January 13–19
An enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission formulated a military strategic principle of active defense in the new phase and required to focus on winning local wars fought under modern technological conditions, especially high-tech conditions in preparing for future military battles. And an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission convened in June, 2004, stated explicitly that it was imperative to prepare well to win local wars fought under informationized conditions.
February 13
The CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Outline for China’s Education Reform and Development, which pointed out that China must try to basicly wipe out illiteracy among young and middle-aged people and to institute nine-year compulsory education in most areas by the end of the 20th century.
March 14–27
The 1st Session of the 8th CPPCC National Committee was convened, at which Li Ruihuan was elected chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.
March 15–31
The 1st Session of the 8th NPC was held. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (Revised) adopted at the Session affirmed that China was at the primary stage of socialism and practiced the socialist market economy, and that the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC would exist and develop for a long time. The Session also passed the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, the Decision of the National People’s Congress on the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China and the Decision of the National People’s Congress on the Establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region. It elected Jiang Zemin president of the PRC and chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission, and Qiao Shi chairman of the NPC Standing Committee. It also appointed Li Peng as premier of the State Council. The Session approved the plan of institutional reform of the State Council and stated explicitly for the first time that the transformation of government functions was the focus of institutional reform.
April 27–29
The Koo-Wang Talks were held in Singapore between Wang Daohan, chairman of the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits, and Koo Chen-fu, chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation, at which four agreements including the Joint Agreement of the Koo- Wang Talks were formally signed. It was the first ever meeting of the heads of nongovernmental bodies authorized by their respective authorities.
July 1
The State Education Commission issued the Opinions on the Key Construction of Institutions of Higher Learning and Key Disciplinary Areas, which was simply called “Project 211” and aimed at establishing about 100 institutions of higher learning and certain key disciplinary areas as a national priority for the 21st century. In May, 1998, the Ministry of Education (previously the State Education Commission) launched “Project 985”, striving to found world-class universities and internationally renowned research-based universities in the 21st century.
November 5
The Policies and Strategies for Agricultural and Rural Development was issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, which made clear that the current round of rural land contracts should extend for another 30 years after it expired.
November 7
At a national united front work conference, Jiang Zemin clarified that China must continue to consolidate and strengthen the system of regional ethnic autonomy, adhere to and improve the system of regional ethnic autonomy and speed up economic and social progress in ethnic autonomous areas. China needed to fully and properly follow the CPC’s religious policies, strengthen the management of religious affairs in accordance with the law and actively lead religion to accord with the socialist society.
November 14
The Decision on Issues Concerning the Establishment of a Socialist Market Economy was adopted at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee.The Decision drafted a blueprint for establishing a socialist market economy and pointed out that the socialist market economy was an integral part of the basic socialist system and that the purpose of establishing a socialist market economy was to let the market play a basic role in allocating resources under the state’s macro-control. In addition, the Decisions proposed to further transform the operating mechanisms of state-owned enterprises and create a modern corporate structure that met the requirements of the market and featured clearly established ownership, well-defined power and responsibility, separation of government administration and enterprise management, and scientific management.
November 20
Jiang Zemin attended and addressed the 1st Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting held in Seattle, USA.
December 15
The State Council issued the Decision on Implementing a Revenue-Sharing Fiscal Management System, deciding to reform the contract system in local financial administration as of January 1, 1994 and roll out the revenue-sharing fiscal management system in provinces,autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government and cities designated in the state plan. In March, 2018, the CPC Central Committee released the Plan for Deepening the Reform of Party and State Institutions, which proposed to reform the state and local tax collection and administration systems, merge the state and local taxation organizations at and under the provincial level and implement a dual leadership management system that the State Taxation Administration predominated over the governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
December 25
The Decision on the Reform of the Financial System was issued by the State Council, which proposed to set up a macro-regulatory system through the central bank that independently implemented the monetary policy under the leadership of the State Council, to establish a financial organization system that the policy-based finance and the commercial finance were separated from each other and that state-owned commercial banks were dominant and multiple financial institutions coexisted, and to build a uniform and open financial market system with orderly competition and strict administration.
On the same day, the State Council approved and forwarded the Plan for Implementing the Reform of the Industrial and Commercial Tax System submitted by the State Taxation Administration, which specified that the most far-reaching and deep-reaching tax system reform at the largest scale after the founding of the PRC should be carried out as of January 1, 1994.
December 26
At the meeting to celebrate the centenary of Mao Zedong’s birth, Jiang Zemin spoke highly of Mao Zedong’s feats throughout his life and emphasized that Mao Zedong Thought would always be a theoretical treasure trove for Chinese Communists and a spiritual pillar of the Chinese nation.
From:Chronicle of the People's Republic of China(October 1949—September 2019), edited by The Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, PP.149-155.