"To carry out the important thought of Three Represents, it is essential to bring all positive factors into full play and bring new forces to the great cause of rejuvenating the Chinese nation," Jiang said.

"It is improper to judge whether people are politically progressive or backward simply by whether they own property or how much property they own, but rather, we should judge them mainly by their political awareness, state of mind and performance," he said.

It is necessary to foster notions and form a business mechanism in conformity with the basic economic system in the primary stage of socialism and create a social environment in which people are encouraged to achieve something and helped to make a success of their career, so as to unleash all the vitality contained in work, knowledge, technology, management and capital and give full play to all sources of social wealth for the benefit of the people, he said.

Jiang pointed out that with the deepening of reform and opening up and economic and cultural development, the working class in China has expanded steadily and its quality improved.

Emerging in the process of social changes, entrepreneurs and technical personnel employed by non-public scientific and technological enterprises, managerial and technical staff employed by overseas-funded enterprises, the self-employed, private entrepreneurs, employees in intermediaries, free-lance professionals and members of other social strata are all builders of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

"We should unite with the people of all social strata who help to make the motherland prosperous and strong, encouraging their pioneering spirit, protecting their legitimate rights and interests and commending the outstanding ones," Jiang said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2002)