The following is a translation of news report regarding Hu Jintao’s speech at the Central Party School in September, criticizing cadres for lack of “objective consciousness, a general situation consciousness, a sense of hardship, and a consciousness of responsibility”, as reflected in the recent series of food quality scandals. [1]
On September 19, 2008, China News Net broadcast that, according to a CCTV News Broadcast report, the opening ceremony for a special topic seminar for state level main cadres  was held that morning at the Central Party School. This seminar was to mobilize the party to further study scientific development activities. Hu Jintao, the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), State President, and Central Military Committee President, pointed out during the meeting that some significant production safety and food accidents had happened during the year, which had caused significant losses to people’s lives and property. He emphasized that the severity of these accidents and their consequences must be fully evaluated, and some sad lessons must be firmly remembered.

Hu Jintao stressed that since the reform and open policy began, the CCP has emphasized restructuring, and has insisted that the party must manage the party, govern the party strictly, advance the party’s structuring of its magnificent projects, and drive the party’s structure to grow stronger through constant reforms. At the same time, we must see soberly, along with the continuous development of the reform and open policy and socialist market economy, and along with the increase in time, that the party has been in power and the change in the party’s team, and that the party’s self structuring faces many new topics and new tests. The tests of the party’s power, the reforms and open policy, and the development of a socialist market economy are all long-term and complex, and the task of managing and ruling the party is more arduous than at any time in the past.

Hu said that this year, some places had significant production safety incidents and food safety incidents, which caused a significant loss of people’s lives and property. From these incidents, it shows that some cadres lack objective consciousness, a general situation consciousness, a sense of hardship, and a consciousness of responsibility, and that they show an attitude drift, loose management, and that they have slacked off in their work. Some don’t even listen to the people’s voices, and don’t care about those significant problems that relate to the safety of people’s lives. We must fully evaluate these incidents and their severity, and firmly remember the sad lessons.

Hu Jintao pointed out that those incidents told us again that only if we resolved the existing significant problems in the team of the party members, let the party comrades build the party to better serve the people, build the government for the people, always think of the people first, and always care for the people, can the CCP lead the people to strive for the victory of completely building an affluent society.

Endnote:
[1] www.china.com, September 19, 2008
http://news.china.com/zh_cn/domestic/945/20080919/15097074.html