This photo taken on Oct 22, 2022 shows the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China. Photo:Xinhua

 The second plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee will be held from February 26 to 28 in Beijing, according to a decision made at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Tuesday. Experts said the upcoming meeting is making full political preparations for China's orderly orchestrated development plan after the country successfully fought the COVID-19. 

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The meeting discussed a work report of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to the CPC Central Committee. 

Also discussed at the meeting was a draft plan for the reform of Party and State institutions, and it was decided that the plan will be revised according to the opinions pooled at the meeting and be submitted to the upcoming plenary session for deliberation.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has been making the reform of Party and State institutions a significant task in the drive to modernize the country's system and capacity for governance, according to the meeting.

Party and State institutions have been reformed to achieve a systematic and thorough restructuring of their functions, the meeting noted, stressing that the reform has provided a strong guarantee for achieving historic achievements and changes in the cause of the Party and the country and accumulated precious experience for further reform of Party and State institutions.

At the 20th CPC National Congress, important plans were made for deepening the reform of Party and State institutions, the meeting stressed.

It underscored efforts to ensure that the Party's leadership over socialist modernization becomes more refined in institutional setup, more optimized in the division of functions, more improved in institutions and mechanisms, and more efficient in operation and management.
 
In 2018, a decision by the CPC Central Committee on deepening reform of Party and State institutions was made public on March 4. The decision was adopted at the third plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee.

The plan on deepening reform of Party and State institutions this time will push for more scientific leadership by the Party on the Party and State institutions, further optimize those institutions and improve the institutional system, so they can work more efficiently, Zhang Shuhua, director of the institute of political sciences at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. 

Zhang said this move is especially important as China is gearing up to enter a new development era after it achieved victory over COVID-19, and it is facing complicated domestic and international situations.

Echoing Zhang Shuhua, Zhang Xixian, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing, told the Global Times that such reform is in line with China's path of a new journey. 

The meeting discussed a list of proposed candidates for the leading positions of State institutions to be recommended to the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, and a list of proposed candidates for the leadership of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee to be recommended to the first session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee.

The work report, the draft reform plan and the proposed candidates' lists will be on the agenda at the second plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, according to the meeting.