SENIOR party leader Qiao Shi has called for a transformation of thought among cadres to provide an ''internal driving force'' for the nation's second economic revolution.
Speaking during an inspection tour in the southern province of Fujian, the reformist head of China's national parliament also reiterated the need for the development of a legal system to meet the demands of a growing market economy.
Mr Qiao, a Politburo Standing Committee member, is chairman of the National People's Congress, the highest organ of power under the mainland constitution.
According to Xinhua (the New China News Agency), the People's Congress chief said the major lesson contained in the works of patriarch Deng Xiaoping was the absolute importance of a fundamental change of thought among cadres above county level.
''If there is no fundamental change of thought, it is hard to talk about the deepening of reform. If [we] still confine ourselves to the outdated economic models, there will be no ideological basis and internal driving force for further reform.'' Mr Qiao urged cadres to fully grasp the essence of Mr Deng's instructions, that reform was the ''second revolution'' in the drive to boost productivity.
Only with a transformation of thought could reform proceed smoothly.
''The current international environment is, on the whole, conducive to faster economic construction in China,'' Mr Qiao was quoted as saying.