China must keep to the right direction on its way of reform to achieve success, said a signed article to be published in Monday's People's Daily, the country's most influential newspaper.

The socialist market economy is combined with the fundamental system of socialism and the two should be linked closely to give a better play to the advantages of the market economy and the superiority of the socialist system, said the article by Zhong Xuanli.

The article quoted former President Jiang Zemin as saying that "socialism" is indispensable in the socialist market economy as it indicates the character of China's market economy.

The basic economic system should be upheld and improved, with public ownership in domination and diverse forms of ownership developing side by side, said the article.

The state-owned sector should continue to play the leading role in China's economy and the public sector should be consolidated and developed "unswervingly", the article said, adding that the non-public sector should also be encouraged, supported and guided to expand with "unswerving" efforts.

While upholding the income distribution system in which the dominant form of distribution according to work coexists with diverse forms of distribution that remunerate other factors of production rather than labor, the article also called for more attention to social equity.

Macro-regulation of the economy should continue and improve to realize balanced economic growth and optimization of the economic structure, said the article.

China should improve its decision making in the reform process to make it more scientific, said the article, adding that the people's fundamental interests should be the starting point of reform and underlie decision making.

It advocated that the reform should take care of the interests of various social groups and win the widest support from the people.

A series of institutional reforms and policy adjustments should be made correspondingly as China's reform covers not only the economic system but also the political, cultural and social systems as well as people's thoughts and ideas, said the article.

The economic reform should be coordinated with reforms in the political system, cultural system and social areas, and the reforms in urban areas should be brought in line with the rural reforms, it said.

The article also elaborated on the relationship between reform and stability, saying that a balance should be realized between reform, development and social stability. Reform should be the driving force, development the goal, and stability the prerequisite, it said.

New situations and new problems occurring during the reform should be studied and solved promptly, and the urgency of reform should be dealt with in a scientific and pragmatic spirit, said the article.

China should push forward its reform persistently, actively and steadily while giving full consideration to favorable conditions and possible difficulties in the process, it said.