founding of the People's Republic of China and navigating the correct direction for the development of the Party and the state, he said.

Under his guidance, Hu said, the Party established the "three-step" development strategy for China's modernization, boldly opened to the outside world, and promoted the overall development in economic, political and cultural fields, as well as national defense and army building.

Hu called Deng Xiaoping a selfless, dauntless and upright man who has devoted all his life to the Party and nation.

Hu said Deng always put the future and destiny of the Party and the nation at the foremost position in his heart and never cared about personal gains or losses.

Deng experienced "three downs and ups" in his career. When he was wrongfully removed from office and wrongfully treated, he never lost hope. Out of the boundless loyalty to the Party and people, he devoted himself to thinking deeply the experiences, lessons and fundamental laws of the Chinese revolution and construction, and was determined to make greater contribution, Hu said.

When Deng resumed working after undergoing adverse conditions in the "Cultural Revolution," he took bold steps to straighten out the chaotic situation at the risk of being forced to step down again, winning the ardent support of the Party, the military and the people.

Deng had long favored the abolishment of cadres' life-long tenure system and he took the lead in practice, playing a decisive role in the smooth transition of the second generation of central collective leadership to the third, Hu said.

Hu said Deng's more than 70 years of revolutionary career was closely linked with the founding and development of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the People's Liberation Army and the People's Republic of China. It was also closely linked with the earth-shaking changes of the outlook of China and the Chinese nation.

Hu quoted former General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Jiang Zemin as saying: without Comrade Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese people would not live a new life like today's and there would not be today's new situation of reforms and opening up and the bright prospects of the socialist modernization.

As a great man, the remarkable achievements and scientific theory of Deng Xiaoping have and will continue to change and influence China and the world at large, Hu said, adding that the Communists and people of all nationalities in China will always remember him and respect him.

Hu praised Deng Xiaoping as an outstanding statesman who had showed great courage and foresight at critical moments of the Party and the nation.

Whenever the Party and people needed him the most and at critical moments in the development of the country, Deng always dared to shoulder heavy burdens, no matter it was during the revolution to build the People's Republic of China, the chaotic period of the "Cultural Revolution" or in the country's reform, opening-up and modernization drive, Hu said.

Facing the political upheavals at home and abroad in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Deng, together with other Party veterans, firmly supported the Party and government to rely on the people to uphold the Four Cardinal Principles, maintain national independence, dignity, security and stability, and unswervingly stick to the central task of economic construction and reform and opening up, thus helping the Party and nation to stand the severe tests and uphold the correct course of socialism with Chinese characteristics, Hu said.

Deng made major contribution in early 1992 when the 88-year-old leader made a series of important remarks during his inspection tour of south China, giving an impetus to China's reform, opening-up and modernization drive.

Hu also praised Deng Xiaoping as an outstanding leader whose high prestige was recognized by the Party, the military and the people of all ethnic groups throughout China.

Hu called Deng a great Marxist, a great proletarian revolutionary, statesman, military strategist and diplomat, and a long-tested Communist fighter, the chief architect of China's socialist reform, opening-up and modernization drive, and founder of Deng Xiaoping Theory.

Hu said Deng Xiaoping Theory is a scientific theory for the Chinese people to realize socialist modernization and the guiding thought the Party must uphold for long.

"The most valuable wealth left by Comrade Deng Xiaoping is Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Party's basic line in the preliminary stage of socialism formulated under the guidance of the theory," said Hu.

The contemporary Communists in China, with Comrade Jiang Zemin as the principal representative, gradually formed the important thought of "Three Represents," which has become the fundamental guideline for the whole Party and nation to build a society of relatively affluence in an all-round way in the new century, said Hu.

"We should insist on arming the whole Party and educating the whole nation with Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of 'Three Represents' at all time and under all circumstances," Hu said.

Hu said that the commemoration of the birth centenary of Deng Xiaoping will further inspire the whole Party and nation to push forward the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Hu spoke highly of Deng Xiaoping for his deep love of the Chinese people and devotion to their welfare.

Deng had always cared about the people and put people's interests above everything, Hu said.

"In his whole life Comrade Deng Xiaoping had kept his words -- To spare no efforts to do things that are good to the people," said the president.

Hu urged Party officials to remember Deng's statement that any Party organization will fail and be abandoned by the people if it is indifferent to the people and takes no account of their interests; and the ultimate goal to stick to the road of socialism is to realize the common prosperity of all people.

Deng Xiaoping's blueprint for China's modernization is gradually being turned into wonderful reality, said Hu.

The goals for the first-step and second-step development have been fulfilled, with people's living standards reaching the level of a well-off society in general, said Hu, adding that "We are marching toward the third-step strategic goal with full confidence."

"Great progress has been made in the reunification of the motherland, over which Deng had showed great concern, as Hong Kong and Macao have returned to the motherland and maintained prosperity and stability, and we are working for the final settlement of the Taiwan issue," he said.

Deng led the Party in opening up the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Under the third-generation central collective leadership with Comrade Jiang Zemin at the core, great new achievements have been made, and the new central collective leadership is leading the whole Party and people of all nationalities throughout the country in pushing forward the great cause, Hu said.

The creative ideas of Deng Xiaoping and the policies he put forward have provided a strong theoretical guidance to the continuous development of the cause of the Party and people, Hu said.

He said that Deng, with his great political courage and creative ideas, had developed Marxism and brought the socialist cause with Chinese characteristics into a new stage.

"The most distinctive feature of Comrade Deng Xiaoping's scientific world outlook is emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts," Hu said.

Stressing that practice is the sole criterion of truth, Deng was a master in summing up new experience, putting forward new proposals and opening up new roads from the latest practices and under new situation, said Hu.

With his deep understanding of Marxism and great political foresight, Deng for the first time gave a systematic answer on how to build, consolidate and further develop socialism in an economically and culturally backward country like China and gave a complete definition of socialism in the preliminary stage.

Hu listed some of Deng's outstanding theoretical creations such as concentrating on development, allowing some regions and people to get rich first so they can help others for common prosperity, and planning and the market are only means of economic development rather than the symbols of socialism and capitalism.

Deng was also credited by Hu for advocating the household responsibility system in agricultural production, the reform of the Party and government's leadership system and the abolition of the life-long tenure system of cadres, and the scientific idea of "one country, two systems" for settling the issues of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

Hu said the central government will stick to the "one country, two systems" policy and seek the reunification of the motherland.

"We will continue to implement the policy of 'one country, two systems,' 'Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong' and 'Macao people governing Macao,' act strictly in accordance with the basic laws of the two special administrative regions (SAR), support the SAR governments to administer according to law so as to maintain the long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao," Hu said.

"We will continue to carry out the basic policy of 'peaceful reunification,' 'one country, two systems' and the eight-point proposal on developing the current cross-Straits relations and promoting the peaceful reunification of the motherland in an effort to increase personnel, economic and cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Straits and lift cross-Straits economic cooperation up to a new level."

The president called for extensive solidarity of the Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots, to oppose and hold back "Taiwan independence" elements and firmly safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"We are ready to strive for the prospects of peaceful reunification with our utmost sincerity and utmost efforts, but we are also fully determined and capable of smashing any scheme to separate Taiwan from China," he said.

Hu called on the whole Party to promote theoretical innovation based on practice and earnestly follow a scientific approach to development.

The vitality of Marxism lies in the combination of the basic principle of Marxism with China's conditions and in the promotion of ideological innovation on the basis of practice, said Hu.

Hu said the Party must proceed from the consideration of China's reality, center on the practical problems arising from China's reform, opening-up and modernization drive, and make continued efforts to enrich and develop Marxism.

Hu also underscored the scientific approach to development that focuses on an all-round, balanced and sustainable development on the basis of "putting people first."

To firmly establish and earnestly carry out the scientific approach, he said, the Party and government must work for coordinated development between urban and rural areas, between various regions, between the economy and society, between mankind and nature, and between domestic development and opening to the outside world.

While focusing on economic construction, the role of the market must be given full play in resources allocation, and macro-economic control must be strengthened and improved to maintain the growth momentum.

"We must boost the sustained, rapid, balanced and healthy economic growth and ensure the fruit of development benefits all people," he said.

Hu called for the development of socialist democracy and the promotion of political reform in an active and steady manner.

Efforts must be made to develop socialist democracy, improve the socialist legal system, build a socialist country under rule of law, and ensure the people exercise the right to democratic election, democratic policy-making, democratic administration and democratic supervision according to law, he said.

Hu also urged immediate efforts to correctly handle the relationship between reform, development and stability, as well as contradictions among the people, especially those concerning the people's fundamental interests, so as to maintain social stability and unity.

The key to successfully handling affairs in China lies in the Communist Party of China and the Party will concentrate on improving its governing capability, combating corruption and guarding against risks, Hu said.

This is meant to enhance the Party's creativeness, cohesive forces and fighting power so that the Party always maintains its position as the firm leading nucleus in building socialism with Chinese characteristics, said Hu.

Hu called on Party officials to pay close attention to the fundamental interests of the people and exercise their power for the benefit of the people.

The Party Central Committee will make unremitting efforts to promote Party building, establish and improve an anti-graft system that fits the socialist market economic system and lays equal emphasis on education, supervision and punishment.

"We will unswervingly push forward the fight against corruption," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2004)