At the First Plenary Session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC)Central Committee on October 23,Xi Jinping was elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.The session also saw the election of other veteran officials to senior leadership posts.

“Confronted with new challenges and tests on the journey ahead, we must remain on high alert and stay sober-minded and prudent like a student sitting for a never-ending exam,”Xi said when the seven newly elected Political Bureau Standing Committee members, the Party’s highest-ranking leaders including the general secretary,met the media. “We must make sure that our century-old Party will become ever more vigorous through self-reform and continue to be the strong backbone that the Chinese people can lean on at all times.”

The 20th CPC National Congress,which ended on October 22 with the election of a new Central Committee,occurred at a time when the world once again found itself at a crossroads. In the complex settings of domestic and international development, the CPC must have strong central leadership.This can provide a level of stability amid uncertainty.

The Party has established Xi’s core position on the Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and defined the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This governance philosophy, which Xi developed since he took the helm of the CPC in 2012, features a wide spectrum of ideas, such as a targeted approach to poverty alleviation through which China has eradicated absolute poverty,a double development dynamic with the domestic economy as the mainstay and the domestic economy and international engagement providing mutual reinforcement, and the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to enhance connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes.

Indeed, the road ahead is arduous, but with determined steps, one at a time, the CPC is poised to reach its goals. It has vowed to rely on the support of the Chinese people and not to be daunted by risks.

At the same time, China will work with other countries to champion humanity’s shared values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom. BR