The congress will hold high the banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory and carry out the important thoughts of "Three Represents," which call on the CPC to always represent the development trend of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people.

The upcoming Party congress will surely open a new chapter in the history of the Party and the country, the editorial says.

The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided at a recent plenary meeting to submit the proposal on the congress to the 7th Plenum of the 15th CPC Central Committee to be held soon.

The 16th CPC National Congress, the first Party congress in the new century, is a very important meeting. It will be held at a time when China has entered a new stage of development which is ushering in a fairly comfortable lifestyle for its people generally and speeding up its socialist modernization drive, the editorial notes.

Looking back on the history of the Party, it says, one can see that it is an important practice for the CPC, through the Party's congress, to set its guidelines and policies, clarify its positioning the situations and tasks it faces, and give answers to major theoretical and practical issues that concern cadres and people.

It serves the purpose of unifying the thinking of CPC members and invigorating their spirit to develop unity in ideology, politics and organizations for a better future, the editorial notes.

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2002)