Premier Wen
Jiabao delivered a report on the work of the government to the
Fourth
Plenary Session?of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC)
that opened in Beijing yesterday. Wen announced that the central
government will allocate 71.6 billion yuan (US$8.91 billion) this
year to science and technology development, representing a
year-on-year increase of 19.2 percent.
The announcement was warmly welcomed by scientists and
specialists who are now in Beijing attending the Fourth Plenary
Session of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
China's top advisory body.
"I am very encouraged that China will establish a mechanism to
ensure stable growth of government appropriation for sci-tech. I
believe the growth will serve as a jump-start for China's drive
toward an 'innovative country'," Huang Chunping, a CPPCC member and
chief commander of rocket system of China's manned space program,
told china.org.cn on Sunday.
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"China boasts huge production output and value in many areas, but
we haven't mastered the core technologies. We don't want to be
known as the world's largest processing factory and a country of
cheap labor," Huang said. "In order to reduce the reliance on
foreign technologies, we need to have our own innovations in
sci-tech. More funds should be used to encourage the 'three
innovations' -- creating innovation, integrating innovation and
absorbing innovation -- because it is the lifeline of the country's
development. It will largely decide whether China can change its
economic growth mode and realize sustainable development." The
proposal Huang brought to the ongoing session is to set October 15
as China's 'Aerospace Day'. China successfully launched its first
manned spacecraft on October 15, 2003. He explained that the
aerospace industry is a comprehensive hi-tech area that can drive
the development of many industries. 'Aerospace Day' would serve as
a good platform to introduce science to younger generations, and
encourage their participation. Huang's view was echoed by another
CPPCC member He Jingtang, an academician with the Chinese Academy
of Engineering (
Chen Qingquan, also a CPPCC member and?an
academician?with CAE, said: "What impressed me most about
Premier Wen's work report is that the plan is to grow GDP by 8
percent and reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by about 4
percent. This is the first time China would be combining
energy-efficiency with economic growth indices for macro-control of
its economy. This is a very inspiring signal, indicating the shift
in the government's development philosophy from growth-centered to
people-centered.
"The acute contradictions between development and resources and
the environment can no longer continue. China has to increase its
growth patterns and create an energy-efficient,
environment-friendly society in order to maintain a sustainable
development. And the state financial investment should be used to
mainly support basic research, frontier research and key technology
research."
According to the
11th Five-Year Development Guidelines (2006-2010), which is
currently being deliberated by lawmakers, China will launch a
number of sci-tech projects in strategic industries such as
information technology and biotechnology, and projects to address
important, pressing problems in energy, resources, the environment
and healthcare, as well as technologies with both military and
civilian applications.
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(China.org.cn by staff reporter Wang Qian, March 6, 2006)