I'm still in good health and have a clear mind and a good memory. Recently I've begun to swim for an hour every day in the sea at Beidaihe. I don't like indoor pools; I like to swim in an expansive natural setting where you have a greater sense of freedom. I'm trying to get used to complete retirement. For decades I've been busy with my work. Although I have not concerned myself with many things recently, my mind remains active and keeps turning over problems.

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The Political Bureau of the Central Committee:

I am asking the Central Committee for permission to resign my current post of Chairman of the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

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Today I want to concentrate on discussing when and how I should retire.

I have decided to retire. My retirement will be very beneficial. If I stay on and die at my post, it is hard to tell what repercussions that might evoke worldwide. Even if I am retired and no longer dealing with official business, I can still play some small role as long as I'm around. That's because many foreigners know me, which to some extent affects their relations with China. There is nothing we can do about that. For the sake of China's security, it is better for me to retire now than to wait until something bad happens, or to stay on at my posts until I die. I made up my mind to retire several years ago. I've said on many occasions that I wanted to retire, and I sincerely meant it. As things stand now, there is no perfect time for me to do so. Every time there was one reason or another why I should not retire. At the Party's Thirteenth National Congress I secured a partial retirement. But I have always thought it would have been better if I had retired completely.

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The Communist Party should establish its third generation of collective leadership. Historically, our Party never had a mature central leadership before the Zunyi Meeting. Chen Duxiu, Qu Qiubai, Xiang Zhongfa, Li Lisan and Wang Ming all failed to form a capable central leadership. It was only after the Zunyi Meeting that the collective leadership of the Party began to take shape. That leadership was composed of Comrades Mao [Zedong], Liu [Shaoqi], Zhou [Enlai], Zhu [De] and Ren Bishi. After Comrade Bishi passed away, Comrade Chen Yun was added to the leadership. At the Eighth National Congress of the Party, the Central Committee established a Standing Committee composed of Mao, Liu, Zhou, Zhu, Chen and Deng [Xiaoping]. Later on, Lin Biao was added to the Standing Committee. This collective leadership lasted until the "cultural revolution".

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Comrades, you have been having a hard time!

First of all, I should like to express my deep grief over the officers and men of the People's Liberation Army, the People's Armed Police Force and the Public Security Police who have died heroically in this struggle. I also want to express my sincere solicitude for the thousands of PLA, PAPF and PSP officers and men who have been wounded. I extend my cordial greetings to all your officers and men who have taken part in the struggle.

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The policies of reform and opening to the outside world should remain unchanged for dozens of years, and we have to keep driving this point home. People both in China and abroad are concerned about this question. We should continue to implement the lines, principles and policies that have been formulated since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, without even altering their wording. The political report to the Thirteenth National Party Congress was approved by the congress, and not a single word of it can be changed. I have consulted Comrades Li Xiannian and Chen Yun on this matter, and they agree with me.

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The Chinese people sincerely hope that Sino-Soviet relations will improve. I suggest that we take this opportunity to declare that henceforth our relations will return to normal.

For many years there has been a question of how to understand Marxism and socialism. From the first Moscow talks in 1957 [among delegations from the Soviet Union, China and Hungary] through the first half of the 1960s, bitter disputes went on between our two parties. I was one of the persons involved and played no small role in those disputes. Now, looking back on more than 20 years of practice, we can see that there was a lot of empty talk on both sides. Nobody was clear about exactly what changes had taken place over the century since Marx's death or about how to understand and develop Marxism in light of those changes. We cannot expect Marx to provide ready answers to questions that arise a hundred or several hundred years after his death, nor can we ask Lenin to give answers to questions that arise fifty or a hundred years after his death. A true Marxist-Leninist must understand, carry on and develop Marxism-Leninism in light of the current situation.

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China was closed for a long time, which handicapped its economic development. Not until the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, held at the end of 1978, did we solve this problem. During the ten years from that time to last December, our country scored gratifying achievements. Progress was made both in developing the economy and in raising living standards. Although we made new mistakes, our achievements were dominant. This is our basic assessment. We quadrupled the GNP. That was no small achievement. It can be attributed to our perseverance in socialist modernization, reform and the open policy. We have been following correct lines, principles and policies.

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The key to our success in modernization, the reform and the opening to the outside is stability. I have told President Bush that in China the overriding need is for stability. We must counter any forces that threaten stability, not yielding to them or even making any concessions. We should not be concerned about what foreigners say; let them say what they please. They'll only abuse us for being unenlightened. We have been berated for so many years! But have we been toppled by their criticisms? Anyway, the affairs of Chinese should be handled by the Chinese themselves. China cannot afford any disorder: we should explain that plainly and repeatedly. If we don't, we shall appear to be in the wrong. We have to send out a signal that China will tolerate no disturbances.

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In China the overriding need is for stability. Without a stable environment, we can accomplish nothing and may even lose what we have gained.

China must adhere to the policies of reform and opening to the outside world: there lies our hope of solving our problems. But it is impossible to carry out reform without a stable political environment. The Chinese people, on the whole, support the policy of reform, and the overwhelming majority of students favour stability, because they know that without it reform and opening to the outside would be out of the question.

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