The 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC)
concluded its 5th Plenary Session in Beijing on October 11, having
examined and approved proposals for formulating the 11th Five-Year
Plan for National Economy and Social Development, setting
objectives for the next five years.
Participation and suggestions from the
public
On July 27, a booklet containing opinions and suggestions from
the general public on environmental protection was sent to State
Council. Over 4 million people from the mainland, Hong Kong and
Macao, including students overseas, were involved and many of their
suggestions would be taken up.
The booklet originated from a nationwide survey by the All-China
Environment Federation, China Youth Daily, People's
Daily and China Environment News. China Youth
Daily's Social Survey Center retrieved and analyzed the
data.
The average age of respondents was 29.7 and they mainly came
from schools, state bodies and institutions, soldiers and military
police, and state-owned enterprises. More than a third were
students (25 percent college and 10 percent high school), 71
percent were male, 68 percent had college degrees or above, and 8.2
percent had an income of over 2,000 yuan (US$247).
Two years ago the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in charge of drafting the
Five-Year Plan, invited bids for research to inform the process,
for the first time in China's economic development.
Yang Weimin, director of the NDRC's development planning
department, said China's socialist market economic system has taken
shape and the background for planning and implementation has
changed greatly.
Yang said that in a planned economy administrative measures were
often adopted to realize plan objectives, but in a market economy,
enterprises and consumers are involved because of changes in kind,
function and content of planning, so social participation makes the
plan more applicable.
Application of scientific concept of
development
The 11th Five-Year Plan is the first drafted by the CPC Central
Committee headed by General Secretary Hu
Jintao, the first after the objective of building a well-off
society was set, and the first after central government decided to
further improve the socialist market economic system.
The importance of using poorer people's quality of life as a
starting point and building service-oriented governance has been
highlighted, as has seeking fair and harmonious development of the
whole of society.
The government began to prepare for drafting the plan in 2003,
earlier than in previous years. As with previous plans since reform
and opening-up, this plan emphasizes development and adopts a
scientific concept of development.?
A harmonious society is the objective, while scientific
development is the method to reach it. Scientific development
relies on advanced science and technology to realize high-quality
and high-efficient development, and seeks sustainable development
to build a harmonious society.
The scientific concept of development means China has to change
from over-reliance on a cheap labor force, funds and natural
resources to well-educated workers and improvement of science and
technology, a development mode that not only values quantity and
speed but also high quality and energy-saving.
The concept was raised by Hu when visiting Guangdong Province
during the SARS crisis from April 10 to 15, 2003, when he asked
people to pay attention to the harmonious development of economy
and society, sustainable and all-round development.
In June that year, Hu raised the scientific concept of
development at a meeting in Beijing reviewing the fight against
SARS. One year later, it was included in speeches at the 4th
Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the CPC.
The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held meetings
on July 25 and September 29 to work on the drafting of the plan.
They agreed to adhere to Deng Xiaoping Theory and the "Three
Represents" and further implementation of the scientific concept of
development.
'Plan' changed to 'layout'
The Chinese name of the 11th Five-Year Plan has changed, with a
new word closer to "layout" or "program" being used instead of
"plan."
Xin Ming of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee's
Research Office said the connotation of the new word was quite
different, implying more strategic programming.
From 1952 to 1953, delegations including those headed by then
Premier Zhou Enlai went to the former Soviet Union to study, which
helped the country work out its 1st Five-Year Plan and implement it
from 1953.
?
During the period of the planned economy, important resources could
be allocated specifically, but now there is much more market
allocation, so the plan needs to emphasize strategic and
macroscopic points.
Human-oriented reform
"Putting people first, setting up a sustainable development
concept, advancing the economic society's and people's all-round
development," was how the 3rd Plenary Session of the 16th CPC
Central Committee summed up the concept of scientific
development.
"Putting people first" is not entirely new, since politicians
such as Guan Zhong of the Qi Kingdom during the Spring and Autumn
Period (770-476 BC)?more than 2,000 years ago and Mencius of
the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) proposed similar
concepts.
Yao Xuange, deputy chief and secretary-general at Shaanxi Ethics
Research Academy, said it meant polices should consider people's
feelings, respect people's rights, not ignore people's needs and
take people's freedom and all-round development as the final
aim.
The new Five-Year Plan aims to stress people's development
rather than only measures of material increases such as GDP.
Common prosperity on the layout
China's per capita GDP has surpassed US$1,000 and is expected to
reach US$3,000 in 2020. Other countries' experiences indicate that
the disparity between rich and poor increases in unemployment and
the disparity between urban and rural?is likely to sharpen at
this point of development.
According to Professor Zhu Li, from Nanjing University's Social
Science Department, "The government must regulate market
deficiencies and support and help people who need it. The more
important point is to create a social system and environment that
provides equal opportunities."
Hu Angang, chief of Tsinghua
University's State Condition Research Center, said common
property is not an unreachable aim and would assure social
stability and long-term security.
Regional economy incorporated
In mid-September Ma Kai, director of the NDRC, said the new
Five-Year Plan would prioritize the Yangtze River Delta,
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Chengdu-Chongqing and the old industrial
base in the northeast in regional planning.
The replacement of the Pearl River Delta with Chengdu-Chongqing
is a reflection of the area's establishment as a well developed
economic region with no more need for preferential policies.
Regional economic planning in China focuses on spreading
development gains from south to north, east to west and from
periphery to center.
South to north development began with the Pearl River Delta
economic region in the 1980s, with Shenzhen taking the leading
role. It was followed by the Yangtze River Delta economic region
led by Shanghai's Pudong area. The Bohai Sea Ring economic region
led by Tianjin's Binhai New District plus the reinvigoration of the
old industrial base in the northeast are its latest focuses.
East to west development started in the coastal region before
shifting toward the west development strategy. The incorporation of
Chengdu-Chongqing is an important measure in promoting development
of the western region and coordinating regional development.
Periphery to center development prioritizes central areas,
following the strategies for the eastern coastal region, the
western region and the old northeast industrial base.
Independent innovative capabilities better
appreciated
China has become the biggest consumer of the world's major
resources, and estimates by international energy institutions
predict that between 2002-30, 21 percent of new energy consumption
will come from there.
Since opening-up, China's economy has benefited from the
introduction of advanced technology and management from abroad. But
as it lacks core technology and its own intellectual property, it
relies heavily on cheap labor, energy consumption, land resources
and preferential policies for a competitive edge.
Seventy-five percent of economic growth in developed countries
is attributed to technological advancement, and 25 percent to an
increase of investment in and consumption of energy, raw materials
and labor. The situation is quite the opposite in China, but it has
begun endeavors to boost its own technological capacities.
Systematic reform
Two key changes?-- the household contract responsibility
system at the beginning of the 1980s and the establishment of the
socialist market economy since the 1990s?-- will be furthered
during the 11th Five-Year Plan.
The CPC central committee has decided that 2005 will be the
"most critical" year for China's reform. The key breakthrough will
be made in sweeping obstacles from the present system.
Past experiences have shown that the root causes of many
economic problems confronting China lie in the country's present
systems and mechanisms.
New development mode
Problems such as the rural-urban gap, polarization of rich and
poor, waste of resources, environmental deterioration,
administrative corruption and low efficiency have amassed over
years. Overheated investment since 2003 brought to light the
problems that accompanied China's old development mode.
The formulation of the 11th Five-Year Plan signals a complete
transformation of China's social and economic development mode.
It will, for the first time, incorporate the idea that economic
growth does not equal economic development, economic development
does not necessarily result in society's development and that
growth is not the goal, but the means of development.
It aims to realize the following strategic goals: to improve
innovative capacities, transform the mode of economic development,
encourage a cyclic economy, adopt a new route of industrialization
and build a society that is energy-efficient, environment-friendly,
wholly coordinated and sustainable.
New phase of development
Since China started its 1st Five-Year Plan more than 50 years
ago and its opening-up more than 20 years ago, the country has been
in a constant quest for social and economic development.
?
The 11th Five-Year Plan is based on the experience of the past
years. It also benefits from a comparatively mature and
well-developed systematic theory of reform.
Changes
in Five-Year Plans' Economic Focus
(China.org.cn November 9, 2005)