BEIJING - Hu Jintao said here Thursday that China will continue to carry out reform of the political structure, but the country will never copy a Western political system.

"We must continue to make both active and prudent efforts to carry out the reform of the political structure, and make people's democracy more extensive, fuller in scope and sounder in practice," Hu said in a keynote address at the opening of the CPC's 18th National Congress.

Hu said the CPC should place high importance on systemic building, give full play to the strength of the socialist political system and draw on the political achievements of other societies.

"However, we will never copy a Western political system," he said.