邓小平文选/在经济问题上，我是个外行，也讲了一些话，都是从政治角度讲的。

For example, I proposed China's economic policy of opening to the outside world, but as for the details or specifics of how to implement it, I know very little indeed.

So today I am dealing with the question again from the political point of view.

We have determined a political objective: to quadruple economic production by the end of the century, achieving a per capita gross national product of US$800 and a better standard of living for our people.

What is more important, with that achievement as a foundation we can strive to approach the level of the developed countries within 30 to 50 years.

Since the Third Plenary Session of our Party's Eleventh Central Committee, we have formulated a policy of invigorating the domestic economy and opening to the outside world.

To invigorate the domestic economy, we began with the countryside.

Eighty per cent of our population lives there.

China's social stability and its economic development depend above all on the development of the countryside and the improvement of rural living standards.

A fourfold increase in overall production depends first and foremost on whether it can be achieved by the 80 percent of our people who live in the countryside.

In the past, life in the countryside was difficult.Now we can say that most of our people there have enough food to eat and clothes to wear, and their housing conditions have greatly improved.

The quick success of our rural policies has heightened our confidence and encouraged us to decide on the target of quadrupling the GNP.

The recent rural reforms are of revolutionary significance.

Of course, we cannot mechanically apply what is successful in the countryside to the cities, where the situation is far more complex, involving industry, commerce and the service sector as well as the scientific, educational and cultural spheres.

Urban reforms and the restructuring of the economy in general will be the main topic for the forthcoming Third Plenary Session of the Twelfth Central Committee of the Party.

Our experience in the countryside convinces us that our urban reform will succeed.

We are also aware that mistakes may be made because of the complicated nature of urban reform,

but they will not affect the situation as a whole.We shall watch our step, and if anything goes wrong, we shall put it right, that's all.

We are convinced that our urban reform will succeed too and that the forthcoming Third Plenary Session of the Twelfth Central Committee will go down in Chinese history as a very important event.

While invigorating the domestic economy, we have also formulated a policy of opening to the outside world

.Reviewing our history, we have concluded that one of the most important reasons for China's long years of stagnation and backwardness was its policy of closing the country to outside contact.

Our experience shows that China cannot rebuild itself behind closed doors and that it cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world.

It goes without saying that a large country like China cannot depend on others for its development; it must depend mainly on itself, on its own efforts.

Nevertheless, while holding to self-reliance, we should open our country to the outside world to obtain such aid as foreign investment capital and technology.

While China will obtain investment capital and technology from other nations, particularly the developed ones, it will in turn make a greater contribution to the world economy.