Premier Wen Jiabao has said China will step up efforts to
facilitate the orderly flow of redundant rural labors into towns
for new jobs in the coming five years.
Wen made the remarks in his explanation of the Proposal on the
Eleventh Five-year Program at the Fifth Session of the 16th
Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee a week ago, but
his explanation wasn't released to the public until Wednesday.
According to Wen, China will speed up economic development in
small towns to create more job opportunities for migrant workers,
thus increasing their income.
This is only part of China's program for the coming five years
to ease rural poverty and narrow the growing gap between rural and
urban areas.
Wen also promised that China will push forward the reform of the
rural tax system, to invest more in education and medical services
in the countryside and experiment with new land acquisition
methods.
Promoting unisonous regional development
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged the whole nation to promote a
unisonous regional development in the country in the next five
years.
China will implement a comprehensive policy to boost the
development of the western region, revitalize the traditional
industrial bases in the northeastern provinces and promote the rise
of central provinces. Eastern and western provinces and regions
should make concerted efforts to promote a mutual development, Wen
said.
Wen said this in an explanation of the Proposal on the Eleventh
Five-year Program on National Economy and Social Development which
was adopted at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th Communist
Party of China Central Committee a week ago.
The interactive mechanism of regional coordination should be
improved, including mechanisms of market, cooperation, interaction
and support, according to the proposal of the 11th five-year
program. The central government will continue to give support to
the central and western regions in economic policies, capital
investment and industrial growth, Wen said.
The social functions of different regions should be defined in
terms of their population, resources, environment and potential,
Wen said.
Wen said that a healthy development of urbanization should be
stepped up, giving full play to the city groups in the process of
urbanization. Attention should be paid to proper sequence,
economical use of land and reasonable overall arrangement, he
said.
Balancing domestic, foreign demand
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged the nation to properly handle
the relationship between domestic and overseas demand in social and
economic development in the next five years.
"We must base ourselves upon expanding domestic demand, a
long-term strategic policy that we must stick to," Wen said in an
explanation about the Proposal on the Eleventh Five-year Program at
the Fifth Session of the 16th CPC (Communist Party of China)
Central Committee a week ago.
He said that China should further expand not only investment
demand but also consumption demand to boost the country's economic
growth.
Meanwhile, he said China also needs to further open up the
international market and expand overseas demand.
The premier also emphasized four other major relationships that
need to be handled with great attention in social and economic
development in the coming five years, including relationship
between market mechanism and macro regulation, between central
government and localities, between social development and economic
development, and between reform, development and stability.
Wen said that China must act in line with rules of a market
economy, but at the same time, macro regulation must be
strengthened and improved to ensure a stable and healthy economic
development.
For the relationships between the central government and
localities, Wen said the central government must take into
consideration the differences and interests of different regions
when stipulating a policy. Meanwhile, localities must obey the
central leadership and take the interests of the whole country into
account.
On social development and economic development, Wen said China
must unswervingly take economic construction as the core task while
social development is a necessity and important guarantee for
economic development.
Building harmonious society
Premier Wen Jiabao Wednesday called for stepping up national
efforts to build a harmonious society, saying employment, social
security, poverty reduction, education, medical care, environmental
protection and safety will be given priority.
Wen made the appeal in his explanation about the Proposal on the
Eleventh Five-year Program at the Fifth Session of the 16th CPC
(Communist Party of China) Central Committee last week.
He said that employment will remain a tough issue for a long
period of time to come, so China has to carry out pro-active
employment policies and try every means to create job
opportunities.
On social security, the premier called for further making
efforts to improve the insurance system of pension, basic medical
care, unemployment, industrial injuries and birth, to earnestly
resolve the social security issue for migrant farmer workers in
cities, and to set up a security system of minimum living standards
for rural areas.
Wen meanwhile urged efforts to readjust the income distribution
in a proper way to narrow the income gap among different regions
and social groups and to achieve social equality.
Other important tasks for building a harmonious society in the
coming five years include greatly developing education and lifting
the educational level of the nationals, enriching the public's
spiritual and cultural life, improving medical services across the
country, and safeguarding the life and property of the people, Wen
said.
According to Wen, the State Council will make the draft of the
Eleventh Five-year Program based on the proposal. The draft will be
reviewed at the National People's Congress session next March.
Speeding up development of science and education
China will beef up its muscle in independent innovation and
speed up the development of science and technology and education in
the next five years, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said.
Wen made the remarks when explaining about the Proposal on the
Eleventh Five-year Program on National Economy and Social
Development, which was adopted at the Fifth Plenary Session of
the16th Communist Party of China Central Committee a week ago.
Mankind is now experiencing a global revolution in science and
technology, which will bring about both unprecedented opportunities
and challenges for all nations, Wen said. Strengthening innovation
ability will sharpen a nation's competitive edge in the world, he
added.
To enhance its independent innovation ability, China must
speedup the establishment of a technological innovation system,
improve the market environment, implement a supporting policy in
finance and government purchase, make use of global scientific
resources, and enhance the protection of intellectual property
rights, he said.
It is imperative to carry out thoroughly the strategies for
revitalizing the country relying on science and technology and
education and the strategies for building up the country relying on
talents, in order to strengthen China's independent innovation
ability, he explained.
Therefore, it is of great importance to give the priority to the
development of education to foster a great number of top-quality
people, he added.
"Active, prudent" goal to double per capita GDP by
2010
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the goal of doubling China's
2000 per capita gross domestic product (GDP) by 2010 is "active and
prudent".
The goal is based on an overall consideration of economic
performance from 2001 to 2005 and conditions for development in the
coming five years, he said in his explanation, released Wednesday,
of the Communist Party of China's proposal for the nation's
2006-2010 blueprint for economic and social development.
Wen also described the goal of reducing energy cost for per unit
GDP by 20 percent in the coming five years as "achievable".
This reflects the requirement for the building of an
energy-saving and environmental friendly society and sustainable
development, he said.
Wen acknowledged that in recent years, the speed of energy
consumption was tangibly faster than economic growth, showing that
there is still much potential for saving energy and raising the
efficiency of energy use.
Asia's second biggest economy expanded at a stunning 9.5 percent
in the first six months of the year and is widely expected to see
only a slight slowdown in 2006.
But the Chinese economy, Wen warned, excessively rides on
increased investment and material input. The inefficient growth
pattern, sparking increasingly acute contradictions between
resources and the environment, "can no longer continue," the
premier said.
Wen highlighted the "scientific concept of development," a term
frequently used by top Chinese leaders, indicating the shift in the
government's development philosophy from growth-centered to
people-centered.
The proposal of the CPC Central Committee is based on the
"scientific concept of development" that will also be the guide in
the whole process of China's reform and open-up drive, he said.
He also stressed the need to boost coordinated development of
rural and urban areas, step up industrial restructuring, change the
mode of economic growth, and continue to improve the people's
living standards.
(www.gov.cn October 20,
2005)