BEIJING -- China will unwaveringly keep to the socialist path of political development with Chinese characteristics, according to a report distributed to the media prior to a plenary meeting of the Chinese parliament's ongoing annual session.
"We need to thoroughly understand the intrinsic nature of China's system of people's congresses; confidently uphold our unique characteristics; be fully aware of the essential differences between this system and Western capitalist countries' systems of political power," reads the report on the work of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
China's top legislator Wu Bangguo is scheduled to deliver the report Friday afternoon.
"We need to remain sober-minded and take a firm and clear stand on major issues of principle," says the report.
"To manage China' s affairs well, we need to stay grounded in its realities, rely on the strength of the Chinese people, and follow a development path suited to China' s conditions," the report said.
"It is primarily because we blazed the socialist path with Chinese characteristics suited to China' s conditions on the basis of an in-depth review of lessons and experience at home and abroad that China - a large developing country with a population of over 1.3 billion, 56 ethnic groups, a weak foundation, and late start in development - has been able to maintain long-term political stability and social harmony, safeguard national unity and ethnic solidarity, and sustain development at a speed rarely seen in the world," according to the report.
"The socialist system with Chinese characteristics, including the system of people's congresses, is the fundamental institutional guarantee for the development and progress of contemporary China, and we must cherish it even more and adhere to it for a long time to come", said the report.
The system of people's congresses is China's fundamental political system, and upholding and improving it is an important aspect of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, the report said.
