At a press conference in Beijing on Monday, Ma Kai, minister of
the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), highlighted some of the
key points of interest of the
11th Five-Year Guidelines (2006-2010), which is now under
discussion during the ongoing Fourth
Plenary Session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC).
Minister Ma stressed that the Guidelines not only follow in the
spirit of previous five-year plans, they have been developed in
line with the current situation. The following are the key points
raised by Ma.
- They adopt the strategic concepts of the "Scientific Approach
to Development" and "Constructing a Harmonious Socialist
Society."
- The goals set in the Guidelines reflect a keener attention to
the issues of humanity, society and the environment, as well as the
economy. And for the first time, the development index has been set
to "expected" and "restricted to."
- A primary goal set out in the Guidelines is the building of a
new socialist countryside.
- Although the structure of industry must be further developed
and strengthened, the focus is on strength, not scale.
- Also for the first time, efforts are to be made to strengthen
the service industries. This is as a result of weakly developed
tertiary industry, which has had a negative impact on the overall
structure of industry, job opportunities and comprehensive
competitiveness.
- The Guidelines also clearly define the concepts of optimized
development, key development, restrictive development and forbidden
development.
- With regard to the relationship between man and the
environment, the Guidelines include two of the basic national
policies, namely energy-saving and environmental protection.
- Self-innovation and the training of talent are also prominent
in the Guidelines.
- The Guidelines relate not only to development but also to
reform. Two chapters are devoted to the aims of both further reform
and opening up. In addition, specific areas of reform are expounded
in separate chapters on rural development, science and education
undertakings as well as the construction of a harmonious
society.
- Based on an all-around development strategy of economic growth,
construction of a political civilization, cultural and social
construction, all definitions, aims, objectives and measures
described in the Guidelines are centered on humanity.
The third chapter lists the indexes that relate to nine aspects
of economic and social development, including two on economic
growth, four on economic structure, eight on population, resources
and environment issues, and eight on public services and standards
of living.
A total of 39 appreciable goals are included in The Guidelines,
Ma added.
Minister Ma stressed that two of the indexes are termed
"primary" and "representative." One is the index for GDP growth
rate, which has a target of a 7.5 percent annual increase over the
next five years.
The second is the index on energy consumption and pollution
control, which is set to reflect the investment in energy and
environmental protection and how that relates to GDP growth.
Minister Ma emphasized that shortsighted interests should not be
given priority over possible long-term damage.
"The quality and efficiency of a countrys economic growth can
only be judged by taking both output and reinvestment into
account," Ma said.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Rui and Wang Zhiyong, March 7, 2006)
