Xi Jinping stresses need to forge strong sense of community for Chinese nation

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has stressed the importance of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation to promote the high-quality development of the Party's work on ethnic affairs in the new era.

Xi made the remarks on Friday while presiding over a group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Efforts should be made to let people cultivate the awareness that people from all ethnicities are in the same community, where they share weal and woe and stick together through thick and thin, Xi said. 

Commending the new historic achievements in the Party's work on ethnic affairs since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Xi said the Party's important thinking on strengthening and improving the work has been formulated, and a new frontier has been opened in adapting Marxist ethnicity theories to the Chinese context and the needs of the times. 

Noting the new circumstances and tasks in the Party's work on ethnic affairs since the 20th CPC National Congress in 2022, Xi said that no ethnic group shall be left behind in building a great modern socialist country in all respects. 

A scientific and sound theoretical system for the Chinese national community needs to be established, Xi said, stressing that efforts must be made to integrate Marxist ethnicity theories with China's specific realities and fine traditional culture.

Xi urged a focus on building modern Chinese civilization, aiming to lay a solid spiritual and cultural foundation for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. 

He stressed strengthening the education of the Party's theories, lines, principles, and policies among people of all ethnic groups, and promoting the creative evolution and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture. 

Comprehensive efforts should be made to promote standard spoken and written Chinese language and the use of unified state-compiled textbooks, he added. 

Calling for more exchanges and interactions among different ethnic groups, Xi said efforts should be made to promote population mobility and integrated habitation among various ethnic groups, in a bid to continuously foster ethnic unity and progress. 

He stressed improving people's livelihood and ensuring the benefits of development are delivered fairly to people of all ethnic groups. 

Xi also called for efforts to better tell the stories of the Chinese nation, and step up public communication regarding the sense of community for the Chinese nation. 

Party committees and governments at all levels should adhere to the correct and distinctively Chinese approach to handling ethnic affairs, and officials should make their due contributions to ethnic unity and progress, Xi said.

(Cover: People celebrate Chinese farmers' harvest festival in Fuhai County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, September 23, 2023. /CFP)