The contemporary world is an open world after all. Under the global conditions of in-depth growth of economic globalization, no nation can develop itself and grow in strength without partaking actively in it.

Therefore, in a bid to counter some erroneous ideas, viewpoints and misconceptions at the early stage of reform and opening-up, late senior leader Deng Xiaoping once said, the reform and opening-up had to be stabilized for a fairly long historic period of time and to be freed from external interferences. Along with immense achievements attained, some new problems and contradictions would emerge in the reform process, but they should be approached in a realistic, down-to-earth way.

First of all, it should be notified that China's reforms constitute a huge, systematic project, and that it is quite normal to come across varied contradictions and problems. In the meanwhile, the reform and opening-up poses an incisive or penetrating social reform involving all social strata and so every specific problem has its own causes.

For instance, China's basic socialist system has been established but it has to be adhered to and keep improving; income disparity among people, between urban and rural residents and between different regions in the country is apt to enlarge along with a universal rise in people's livelihood and, to compare with the fast growth in its economic sector, education, medical services and public utility projects remain slower and relatively stagnant.

In the contest of sustainable development, conflicts between the continuous economic growth and population increase on the one hand and the deteriorating biological environment, resource depletion and energy shortage, etc. on the other hand have turned more aggravated. Furthermore, biological and atmospheric and water pollutions have become a major source of problems, and the task for the complete environment control will be a long-term, arduous and tough one.

In the final analysis, all these problems or headaches have come to the fore in the course of economic development and hence they are the issues emerging during the development process. The crux of the matter, however, is to work hard to tackle these thorny issues.

"China's development over the past 30 years hinges on the reform and opening-up and the nation's future development must also rely on the reform and opening-up," President and Party General Secretary Hu Jintao has repeatedly said.

Consequently, it is essential and imperative to keep improving the road and model for development in conformity with China's concrete national conditions, to steadily and unswervingly spur and promote the great cause of reform and opening-up, and to persevere in the great road of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

By People's Daily Online
【1】 【2】