Commentary: A time to chart China's future (2)

According to a study conducted by a research team from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank, Chinese policymakers will have to get used to an economy that expands by about 8 percent annually in the next decade, as former ultra-high economic growth will soon fade in the country.

Many people are afraid that economic difficulties coupled with other challenges will hinder the CPC in fulfilling its mission to build China into an industrialized, prosperous society by 2020.

For the Chinese public, pressing tasks include curbing widespread food and drug safety problems and stopping the flagrant abuse of power and corruption among government officials and business people -- issues that have triggered a series of protests across the country over the past years.

Challenges also come from outside, as the external environment has never been as complicated as it is now. The sovereign debt crisis and massive economic restructuring in developed countries after the global financial crisis has brought uncertainty and volatility to the world in recent years, thus threatening China's growth in a globalized world.

China must also adjust its relations with major powers, developing countries and neighboring countries in accordance with the latest changes in the global situation. Pressing tasks include handling escalating tensions over territorial disputes with Japan, the world's third-largest economy.

The rapidly changing circumstances at home and abroad require the CPC to come up with new strategies and plans to override difficulties to verify its legitimacy, bring a promising future to the Chinese people and reassure the international community that a successful China will bring peace, not conflicts or war, to the world.

However, the question is: under the CPC's leadership, can China, a country with a population of 1.3 billion, set its own path in building a strong, democratic, culturally-advanced and harmonious society in such an uncertain world? And, if so, what changes are needed?

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