The recently concluded conference of senior Communist Party of China (CPC) officials will likely go down in history as a major milestone in the country's development.

Held in Beijing on July 15-18, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee gathered 199 committee members and 165 alternate members to deliberate on China's reform agenda. A resolution on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization was adopted.

It has become almost a tradition for the Party to address reform-related matters at the third plenary sessions of the CPC Central Committee. For example, the Third Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee in 2018 reviewed and adopted a decision on deepening the reform of Party and state institutions, as well as a plan for their restructuring; the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2013 produced a master plan on deepening reform across the board, mindful of the specific needs of this new era. China introduced its reform and opening-up policy at the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978. This landmark conference ushered in a transition from a planned economy to a market economy, which led to China's remarkable transformation in the years that ensued.

The 20th CPC National Congress held in 2022 mapped out a plan to have largely achieved socialist modernization by 2035 and build China into a great modern socialist country by the middle of this century.

At its latest plenum, the CPC Central Committee made systematic reform plans. For instance, restrictions on the market will be lifted while effective regulation will be ensured to better maintain order in the market and remedy market failures. Social security as well as medical and healthcare systems will be improved to enhance people's wellbeing. Efforts will also be made to deepen the foreign trade structural reform and further reform the management systems for inward and outward investment.

As the CPC translates the ideals on which it was founded and its vision for China into action, it must remain true to its goals while constantly innovating its means of achieving them. Only by doing so will it overcome the inevitable challenges that lie between now and mid-century.