Fellow Deputies,
This government took
office in March 1998, and its term is about to expire.
On behalf of the State Council, I now submit a
report on the work of the government during the past five
years to the First Session of the Tenth National People's
Congress and put forward a number of suggestions on this
year's work for your examination and approval and also for
comments from members of the National Committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference.
I. Review of the Work of
the Government in the Past Five Years
The five years since the First
Session of the Ninth National People's Congress have been an
extraordinary period. Soon after this government
took office, the Asian financial crisis struck, and world
economic growth stagnated. Domestically,
irrationalities in the industrial structure became critical,
and large numbers of workers were laid off from state-owned
enterprises. Catastrophic floods struck in 1998
and 1999. Under the leadership of the Communist
Party of China, our people of all ethnic groups have forged
ahead, worked still harder in solidarity, surmounted
numerous difficulties, and made great achievements in
reform, opening up and economic and social development that
have won worldwide recognition. We have attained
the strategic goals for the second stage of our
modernization drive and begun our march towards the third
stage goals.
During the past five years, the
national economy maintained good growth momentum, and
important advances were made in the strategic restructuring
of the economy.
-- The economy maintained a
high growth rate. China's GDP rose from 7.4
trillion Yuan in 1997 to 10.2 trillion Yuan in 2002, an
average annual increase of 7.7%, when calculated in constant
prices. Notable results were achieved in the
readjustment of the industrial structure. The
supply of grain and other major agricultural products took a
historic shift from chronic short ages to an overall balance
with surpluses during good years. High and new
technology industries, such as the IT industry, expanded
rapidly. The transformation of traditional
industries was accelerated. Modern service
industries developed rapidly. The quality and
efficiency of economic growth improved constantly.
National tax revenue grew by a large margin every
year. Total fiscal revenue rose from 0.8651
trillion Yuan in 1997 to 1.8914 trillion Yuan in 2002, an
average annual increase of 205.3 billion Yuan.
China's foreign exchange reserves climbed from
139.9 billion to 286.4 billion US dollars.
Investment in fixed assets over the five years
totaled 17.2 trillion Yuan. In particular, based
on the issuance of 660 billion Yuan of long-term
construction treasury bonds, 3.28 trillion Yuan of bank
loans and funds from other sources were generated for
investment, allowing us to accomplish many large
undertakings we had been wanting but unable to undertake for
years for lack of resources. The productive forces
reached a new high, and the country's economic strength and
ability to withstand risks and compete internationally grew
significantly.
-- Remarkable achievements were
made in infrastructure development. By
concentrating our resources, we completed a number of key
infrastructure projects of nationwide significance.
We built water conservancy projects on a scale
larger than any other time since the founding of New China.
The investment in these projects nationwide
totaled 356.2 billion Yuan for the five years, which was
equal to the total investment in this field from 1950
through 1997 after adjusting for price changes. A
number of key water conservancy projects were launched or
completed. Work on reinforcing 35,000 km of river
embankments was started. Over 3,500 km of main
dikes of the Yangtze River and nearly 1,000 km of dikes of
the Yellow River have been reinforced, and their capacity to
withstand floods has been greatly increased. The
second phase of the Three Gorges water control project on
the Yangtze River, which has attracted world attention, will
soon be completed; water control facilities such as the one
at Xiaolangdi on the Yellow River became operational, and
construction on the South-North Water Diversion Project was
begun. Transport developed on an unprecedented
scale, and a comprehensive modern transport system began to
take shape. In these five years, China invested
1.2343 trillion Yuan in highway building, which was equal to
170% of the figure for the period from 1950 through 1997
after adjusting for price changes. The total
length of highways open to traffic increased from 1.23
million km in 1997 to 1.76 million km in 2002, of which
expressways increased from 4,771 km to 25,200 km, lifting
China from the 39th to the second place in the world.
Railway length increased from 65,969 km to 71,500
km. Over the past five years, construction of
5,944 km of new railway lines, of which 4,603 km are
double-track and 5,704 km are electrified, was completed.
A total of 50 airports were either newly built or
expanded. The annual cargo handling capacity of
dock berths for 10,000 ton-class or larger ships increased
by 144 million tons. Construction of postal and
telecommunications facilities greatly expanded.
The length of installed long-distance optical
cables increased from 150,000 km in 1997 to 470,000 km in
2002, and the number of fixed-line and mobile phone
subscribers increased from 83.54 million to 421 million,
ranking China first in the world. Construction in
the energy sector was further intensified. The
installed power-generating capacity increased from 254
million kw in 1997 to 353 million kw in 2002.
Urban planning and public utility construction
improved notably, greatly changing the appearance of many
cities. The infrastructure improved remarkably,
which significantly increased the capability for our future
economic development.
-- The program for
developing the western region made a good start.
Over the past three years since the introduction
of the western development strategy, the government has
given a powerful push to the region's development by
increasing investment, stepping up transfer payments and
introducing preferential fiscal and taxation policies.
Work was begun on 36 new key projects, which
called for a total investment of over 600 billion Yuan.
Smooth progress was made on such major projects as
the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the diversion of natural gas and
electricity from the western to the eastern regions, water
control projects and trunk highways. Work was
accelerated to ensure that every county seat is served by
asphalt roads, that every township has access to
electricity, and that every village enjoys radio and
television reception. Efforts were intensified to
conserve and improve the ecological environment.
Construction was accelerated on rural roads, small
and medium-sized water conservancy projects, potable water
facilities for people and livestock, as well as facilities
in the fields of science, technology and education.
Economic and technological cooperation between the
eastern region and the western and central regions was
increased.
-- Our capability for sustainable
development was enhanced. The spending on
environmental protection and ecological development in the
five years reached 580 billion Yuan, amounting to 170% of
the figure from 1950 through 1997. Six forest
ecological projects -- reforesting formerly cultivated land,
protecting natural forests and controlling the sources of
dust storms affecting Beijing and Tianjin -- were carried
out in full. During these five years, an
additional 27.87 million hectares of land was covered with
trees; 31.53 million hectares of hills were cordoned off for
afforestation, and 3.82 million hectares of formerly
cultivated land were returned to forests. Soil
erosion on 266,000 square km of land and desertification on
5.7 million hectares of land were brought under control.
The tendency towards worsening environmental
pollution has, on the whole, been arrested; the total
discharge of major pollutants has decreased steadily, and
the quality of the environment in key cities and areas has
been improving. New progress was made in the
protection of natural resources. Great successes
were achieved in geological prospecting. Notable
progress was made in disaster prevention and reduction.
With the natural population growth rate down to
6.45, China has entered a new period of low and stable
birthrate.
In the past five years, the reform
and opening up achieved many breakthroughs, and the basis of
a socialist market economy was established.
--
The ownership structure was further readjusted and improved.
The public sector of the economy grew stronger in
the course of readjustment and reform, and efforts to
diversify ways of realizing public ownership were
successful. The state sector of the economy went
through accelerated restructuring, and markedly enhanced its
dominance and competitiveness. The objective of
turning state-owned enterprises around within three years
was basically attained. Most large and
medium-sized key state-owned enterprises attained by and
large the goal of establishing the modern corporate system,
and a number of dynamic and competitive enterprises have
come to the fore. Further progress was made in
opening up and revitalizing small and medium-sized
state-owned enterprises. Substantive progress was
made in restructuring the management system of monopoly
industries. The collective economy in urban and
rural areas made new headway. The joint-stock
company sector of the economy expanded continuously.
Individually-owned businesses, private enterprises
and other non-public sectors of the economy developed fairly
fast and played an important role in stimulating economic
growth, creating more jobs, invigorating the market and
expanding exports.
-- The modern market system
developed in a comprehensive way. The national
economy has become more market-oriented, and the basic role
of the market in allocating resources has become noticeably
stronger. Price reforms in the area of public
services, energy and transport were constantly deepened.
The development of markets for capital, property
rights, land, technology and labor was accelerated.
Modern methods of distribution and marketing
continued to spread. Significant results were
achieved in straightening up and improving the order of the
market economy. Large-scale nationwide campaigns
were carried out against smuggling, fraudulently obtaining
tax and foreign currency benefits, and producing and selling
counterfeit and shoddy goods. Special efforts were
also made to target wrongdoings in cultural activities,
tourism, the building industry, rural market fairs and
production safety. A large number of economic
crimes were dealt with in accordance with the law, and
criminals found to have seriously undermined the market
order were punished. As a result, the market
environment and the consumption climate gradually
improved.
-- Reforms of the banking, fiscal,
taxation, investment and financing systems were deepened.
A banking system compatible with a growing
socialist market economy has begun to take shape.
We gradually improved the way we exercise
financial regulation, restructured the management system of
the People's Bank of China (China's central bank), and
established a unified national regulatory system for
securities and insurance. Reform of the wholly
state-owned commercial banks and policy banks proceeded
steadily, and the structure of the small and medium-sized
commercial banks was optimized. Significant
progress was made in rectifying and standardizing nonbank
financial institutions. Upholding the principles
of law, regulation, self-discipline and standards, the
securities industry has developed through progressive
standardization. Reform of the insurance industry
was deepened. Rural-based cooperative funds were
screened and put out of business. Unauthorized
nongovernment financial services and other illegal
activities were banned in accordance with the law.
As financial regulation was gradually tightened,
our ability to prevent or defuse financial risks has
improved, and the proportion of non-performing assets of our
banks decreased. A rudimentary public finance
framework compatible with the socialist market economy came
into being. On the basis of the tax-sharing
reform, new reforms for sharing income tax revenue were
implemented in our fiscal system. The system of
preparing department-specific budgets was introduced at both
central and provincial levels. Experiments on
separating management of revenue and expenditures and
reforming the unified treasury collection and payment system
progressed steadily. Noticeable results were also
achieved in the reform of the taxation system and the tax
collection and management. Reform of the
investment and financing system was gradually deepened, with
new sources of investment and financing opened up and the
ways of investment and financing diversified.
Basic forms of the legal person responsibility
system for projects, the tender system, the contract system
and the project supervision system were set up.
Good results were attained in the reform of the
urban housing system.
-- The framework of a
social security system was established by and large.
The establishment of basic old-age pension and
medical insurance systems in urban areas has made
significant headway. Systems of basic living
allowances for laid-off workers from state-owned
enterprises, unemployment insurance, and subsistence
allowances for the urban poor were established.
The coverage of social security programs continued
to expand. The number of urban residents
participating in the basic old-age pension program, the
basic medical insurance system and the unemployment
insurance program increased significantly. Needy
urban residents came gradually under the coverage of the
subsistence allowances program, and we made sure that all
eligible urban residents were by and large provided for.
A national social security fund was established,
and it has already accumulated 124.2 billion Yuan of
capital. Significant progress was made in
reforming the basic medical insurance system for urban
workers, the health care system, and the drug production and
distribution system. Pilot projects to introduce a
new cooperative medical care system in rural areas were
launched. Accelerated development of the social
security system provides an effective guarantee for
maintaining social stability, deepening reforms, making
structural readjustments and furthering
development.
-- Opening up was expanded in
greater scope and depth. China's foreign trade has
taken several big steps forward. The combined
volume of imports and exports increased from 325.2 billion
US dollars in 1997 to 620.8 billion in 2002, raising China
from the tenth to the fifth place in the world.
Our total exports increased from 182.8 billion to
325.6 billion US dollars. We have continued to
optimize our export mix. Service trade has
developed steadily, and the number of inbound tourist
arrivals and our foreign exchange earnings from tourism
increased considerably. We have markedly improved
our ability to use foreign investment. The amount
of foreign direct investment actually used over the past
five years came to 226.1 billion US dollars, more than the
total used in the 1979-1997 period. Significant
increases in using foreign capital occurred in high and
new-tech industries, infrastructure and service industries.
Owing to our "going global" strategy,
outbound investment, construction contracts for overseas
projects and labor cooperation programs kept growing.
After 15 years of arduous efforts, China became a
full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in
December 2001, which was a new landmark in our opening up.
We have won a good reputation for honoring our
commitments and fulfilling our obligations while exercising
our rights as a member of the WTO. This has
promoted our cooperation with the outside world.
In the past five years, our scientific and
technological innovativeness improved noticeably, and
education developed vigorously.
-- Significant
headway was made in basic research and high-tech and applied
technology studies. Significant progress was made
in establishing China's innovation system.
Remarkable achievements were scored in such fields
as information technology, life science and aeronautical and
space technologies. A detailed map of indica rice
genome was completed, an experimental 10 mw high temperature
gas-cooled reactor was built, a super-large parallel
processing computer was developed, and the Shenzhou series
of spacecraft was successfully tested. All these
achievements show that China ranks among the advanced
countries in the related fields. A number of key
state laboratories were completed, several major scientific
projects were carried out, and a number of national
engineering research centers were built. The
process of applying scientific and technological
achievements to industrialized and commercial production was
noticeably accelerated. More than 140,000 science
and technology achievements underwent state registration in
these five years, and 520,000 patents were granted.
Gratifying results were achieved in the studies of
philosophy and other social sciences. Protection
of intellectual property rights improved.
--
Education developed rapidly. Areas where the
nine-year compulsory education had basically become
universal and where illiteracy among the young and
middle-aged had been basically eliminated accounted for 65%
of the Chinese population in 1997, and the figure rose to
91% in 2002. Senior secondary education was
strengthened. Institutions of higher learning have
enrolled more students every year since 1999, and the
admission rate for those taking the college entrance exams
increased from 36% to 59%. In 2002, the student
population in institutions of higher learning was 16
million, 2.3 times the 1997 figure. In these five
years, 13 million junior and regular college students and
310,000 graduate students graduated. Important
progress was made in outsourcing college services to
independent service providers. A total of 48
million square meters of college dormitories were built or
remodeled, more than the total built in the 1950-1997
period. Work on establishing vocational and adult
education systems with a fairly complete structure and a
full range of specialties was in the main completed.
Great importance was attached to special and
pre-school education. Privately-run schools
developed rapidly. Competence-oriented education
was given greater emphasis to ensure that students would
develop in an all-round way, morally, intellectually,
physically and aesthetically. Outstanding
achievements were scored in the past five years in building
socialist democracy and a socialist spiritual
civilization.
-- Democracy has been improved
steadily. Governments at all levels willingly
subjected themselves to the supervision of the People's
Congresses and their standing committees of the same level,
stepped up their contacts with organizations under the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and
earnestly sought and heeded opinions of the democratic
parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce,
personages without party affiliations and people's
organizations. Grass-roots democracy expanded as
steps were taken to institutionalize self-government by
villagers and urban residents and promote the practice of
making public affairs in villages, managerial affairs in
enterprises and government work increasingly transparent.
Development of urban communities continued.
Implementing the basic strategy of governing the
country by law, we performed our official duties in strict
compliance with law, and speeded up the government's efforts
to promote the rule of law. In the past five
years, the State Council made 50 legislative proposals and
promulgated 150 administrative statutes. In
response to the requirements of a socialist market economy
and China's WTO membership, the State Council made a
sweeping review of the 756 administrative statutes
promulgated by the end of 2000, resulting in 71 of them
having been nullified and 80 others declared no longer in
effect. The agencies under the State Council went
over 2,300 foreign-related regulations and related policies,
abolishing 830 of them and revising 325 others.
There was further progress in publicity campaigns
to promote legal knowledge, resulting in greater public
awareness of the law. Our ability to exercise
social management on the basis of law continued to increase.
We stepped up administrative scrutiny, auditing
and economic supervision. All this was of great
importance in furthering the conduct of government according
to law, fighting corruption and building a clean government,
and prosecuting major economic cases and irregularities.
We have completed the work of surveying and
delimiting land boundaries of sub-national administrative
divisions. The work of surveying and delimiting
maritime boundaries is now in full swing. The
management of social organizations has been strengthened.
We have resolutely banned evil cults.
Numerous measures for comprehensively improving
law and order in the country have been implemented.
The public security situation in society has taken
a turn for the better, giving the people a stronger sense of
security.
-- Fresh achievements have been made
in promoting spiritual civilization. We made more
intensive efforts to study and publicize Deng Xiaoping
Theory and the important thought of Three Represents.
We continued to combine rule of law with rule by
virtue. Activities aimed at developing socialist
culture and ethics and promoting a new code of conduct among
the people swept across the country. More emphasis
was placed on ideological and moral development.
Scientific knowledge was further popularized and
the spirit of science spread. Literature and art,
the news media and publishing, and radio, film and
television developed in an all-round way and continued to
bring out fine works in large numbers. Significant
progress was made in expanding the area of radio and
television reception and raising the quality of their
programming. Reforms and development in culture,
health and sports were accelerated. More funds
were put into building cultural facilities and various
special items. We built, renovated and expanded
libraries, museums, science centers, archives and cultural
centers. Fresh progress was made in the
preservation of cultural relics and in archives-related
work. Our struggle against pornographic and
illegal publications continuously deepened. Our
cultural exchanges with the outside world have never been
more lively. We have strengthened health services
in urban and rural areas and the prevention and control of
the major diseases has become more effective. We
intensified the prevention of epidemics after natural
disasters, and as a result, no major epidemics broke out
after the extraordinary floods. We promulgated and
implemented the Outline Program for Development of Chinese
Women and Children. Young people are receiving
better education and protection. We did more work
concerning the aging population. Great progress
was made in advancing the cause of disabled people.
Mass sports enlivened the whole country.
Chinese athletes did well in competitive sports.
In the past five years, they won 485 world
champions and set 193 new world records in major
international competitions. Beijing won the bid to
host the 2008 Olympic Games, and Shanghai secured the right
to host the 2010 World Exposition. These successes
aroused the patriotic passion of our people of all ethnic
groups and enhanced our pride and cohesion as a
nation.
-- Our work concerning ethnic,
religious and overseas Chinese affairs was improved.
Socialist ethnic relationships based on equality,
solidarity and mutual assistance were further developed.
The system of regional autonomy of ethnic
minorities was improved, and the equal rights of ethnic
minorities and their right to self-rule in ethnic autonomous
areas were safeguarded. Owing to increased state
support for ethnic minority areas, their economic and social
development was accelerated. Our policy of freedom
of religious belief was further implemented, and religious
affairs were managed in a more standardized and law-based
manner. We continued to crystallize the policy
regarding overseas Chinese affairs, and strengthened our
work in this field. In the past five years, our
people's lives improved notably and on the whole attained
the level of being well-off.
-- The income of
urban and rural residents grew continuously. The
per capita disposable income of urban dwellers went up from
5,160 Yuan in 1997 to 7,703 Yuan in 2002, an average annual
increase of 8.6% in real terms. The per capita net
income of rural households increased from 2,090 Yuan to
2,476 Yuan, up by an annual average of 3.8% in real terms.
The balance of savings deposits of urban and rural
residents rose from 4.6 trillion Yuan to 8.7 trillion Yuan.
The stocks, bonds and other financial assets owned
by individuals also increased by a considerable amount.
The number of rural poor decreased from 49.6
million to 28.2 million. In these five years, the
economy grew relatively fast and prices remained fairly low,
resulting in more tangible benefits for the
people.
-- The level of consumption rose
noticeably. Urban and rural markets have been
thriving. The total volume of retail sales of
consumer goods in the country increased from 2.73 trillion
Yuan in1997 to 4.1 trillion Yuan in 2002, up by an annual
average of 10.5% in real terms. The per capita
living space of urban dwellers increased from 17.8 square
meters to nearly 22 square meters, and that for rural
dwellers, from 22.5 square meters to 26.5 square meters.
Such household appliances as TV sets, washing
machines and refrigerators became more common, and an
increasing number of families acquired computers and cars.
The number of public facilities and the per capita
green area have grown. Official public holidays
have increased, and there has been a large increase in the
number of people out on tours. Consumer spending
on sports, fitness, culture and entertainment increased
considerably. As conditions of medical care
continued to improve, people's health has come to a higher
level. The average life expectancy reached 71.8
years in 2002, close to that of a medium-level developed
country.
We have succeeded in establishing on
the whole a well-off standard of living in this country of
nearly 1.3 billion people. This is a great victory
for our socialist system, and a new milestone in the history
of development of the Chinese nation.
National
defense and army building have made new strides in these
five years. Acting on the military strategies for
the new era, the people's army has implemented the strategy
of strengthening itself through science and technology.
The revolutionization, modernization and
standardization of the armed forces were carried forward,
leading to a rise in our country's military capability and
our army's defensive combat readiness. The task of
reducing the armed forces by half a million troops was
completed on schedule. Ideological and political
work in the army has been carried out effectively.
Reforms in the army's logistical support system
continued to deepen. The army's level of
modernization in weapons has improved significantly.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army, the Chinese
People's Armed Police, the army reserves and the people's
militia have made great contributions to safeguarding the
sovereignty and security of the country, supporting its
economic development and providing rescue and relief for
disasters and emergencies. More intensified
research efforts have brought about new developments in
defense-related science, technology and industry.
Continuous progress was made in national defense
mobilization. Efforts were intensified to
encourage activities for mutual support between the army on
the one hand and the government and people on the other, and
this strengthened their solidarity. During the
past five years, fresh progress was made in promoting the
great cause of national reunification. Following
the return of Hong Kong to the motherland, the Chinese
Government resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Macao in
December 1999. Adhering to the principle of
"one country, two systems", we implemented the two
basic laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
and the Macao Special Administrative Region. The
central government has given full support to the chief
executives of the two regions and their governments in the
discharge of their official duties under the basic laws.
Hong Kong and Macao have enjoyed social and
economic stability. Upholding the basic principles
of "peaceful reunification" and "one country,
two systems" and the eight-point proposal by President
Jiang Zemin on the settlement of the Taiwan question, we
fought resolutely against pro-independence separatist forces
in Taiwan, actively promoted cross-Straits exchanges and
contacts and pushed for "three direct links"
between the two sides. We did a great deal of work
for the peaceful reunification of our motherland.
A new chapter was begun in diplomatic work during
these five years. In the face of complex changes
in the international situation, we have persisted in our
independent foreign policy of peace, worked broadly in
bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, and participated
actively in international exchanges and cooperation.
China's international standing has risen
noticeably. The relations of friendship,
good-neighborliness and cooperation between China and its
neighbors have developed further. Our solidarity
and cooperation with other developing countries have been
continuously strengthened. Our relations with
developed countries have improved and developed.
The establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization contributed to greater stability and economic
cooperation in the region. The process of setting
up the ASEAN-China free trade zone was initiated, and our
cooperation with the ASEAN countries in many fields has
grown closer. China has played a positive role in
the United Nations and other international or regional
organizations. We have firmly safeguarded our
state sovereignty, territorial integrity and national
dignity, defeated the outside forces' attempts to interfere
in our internal affairs, and have won extensive support from
the international community. China has actively
participated and played a constructive role in international
cooperation against terrorism.
Fellow
Deputies,
In the past five years, we fulfilled
the Ninth Five-Year Plan and made a good start on the Tenth
Five-Year Plan. These years saw our people of all
ethnic groups press ahead on the road to socialism with
Chinese characteristics under the guidance of the spirit of
the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Party Congresses.
These years saw our country undergo great changes
with each passing day, as its endeavors flourished and its
people's lives improved significantly. These were
years of social stability, ethnic solidarity and rising
international influence for China. This government
has contributed its share to the prosperity and well-being
of the nation by performing its bounden duties in real
earnest.
In doing the work of the government
during the past five years, we unswervingly took Deng
Xiaoping Theory as the guide for government work,
conscientiously implemented the important thought of Three
Represents and carried out the Party's basic line and basic
program in their entirety by emancipating our minds and
seeking truth from facts. We firmly kept economic
development as our central task, vigorously pushed reform
and opening up, properly balanced the relationships among
reform, development and stability, and actively promoted the
coordinated development of material and spiritual
civilizations. In the course of rich and vibrant
practice, we have accumulated a wealth of valuable
experience.
The following are the main features
of our work over the past five years and what we have
learned from it.
1. Maintaining the
right direction and intensity of macroeconomic regulation
and implementing the proactive fiscal policy and the prudent
monetary policy
To develop the socialist market
economy, we must strengthen and improve macroeconomic
regulation. In exercising the regulation, we must
focus on ensuring a sustained and rapid growth of the
economy, be alert to changes in the international and
domestic economic situations, and improve our ability to
predict and cope with them effectively. The most
important measure we took in response to the grim
international economic environment and the weak domestic
effective demand in the past few years was to resolutely
shift the focus of our macroeconomic regulation from the
appropriately stringent fiscal and monetary policies aimed
at checking inflation to the proactive fiscal policy and
prudent monetary policy to expand domestic demand and curb
deflation. Moreover, we improved our policies and
measures in good time and fine tuned our regulation to
ensure good results.
Balancing accounts by
always keeping expenditures within the bounds of revenue is
an important principle we should follow in our economic
work. The proactive fiscal policy we followed
during the past few years and the issuance of long-term
construction treasury bonds were special policies
implemented under special circumstances. We have
made it a rule not to allow a deficit in our regular budget
and not to exceed the deficit level projected at the
beginning of the year in our capital development budget.
When bank savings are up considerably and the
supply of materials is abundant, and when prices are down
continuously and interest rates are low, issuing treasury
bonds for economic development serves multiple purposes.
It can put idle production capacity to use and
stimulate economic growth, and it can lessen the banks'
interest burden without incurring inflation. We
funneled the capital raised from long-term construction
treasury bonds primarily to infrastructure development, and
incorporated this into the readjustment in industrial
structure, technological renovation of enterprises,
development of science, technology and education and
improvement of the ecological environment. In
doing so, we paid particular attention to the needs of the
central and western regions. Management of the
projects financed by treasury bonds was tightened to avoid
redundancy and inappropriately high standards and to ensure
better cost-effectiveness. While boosting
investment demand, we also took care to foster and expand
consumption demand, mainly by increasing the income of low
and middle-income residents in both cities and the
countryside. Since 1999, we have raised the basic
salaries of government employees and retirees' pensions
three times. We have also introduced the systems
of year-end, one-time bonuses and hardship-post allowances
for employees in remote and inhospitable areas.
Benefits for retirees from state-owned enterprises
were improved. Social security benefits for all
types of beneficiaries were raised considerably. A
variety of measures were taken to increase the income of
farmers. The policy of encouraging consumption was
implemented to ensure a combined effect on economic growth
from both investment and consumption demand. Our
success in macroeconomic regulation over the years was also
attributable to the importance we attached to financial work
and the continued prudent monetary policy, emphasizing
necessary banking support to economic development without
blind expansion of bank credit. While giving top
priority to providing supplementary loans for treasury-bond
projects, banks also provided working capital and loans in
support of technological transformation by credit-worthy
enterprises that are profitable and have a ready market for
their products. In response to changes in the
money market and the needs of economic development, we have
lowered the interest rates on bank savings and loans five
times since 1998 and introduced consumer credit for housing
and student loans. At the end of 2002, the total
balance of consumer loans stood at 1.07 trillion Yuan.
These measures played an important role in
increasing investment by enterprises and expanding consumer
spending. The proactive fiscal policy and prudent
monetary policy we adhered to were effective in facilitating
rapid economic growth and cultivating and expanding sources
of government revenue. At the same time, due to
the constant improvement in the fiscal and taxation systems
and better tax collection and management, the financial
strength of the central government has increased
significantly, resulting in more transfer payments to the
local governments. While providing tax refund and
structural subsidies, the central government increased its
transfer payments to local authorities from 66.4 billion
Yuan in 1997 to 402.5 billion Yuan in 2002, with the total
reaching 1.2319 trillion Yuan for the whole period.
Of this sum, 177.7 billion Yuan was used by the
localities to fund guaranteed living allowances and
unemployment insurance for laid-off workers from state-owned
enterprises and subsistence allowances for needy urban
residents. An additional 175.5 billion Yuan was
used for pay raises for government employees at the local
level. These measures played an important role in
increasing domestic demand, promoting coordinated
development among different localities and maintaining
social stability.
2. Unswervingly
taking economic restructuring as paramount and working hard
to improve the quality and efficiency of economic
growth
Development is the fundamental
principle, and the key to resolving all problems China is
facing. We must maintain a comparatively high
growth rate in our national economy. There must be
new approaches towards development, and fast development
will be genuine and healthy only if it enjoys full market
access and delivers good returns. In China's new
economic landscape characterized by conclusive changes for
the period, we must make strategic readjustment to our
economic structure. We have taken care to focus
the energy of all quarters on structural readjustment and
improved quality and efficiency of economic growth and done
our best to strike a balance between speed on the one hand
and structure, quality and efficiency on the other.
We have been steadfast in making comprehensive
readjustments to the industrial structure and coordinating
economic development between regions and between cities and
the countryside. We grasped the key link of
readjusting the industrial structure.
First, we
strengthened infrastructure. This was an
inevitable choice in readjusting the industrial structure
when the processing industries had surplus capacity, for it
has not only removed bottlenecks but also spurred growth in
equipment manufacturing and other related industries.
In developing infrastructure, we have followed the
principles of unified planning, stress on key projects,
rational project distribution and high quality.
Stringent control was exercised to block new
projects in processing industries and avoid redundance in
low-level development.
Second, we energetically
developed high and new-tech industries, the IT industry in
particular, and vigorously promoted IT application to our
national economy and society. We have carried out
more than 1,000 demonstration projects in this regard,
enabling us to bring over a short time a number of major
proprietary scientific and technological achievements to
industrial production. The role of high and
new-tech industrial zones and industrial parks was fully
exploited. Vigorous efforts were made to develop
service providers for industrial application of high and new
technologies. Through deeper reform and opening up
and greater investment, our information industry has
advanced by leaps and bounds.
Third, we worked
actively to renovate and upgrade traditional industries.
We supported massive technological renovation and
structural readjustment in key industries, key enterprises
and key product lines by allowing interest discounts on
treasury bond loans and simplifying the clearance procedures
for technological transformation projects. In
these five years, technological transformation projects with
a total investment of 2.66 trillion Yuan were completed, 67%
over the figure for the previous five years. Many
large enterprises upgraded their technology and increased
their competitiveness through self-reliance and strenuous
efforts. At the same time, starting with the
textile industry and gradually moving to the coal,
metallurgical, building material, petrochemical, sugar
refining and other industries, we used economic, legal and
necessary administrative measures to close a large number of
enterprises that produced shoddy goods, wasted resources,
seriously polluted the environment or were unsafe for
production. This eliminated large quantities of
old equipment and many obsolete technologies and production
processes, and reduced the excessive production
capacity.
Fourth, we worked hard to develop
service industries. Wider market access, a better
business environment and the introduction of modern
management and technologies have enabled our traditional
service industries to develop further. At the same
time, we took multiple measures to support and encourage
faster development of modern service industries.
Our country's prosperity depends on producing
better goods. Herein also lays the fundamental
answer to better economic efficiency and competitiveness.
By adopting international standards, popularizing
advanced know-how, improving authentication and
certification and strengthening quality control, China is
constantly improving the quality of its goods and services
in all industries and trades.
3.
Steadfastly giving priority to solving the
problems facing agriculture, rural areas and farmers and
consolidating the position of agriculture as the foundation
of the national economy
Problems facing
agriculture, rural areas and farmers have a crucial bearing
on the country's reform, opening up and modernization drive,
and we should never overlook them or slacken our efforts to
address them. The productive capacity of our
agriculture has reached a new high in recent years,
providing powerful support for our national economic
development and social stability. Meanwhile,
problems have arisen, including oversupply of agricultural
products coupled with price drops and slow increases in
farmers' income. Such a state of affairs, if
allowed to stay unchanged, would seriously dampen farmers'
enthusiasm to produce, undermine agriculture from its
foundation, and may even threaten the overall health of the
national economy. We gave top priority to
agricultural development, rural economic health and
increasing farmers' income in our economic work and devoted
a great deal of attention to them.
First, we
advanced structural readjustment in agriculture.
Through policy support and improved information
and technical services, the government guided farmers to
grow crops and select crop varieties according to market
demand, developed animal husbandry and aquatic farming and
readjusted the location of agricultural producing areas.
Energetic efforts were made to extend
"companies plus households", "production on
orders" and other methods of industrialized
agricultural production and help large numbers of farmers to
enter the market. At the same time, we took
advantage of the abundance of grain to return more farmland
to forests. These efforts have stimulated the
restructuring of agriculture and directly increased farmers'
income. In readjusting the agricultural structure,
the government took a flexible approach in light of local
conditions, refrained from dictating orders and respected
the wishes of farmers.
Second, we deepened the
reform of the grain and cotton distribution systems.
The fundamental orientation of this reform is to
let market forces direct the buying and selling of grain and
cotton. In taking specific reform measures, we
have proceeded sure footedly, mindful of the realities and
taking into account the farmers' interests and preservation
of the agricultural productive forces. In 1997, we
started buying at protective prices all surplus grain
farmers were willing to sell. In 1998, we went
further by introducing a three-point policy calling for
buying all surplus grain from farmers at protective prices,
selling at market prices by state-owned grain dealers, and
closed movement of funds earmarked for grain purchases, as
well as an accelerated reform of the state-owned grain
enterprises. In 2001, we lifted the control on
grain purchase and grain prices in the major grain
purchasing areas while continuing to buy all surplus grain
at protective prices from farmers in the major grain
producing areas. The results were remarkable.
The state has spent large sums of money to support
the reform of the grain distribution system.
Reform to subordinate the buying and selling of
cotton to market forces was also deepened and some
breakthroughs were made.
Third, we carried out
experimental reforms of taxes and administrative charges in
rural areas. We have adopted a series of policies
and measures to address the problem of excessive burden on
farmers. The experiment, which began in 2000 in
Anhui and parts of other provinces and was extended by 2002
to 20 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities
directly under the central government, has resulted in an
average of 30% reduction in the burden on farmers.
The central budget will allocate 30.5 billion Yuan
to support this reform in 2003. Going hand-in-hand
with this have been coordinated reforms of town and township
administrative setups, rural education and the
county-township financial system. Salaries of
rural primary and secondary school teachers are now the
exclusive responsibility of the county financial
authorities. This has not only ensured that
teachers are paid in full and on time, but also reduced the
burden on farmers. The reform of taxes and
administrative charges in rural areas constitutes yet
another great change in China's countryside, following the
introduction of the household production contract system
since the late 1970s. It has played, and will
continue to play, a crucial role in ensuring less burden on
and more income for farmers, promoting agricultural
development and maintaining rural stability. The
reform has won heartfelt support from farmers by the
hundreds of millions.
Fourth, we increased
investment in agriculture and the countryside. We
took this as an important measure to address the problems
facing China's agriculture, rural areas and farmers and to
coordinate the development between cities and the
countryside. In these five years, the central
government allocated a total of 407.7 billion Yuan to
support rural production and various agricultural
undertakings, a rise of 185.2 billion Yuan compared with the
previous five years. We devoted a portion of the
treasury-bond funds to agriculture and rural infrastructure
development. Emphasis was placed on harnessing
major rivers and lakes, upgrading rural electric power grids
and constructing depots for national grain reserves.
Support was also given to agricultural and small
rural infrastructure projects. These measures have
played an important role in improving the production and
living conditions of the rural
population.
Fifth, we intensified efforts to
help the rural poor improve their lot through development.
After our conscientiously implementing and
basically fulfilling the Seven-Year Priority Poverty
Alleviation Program, we have formulated and begun to
implement a rural anti-poverty program for the first ten
years of the 21st century. We increased spending
on efforts to help the rural poor through development.
In these past five years, the central government
spent a total of 48 billion Yuan on poverty alleviation and
work-relief schemes, and provided 77 billion Yuan in
discount interest loans for poverty alleviation, both
figures being significant increases from the previous time.
Persistent efforts were made to coordinate
poverty-alleviation programs of the country's eastern and
western regions. Through years of exploration, we
have found a road of poverty alleviation through development
by proceeding from China's realities.
Sixth, we
provided guidance to ensure a proper and orderly movement of
rural labor. Surplus rural labor moving to
non-agricultural industries and to cities and towns is an
inevitable trend in industrialization and modernization.
In implementing our urbanization strategy, we have
made vigorous yet cautious efforts to develop small cities
and towns. We encouraged farmers to take up
temporary or permanent jobs in cities and protected their
legitimate rights and interests by rectifying policy
discrimination and unauthorized collection of dues from
farmer-laborers. At the same time, we stepped up
guidance and management of these matters. Given
the new circumstances in the country, sweeping rural
development driven by prosperity in cities and coordinated
development of both urban and rural areas may provide an
important way of resolving the problems facing our
agriculture, rural areas and farmers. Facts have
proved that the decisions and plans made by the Party
Central Committee and the State Council concerning
agriculture and rural work in the new phase of China's
development are correct. This government has
concentrated an immense amount of energy on solving the
problems facing agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and
the results are positive. Yet, solving these problems once
and for all is a long-term and arduous task that calls for
persevering endeavor.
4. Steadfastly
carrying forward the reform of state-owned enterprises and
effectively strengthening reemployment work and development
of the social security system
The reform of
state-owned enterprises is the key link in our overall
economic restructuring. If we fail to press this
reform forward, there will be no future for our state-owned
enterprises. In the past five years, we fought a
tenacious battle to deepen there form of state-owned
enterprises by adhering to the orientation of the socialist
market economy, braving difficulties, overcoming tough
obstacles and constantly intensifying our
work.
First, we accelerated the development of
the modern corporate system. In line with the
principles of "clearly established property right
ownership, well defined rights and responsibilities,
separation of enterprises from government and scientific
management", vigorous efforts were made to carry out
reforms aimed at introducing the standard corporate system
and the joint-stock system and improving corporate
governance. We deepened the reform of enterprises'
internal systems for distribution and human resources and
labor employment management and established incentive and
disciplinary mechanisms. At the same time, we
encouraged eligible large state-owned enterprises to get
listed after the stockholding system was established.
In the past five years, 442 additional state-owned
or state-holding enterprises were listed in and outside
China; they raised 743.6 billion Yuan, including 35.2
billion US dollars raised abroad. Second, we
established the mechanism of selection whereby superior
enterprises will prosper and inferior ones be eliminated.
With the strategic readjustment in the layout of
the state-owned sector of the economy and the reorganization
of state-owned enterprises, we encouraged large companies
and enterprise groups with a competitive edge to grow bigger
and stronger, so that they will become key pillars of
China's national economy and main participants in
international competition. At the same time, we
formulated a series of policies and regulations on
appropriate job placement for employees, financial
compensation to employees when their labor contracts with
enterprises are revoked, and the State Council-sanctioned
cancellation of bad bank loans to enterprises. A
number of exhausted mines and enterprises that had long been
in the red with no hope of becoming profitable were able to
close down or declare bankruptcy smoothly, suggesting that
we had created a market withdrawal mechanism for inferior
enterprises. Third, work was done to reduce the
burden on enterprises and free them from historical baggage.
The four financial asset management companies, set
up as part of the reform to dispose of bad assets of the
state-owned commercial banks, selected 580 eligible large
and medium-sized state-owned enterprises for their
debt-to-equity reform. The asset-liability ratio
has dropped for those enterprises that have undergone this
reform and most of them have become profitable.
Effective measures were taken to resolve other
problems, such as redundant workers and enterprises running
social services. Fourth, we made vigorous efforts
to encourage innovation in enterprise management.
Strong efforts were made to promote enterprise IT
application, improve management of costs, capital and
product quality and raise the level of enterprises' modern
management in an all-round way. Fifth, we
intensified external supervision over enterprises.
The State Council has appointed supervisory boards
to 192 key state-owned enterprises and some state-owned
financial organizations and instituted economic
accountability auditing for leaders of all state-owned
enterprises and state-owned financial organizations.
These measures are important for improving
management in enterprises and preventing loss of state
assets.
One important reason for our major
progress in the reform of state-owned enterprise is that we
stuck to the policy of encouraging mergers, standardizing
bankruptcy, laying off and reassigning redundant workers,
streamlining for higher efficiency and implementing
reemployment projects, and we worked hard to promote
reemployment and improve the social security system.
In recent years, the Party Central Committee and
the State Council called two national working conferences on
reemployment and formulated a succession of policies and
measures. Reemployment service centers were set up
to help laid-off workers make ends meet, pay social
insurance for them and promote their reemployment.
When enterprises went under, priority was given to
properly arranging for their employees. Since
1998, state-owned enterprises have laid off more than 27
million workers. Over 90% of them have benefited
from reemployment service centers, and more than 18 million
have found new jobs through various channels. At
the same time, steps were taken to improve the
"three-stage guarantees" for laid-off workers.
Governments at all levels have increased their
capital spending year after year on social security and
reemployment. In 2002, the central government
spent 59.4 billion Yuan to support the "two
guarantees" and subsistence allowances, 6.2 times that
of 1998. The experiment on improving the urban
social security system carried out in Liaoning Province
since 2001 has been a success, and it has yielded valuable
experience for gradual application
nationwide.
Facts have proved that the policies
and guidelines of the Party Central Committee and the State
Council on reforming state-owned enterprises, promoting
reemployment and strengthening the social security system
are correct, complement one another and form an integral
framework. We can reach the goals of the reform of
state-owned enterprises only when we follow these policies
and guidelines completely.
5.
Steadfastly opening wider to the outside world and
actively participating in international economic and
technological cooperation and competition
As
economic globalization is gathering momentum and
international competition is becoming increasingly fierce,
we can make better use of domestic and foreign markets and
resources and accelerate our development only if we follow
the tide of world development and open ourselves still wider
to the outside world. Despite the grim
international economic environment, we have created a new
situation in our opening up by responding positively,
striving to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and
turning challenges into opportunities.
While
pursuing the policy of expanding domestic demand, we have
never slackened our drive to increase exports. In
the second half of 1998, China's exports registered a
negative growth because of the Asian financial crisis.
Still, we refused to devalue the RMB and took a
series of resolute policies and measures to encourage
exports. We followed the strategies of market
diversification and winning customers through quality,
energetically opened up new markets, improved our export mix
and enhanced the quality and grade of our merchandise.
We also deepened the reform of our foreign trade
and economic cooperation system, diversified foreign trade
entities, strengthened port management and streamlined
customs clearance. Thanks to these effective
measures, we have overcome many difficulties and increased
our exports substantially. At the same time, we
imported large quantities of equipment and technologies
urgently needed and raw and processed materials in short
supply. This has promoted our economic development
and technological progress. Facts have proved that
the policy decisions and measures we took to keep the RMB
stable and do everything possible to increase exports are
correct. We encouraged qualified enterprises,
regardless of their forms of ownership, to go global,
explore the international market, invest in enterprises
abroad and increase exports of equipment, spare parts and
accessories and labor services. Different ways of
investment and cooperation were followed in light of the
actual conditions of different countries. With
respect to other developing countries, especially our
neighboring countries, we provided them with economic and
technological assistance, contracted for and invested in
development projects, invested in business operations and
provided interest free or low interest loans. This
was highly significant in that it helped consolidate the
traditional friendship between China and these countries and
promoted mutual benefit and common
development.
We took advantage of the new
features of the international movement of capital to
actively use more funds from foreign sources. We
focused on improving the quality of foreign capital use and
integrated it with readjustment of domestic industrial
structure, revamping and reorganizing of state-owned
enterprises and development of the western region.
Our efforts in the past few years to improve the
investment climate, develop transport and communications
facilities, improve the legal system, increase policy
transparency and provide better services have all borne
fruit, and this has made China more attractive to foreign
capital.
6. Implementing the strategy
of invigorating the country through science, technology and
education, raising the nation's scientific and technological
capability for innovation and improving the overall quality
of the population.
Developing science,
technology and education is a task of paramount importance
for economic revitalization and the modernization of the
country. Over the past few years, we have always
made it an extremely important task to put the strategy of
developing the country through science, technology and
education into practice. This involves a series of
measures pertaining to additional investment, deepened
reform and better policies.
Spending on
science, technology and education rose considerably in the
past five years. The central government spent a
total of 250 billion Yuan on science and technology, more
than double the figure for the previous five years.
Spending on research and development nationwide
increased from 50.9 billion Yuan in 1997 to116.1 billion
Yuan in 2002, an increase from 0.64% to 1.13% in terms of
the GDP share. Investment from the central
government on the state high-tech research and development
plans, the state natural science fund and development of the
national innovation system increased considerably.
Conditions for scientific research were improved
markedly, accelerating the country's scientific and
technological innovation. Budgetary spending on
education nationwide in 2002 was 336.6 billion Yuan, 1.8
times that in 1997, an increase from 2.5% to 3.3% in terms
of the GDP share. From 1998 onward, educational
spending by the central government has increased by one
percentage point each year as a proportion of its total
expenditures, and that increase alone amounted to 48.9
billion Yuan over the five years. In addition, the
central government allocated huge sums of money to pay
salaries in arrears to primary and secondary school teachers
and to refurbish school buildings in poor conditions.
At the same time, education assistance policies
concerning scholarships, student loans, work-study programs,
subsidies, and full or partial exemptions of tuition were
introduced, in order to help students from poor families
continue their schooling.
Reforms of the
science, technology and education systems were deepened, and
efforts were redoubled to promote their integration with
economic and social development. Since 1999, we
have carried out enterprise-oriented reforms in applied
science research institutions operating under agencies of
the State Council and those under provincial governments, as
well as market-oriented reforms in eligible non-profit
research institutions through various ways, thus introducing
effective mechanisms for application and industrial
production of research findings. Research
institutions that have completed enterprise-oriented reforms
are playing a vital role in our high and new-tech industry.
Through these reforms, enterprises are gradually
turning themselves into a mainstay of technological
innovation, and state research institutes and research
institutes in universities and localities have become
stronger for science and technology development.
We initiated a major reform of the management
system of colleges through join t administration,
restructuring, cooperation and mergers. A new
system of dual management by the central and provincial
governments, with the provincial government playing the
principal role, was established. This helped
reverse the situation where central departments and local
ones compartmentalized their work, leading to undersized
schools with too narrow disciplines, and enabled us to put
our educational resources to better use. The
reform of the curriculum and the examination and evaluation
system was carried forward. A new management
system for compulsory education in rural areas, which places
responsibility on the local governments under the leadership
of the State Council, was established, with the county
playing the principal role. This gave a strong
impetus to the reform and development of rural education.
The national evaluation and incentive system for
science and technology was improved, complete with a policy
to consider expertise and management as factors in the
distribution of income and with awards for scientists,
engineers, managers and administrators who have made
outstanding contributions. The appointment system
was followed in all research institutions. Young
college teachers were rewarded for excellent job
performance. The government has raised the pay for
teachers several times and improved their working and living
conditions. We encourage top-notch talents with
innovative ideas to come to the fore. These
measures have been effective in stimulating the enthusiasm
of scientists, engineers and teachers. In
implementing the strategy of building up the strength of the
country with talented people, we accorded priority to
training, attracting and utilizing professionals.
We have formulated and are implementing the
Outline National Program for Talented People and the
Ten-Year Plan for Developing Talented People in the Western
Region. Greater efforts have been made to bring
forth talented people in public service, enterprise
management and technology research, and improve systems and
procedures for training and placement of people with
expertise, thus creating an environment conducive to
bringing up talented people in large numbers and to fully
utilizing their expertise. The reform to the
personnel system was deepened, with the introduction of
examinations in recruitment for public service, competition
for positions, job rotation, personnel exchanges and
training programs. The system for selecting
experts to receive special government allowances was
improved. The policy of "supporting study
abroad, encouraging those who complete their studies to
return home and coming and going freely" was
implemented. Start-up industrial parks for
students who returned from overseas were established with
funding to support their research and business ventures.
This has brought a large inflow of students who
had studied in other countries. Over the past few
years, we have adhered to the principle of "doing two
types of work at the same time and attaching equal
importance to both," worked hard to strengthen
socialist spiritual civilization, continued to raise the
ideological and ethical standards and scientific and
cultural levels of the whole nation, provided great
spiritual motivation and intellectual support to the
modernization drive and promoted coordinated economic and
social development.
7. Continuing to
take the path of sustainable development and promoting a
coordinated development of the economy, population,
resources and the environment.
Family planning
and protection of the environment and natural resources are
basic state policies of China. Under no
circumstances should we seek temporary economic development
at the expense of the environment and resources.
We have always given priority to our sustainable
development strategy. We substantially increased
our investment in this field, identified the root causes of
the problems and persisted in seeking both temporary and
permanent solutions.
First, we redoubled our
efforts to protect and improve the ecological environment.
Following the 1998 catastrophic flooding, we
reviewed the past experiences and implemented the basic
measures of "closing off hills for tree planting,
returning farmland to forests or lakes, leveling protective
embankments to facilitate flood water discharge, providing
work-relief, resettling displaced people in newly built
towns, reinforcing the main dikes and dredging rivers."
We launched projects to protect the natural forests in major
forest areas and along the upper and middle reaches of the
Yangtze River and the Yellow River. We
systematically returned large tracts of cultivated land to
forests and pastures in ecologically fragile areas.
Such measures as returning farmland to forests,
closing off hills for afforestation, providing grain relief
to make up for crop losses and contracting reforesting
projects to individuals were adopted. We drew on
and spread the experience -- "the right to forest is
the core, grain supply is the key, seeds and seedlings
should be provided first, and cadres guarantee
implementation." Rural households, subsidized with free
grain, seeds and seedlings as well as cash for living
expenses, were enthusiastic about returning farmland to
forests and pastures. All this played an important
role in improving the ecological environment and speeding up
poverty alleviation in poor areas. In the Yangtze
River valley, we implemented the policies of removing
protective embankments to facilitate floodwater discharge,
restoring reclaimed farmland to lakes and relocating the
displaced people in newly built towns. As a
result, 2,900 square kilometers of water surface were
restored, increasing the river's floodwater storage capacity
by 13 billion cubic meters. Specifically, 880
square kilometers were restored to the Poyang Lake and 600
square kilometers to the Dongting Lake. This
represented a great shift from the centuries-long history of
reclaiming farmland from lakes to restoring it to them on a
large scale.
Second, we protected our resources
more effectively and utilized them more rationally.
Management of land, mineral, fresh water, sea,
biological and other resources was improved. The
overall plan for land use was formulated and implemented,
and the land use management system was strictly enforced,
effectively protecting farmland. We resolutely
rectified and standardized the order in the management of
mineral resources and put an end to unauthorized mining.
Work began to make the management of sea areas
more law-based. Since 1999, water resources in all
major river valleys have been brought under unified
management. Programs for comprehensive management
of the Tarim and Heihe river valleys were launched.
Emergency water diversion projects such as the
diversion of water from the Yellow River to Tianjin were
implemented, and water supply in cities was basically
guaranteed. Third, we strengthened the prevention
and control of environmental pollution. Efforts
were concentrated on controlling pollution in key river
valleys, regions, sea areas and cities. We
intensified development of environmental infrastructure and
brought more urban sewage and garbage under centralized
treatment. Environmental legislation and
standards-making were improved, and efforts to enforce them
were strengthened. Clean production was promoted,
and authentication and certification of environmental
management systems were carried out. We supported
the development of the environmental industry and the
recycling economy. We stepped up protection of
resources and the environment in nature reserves, scenic
areas, historical sites and tourist attractions.
Public awareness campaigns were carried out to
increase the people's enthusiasm for environmental
protection. Fourth, we strengthened family
planning work. We persisted in controlling the
size of the population and raising its quality.
The current family planning policy has been kept
stable, and the low birth rate has been maintained.
We focused on our family planning work in the
rural areas, especially in the central and western regions,
and paid close attention to family planning management of
the floating population. We established and
improved the target responsibility system for population and
family planning and implemented this basic state policy in
real earnest.
8. Doing everything
possible to maintain social stability and creating a
favorable environment for reform and
development
We steadfastly upheld the principle
of attaching overriding importance to stability, and took
great care to handle the relationships among reform,
development and stability. While making giant
strides in reform and accelerating economic development, we
have made vigorous efforts to safeguard social stability.
First, we were able to balance the momentum of
reform and the speed of development against the people's
resilience. In conceiving and implementing a major
reform, we will fully consider if the country's financial
resources, the enterprises and the people are able to
sustain its impact, weigh carefully its timing, tempo and
intensity, and be ready to make timely adjustments as may be
needed in response to new developments and problems in the
course of implementation. For major reforms, we
will first experiment with projects and gradually expand to
other areas only after gaining useful experience.
We must ensure stable and rapid economic growth
and avoid large fluctuations. Second, we
constantly kept in mind the vital interests of the people
and worked hard to solve practical problems facing the needy
in their work and daily life. While ensuring a
good job on social security, reemployment and rural poverty
alleviation, we made great efforts to solve such problems as
wage arrears by enterprises and excessively heavy burden on
farmers. Also, in tackling financial risks, the
government spent a considerable amount of money ironing out
troubles caused by old debts that were adversely affecting
the interests of the masses. Third, we correctly
handled the contradictions among the people arising from the
new situation. Some unexpected incidents involving
mass participation were handled appropriately.
Efforts were made to resolve conflicts and
disputes in the bud and at the lowest level.
Fourth, we adopted comprehensive measures to
maintain law and order. While cracking down on all
kinds of criminal and economic offenses in accordance with
the law, we focused our attention on such conspicuous
problems as lack of la w and order in some localities.
Extensive efforts were made to improve public
security at the grassroots level. We took the
initiative to prevent and reduce crime. Production
safety was strengthened, and the responsibility system for
production safety was improved. Fifth, we made
practical efforts to safeguard state security. We
remained vigilant against and cracked down on all
infiltration, subversion and sabotage by hostile forces at
home and abroad according to law. We acted firmly
against forces of ethnic separatism, violence, terrorism and
religious extremism according to law. Sixth, the
funding mechanism to ensure the wherewithal of
procuratorial, judicial and public security organs has been
improved, providing needed support for their
work.
9. Continuing to transform
government functions and endeavoring to build a clean,
diligent, efficient and pragmatic
government
The establishment and improvement of
the socialist market economy require separation of
government from enterprises, transformation of government
functions and changes in its working methods and work style.
Over the past few years, the government has made
great progress in strengthening itself. First, we
carried out major reforms of government institutions, which
included reorganizing comprehensive economic agencies into
macroeconomic control authorities, reducing the number of
industry-specific economic agencies and adjusting their
functions, and strengthening law enforcement and regulatory
authorities. In 1998, the State Council was
downsized from 40 to 29 agencies, and a quarter of its
internal departments and half of its workforce were reduced.
In 2001, nine more state industrial
administrations were abolished, and the roles played by
market law enforcement and regulatory authorities were
further elevated. Corresponding reforms were also
carried out in the composition of local governments at all
levels. The number of the country's administrative
personnel was cut by a total of 1.15 million. This
reform changed the long-standing framework of government
institutions established during the planned economy.
Difficult as it was, the reform progressed
smoothly due to our appropriate measures and careful work.
At the same time, major strides were made in
promoting commercialization of logistic services for
government departments and separating the government from
enterprises. Party and government organs at both
central and local levels have disassociated themselves from
the economic entities they had run and the affiliated
enterprises they had managed directly. Units of
the PLA, the Armed Police and the procuratorial, judicial
and public security organs no longer engage in business or
run enterprises. The solution of these problems
that had accumulated over the years and aroused strong
resentment among the general public is of far-reaching
significance.
In a socialist market economy,
the government's responsibilities should mainly encompass
economic regulation, market oversight, social governance and
public service. The government must always attend
to its affairs. However, it must not meddle in
what is not its business. The government should
appropriately exercise its functions in policy-making,
implementation and oversight. The transformation
of government functions requires that we reform the system
of administrative examination and approval. We
undertook a review of the items originally subject to
examination and approval, and up to now, 1,195 such items
have been nullified by the State Council and still more by
the local governments at all levels. In performing
government duties, it is necessary to abide by the law,
safeguard its sanctity and protect the interests of the
people. The agencies of the State Council and the
local governments at all levels have constantly improved
their government work in accordance with the law and took
the lead in observing the law to the letter.
Reform of the system of law enforcement by
administrative authorities was conducted, and experiments on
the centralized right to administer penalties was carried
forward. Efforts were made to increase law
enforcement oversight, improve administrative
reconsideration of legislative decisions and transparency of
government work, and support the general public and the
media in their oversight of the work of the government.
We paid close attention to the work related to
letters and visits from the people. E-government
continued to develop. Great efforts were made to
increase the observance of the professional ethical
standards of honesty and trustworthiness and to establish a
social credibility system. All this has played an
important role in improving law enforcement effectiveness
and the efficiency of our work.
This government
has attached great importance to building a contingent of
public servants with a fine work style. Since the
very beginning of its term, this government has demanded
that all government functionaries be clean, diligent,
pragmatic and efficient. We stress the need for
them to keep well in mind that as public servants, they
should serve the people heart and soul, attend to their
duties without any reservation and dare to speak the truth,
set a high standard in work and not keep back for fear of
giving offense, be clean and upright and stand firm against
corruption, and study diligently and work assiduously.
All this promoted the building of a clean
government, raised the efficiency of governance and
preserved close ties between the government and the people.
We provided more education and training for public
servants and leaders of state-owned enterprises and ran a
series of workshops and training classes on special topics
concerning the central task and key work of the Party and
the state. We ma de unremitting efforts to combat
corruption, rectify unhealthy tendencies in some departments
and trades and punish according to law quite a few corrupt
elements. We are fully aware that only by
constantly improving themselves can the governments at all
levels better adapt to the new situation of reform, opening
up and modernization and can they win the genuine support
from the people.
Fellow
Deputies,
The achievements China has made in
various fields over the past five years have not come by
easily. We owe them to the correct leadership and
decisions of the third generation of collective central
leadership with Comrade Jiang Zemin at the core, to the
unity and hard work of the people of all ethnic groups, and
to the support and assistance from overseas Chinese and our
international friends. Here, on behalf of the
State Council, I would like to pay our highest tribute to
all our workers, farmers, intellectuals and cadres; to
officers and men of the People's Liberation Army, the Armed
Police and the public security police. I would
like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the people of all
ethnic groups, all democratic parties, mass organizations
and other people from all walks of life for their trust and
support of the government. I would also like to
express our sincere thanks to our compatriots in the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special
Administrative Region, Taiwan and the overseas Chinese
communities who have cared about and supported the
development and reunification of our motherland, and to all
friends in other countries who have cared about and
supported China's modernization drive.
We are
clearly aware that there are still some outstanding
difficulties and problems in China's economic and social
life. They are, in the main, as follows:
insufficient domestic effective demand and inability of the
supply structure to respond to changes in market demand,
slow growth in the income of farmers and some urban
residents, rise in the unemployed and serious difficulties
in some people's livelihood, continued inequities in the
distribution of income, arduous tasks remaining in the
reform of state-owned enterprises, the need to continue to
rectify and standardize the order of the market economy,
sporadic occurrence of major industrial accidents, poor
public security in some places, degradation of the
ecological environment in some areas, continued isolation
from the people and perpetration of formalism, bureaucracy,
falsification, extravagance and waste among some government
officials, and certain types of corruption remaining
conspicuous. Some of these problems are the legacy
of the past; others are hardly avoidable in the course of
institutional transition and structural readjustment, and
still others are caused by shortcomings and inadequacies in
our work. More steps should be taken
conscientiously to solve them.
II.
Suggestions for the Work of the Government in
2003
The Sixteenth National Congress
of the Communist Party of China set the goal of building a
well-off society in an all-round way in the first 20 years
of this century, and pointed the way for opening a new stage
in the cause of building socialism with Chinese
characteristics. The year 2003 is the first year
of our work to comprehensively implement the spirit of the
Sixteenth Party Congress, and success in the work of the
government for this year will be of tremendous
importance.
The general requirements for our
work this year as set forth by the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China are: take Deng Xiaoping Theory and
the important thought of Three Represents as our guide;
earnestly carry forward the spirit of the Sixteenth Party
Congress; steadfastly give top priority to development in
the Party's governance and rejuvenation of the country;
vigorously respond to difficulties and challenges caused by
changing domestic and international environments; continue
to follow the policy of expanding domestic demand as well as
the proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy;
further deepen the reform and open still wider to the
outside world; accelerate the strategic readjustment of the
economic structure; promote a sustained, rapid and sound
development of the national economy and integrate speed with
structure, quality and efficiency; correctly handle the
relationships among reform, development and stability;
effectively improve the development of democracy and the leg
al system and the promotion of spiritual civilization and
Party building; and promote a coordinated development of
socialist material civilization, political civilization and
spiritual civilization. In keeping with these
general requirements, and considering the upcoming election
of a new government at the First Session of the Tenth
National People's Congress, and after careful deliberation,
the State Council wishes to put forward the following
suggestions for the work of the government in
2003:
1. Continue to expand domestic
demand and achieve a steady and rapid economic
growth
Maintaining the good momentum of
economic growth is the basis for success in all fields of
our work. Based on our overall analysis of the
situation at home and abroad, we set the target for 2003
economic growth at around 7%. This growth rate is
both necessary and achievable through hard work.
It is imperative that we pay adequate attention to
raising the quality and efficiency of economic growth by
readjusting and optimizing the economic structure.
We should adhere to the policy of expanding
domestic demand, continue to implement the proactive fiscal
policy and prudent monetary policy, and ensure a double-pull
effect on economic growth from both consumption demand and
investment demand.
First of all, we should
strive to expand consumption demand. Given the
current situation, this is more important than greater
investment demand. We should continue to increase
the income of urban and rural residents, especially those
with low income, and work hard to raise the living standards
of the population. We should do everything
possible to increase farmers' income and lighten their
burden. We should effectively solve the problems
the needy face in work and livelihood. Our
original plan to raise the salaries of government employees
as well as retirees' pensions in the second half of last
year was postponed in order to first solve the problems of
the urban poor and to harmonize relationships among the
interests of all quarters. This measure, however,
will take effect this year. We should continue to
improve the consumption climate by improving relevant
policies and expanding areas of consumer
spending.
A relatively fast increase in
investment should be maintained. Based on an
overall consideration of various factors, we plan to issue
140 billion Yuan of long-term construction treasury bonds in
2003. We should redirect the use of funds to be
raised from treasury bonds as follows. Priority
should be given to ongoing projects and projects which are
near completion, and to a selected number of new projects
which are wholly necessary. More support should be
given to development of the western region, projects to
improve production and living conditions in rural areas,
technological transformation of enterprises, improvement of
the ecological environment, and undertakings in science,
education, culture and health care. We should
broaden the channels for investment from society and for
enterprise financing and direct investment funds from
society to industries and development projects encouraged by
the state. We should resolutely guard against
redundant low-level development. In some
localities, real estate investment is expanding too rapidly
and too many luxury homes are being built. We must
heighten our vigilance against risks and potential losses
from blind development.
While continuing to
watch out for and defuse financial risks, we should generate
more financial resources to support economic development.
Banks must give priority to extending matching
loans to projects financed by treasury bonds, lend more
money to enterprises that are profitable and trustworthy and
have a ready market for their products, provide more credit
to support agriculture, the rural economy, small and
medium-sized enterprises and the service industry, and
standardize and increase consumer credit. We
should improve banking services, tighten financial
regulation, and develop securities, insurance and money
markets in accordance with established
standards.
We should conscientiously handle
fiscal and taxation work and vigorously increase revenue and
cut expenditures. By strengthening tax collection
and management according to law and cracking down on all
forms of tax evasion and tax fraud, we will ensure that all
taxes due are collected without exception.
Financial departments at all levels should arrange
their expenditures so that funding for key items is ensured.
They must first pay wages and salaries on time and
in full, continue to increase their social security
contribution, increase spending on agriculture, compulsory
education and health care in rural areas, and increase
transfer payments to the country's central and western
regions and areas in difficulties.
2.
Promote all-round development of agriculture and
the rural economy
We should continue to take
developing agriculture and the rural economy and increasing
farmers' income as the top priority of our economic work.
Economic and social development in urban and rural
areas must be coordinated, and work relating to agriculture,
rural areas and farmers must be done well.
We
should accelerate structural readjustment in agriculture and
the rural economy. We should continue readjusting
the distribution of agricultural areas. We should
vigorously develop animal husbandry, aquatic farming and the
processing of agricultural products. We should
vigorously expand the industrial management of agriculture,
better organize farmers' access to the market and raise the
overall efficiency of agriculture. We should
forcefully increase export of agricultural products.
While returning more farmland to forests and
grass, we should implement without delay the national plan
for the conservation of grasslands. We should
strengthen the system for quality and safety of agricultural
products and the system of commercialized services for
agriculture. We should continue implementing and
improving the rural household land contract system, manage
well the non-agricultural land and prohibit unauthorized use
and expropriation of arable land. While continuing
to deepen various reforms in rural areas, we should extend
the experiment with rural taxes and administrative charges
to all parts of the country on the basis of well summed up
experience and improved policies. We should
conscientiously implement all policies and measures designed
to lighten the burden on farmers. We should
protect farmers' interests better by deepening the reform of
the grain and cotton distribution system.
We
should invest more in the development of agriculture
infrastructure and in agricultural science and technology.
We should speed up the construction of facilities
for water-saving irrigation and for supplying potable water
for people and livestock, roads linking county seats and
townships, facilities for rural energy supply, as well as
educational, medical and health facilities in the
countryside. More assistance should be given to
major grain producing areas. A good job should be
done in alleviating poverty through development.
The collective economy should be helped grow
stronger. Intra-county economic development should
be promoted. The process of urbanization should be
accelerated. We should develop well laid-out small
towns on the basis of scientific planning. We
should coordinate and guide the shifting of surplus rural
labor to non-agricultural undertakings better, and protect
the legitimate rights and interests of farmer-laborers
holding temporary or permanent jobs in
cities.
3. Aggressively push forward
the readjustment of the industrial structure and the
development of the western region
We should
speed up the readjustment of the industrial structure
according to the need for a new approach to
industrialization. Vigorous efforts should be made
to develop high and new-tech industries that can greatly
spur our economic growth. We should energetically
promote IT application and use IT to propel and accelerate
industrialization. We should make extensive use of
advanced adaptive technologies to transform traditional
industries and invigorate our equipment manufacturing
industry. We should do a good job in planning and
readjusting the development of our steel, automobile and
building materials industries to prevent blind expansion and
disorderly competition. We should eliminate an
even bigger slice of our production capacity that has become
obsolete. We should vigorously develop modern
services and tourism. We should attach great
importance to the development of community-based
services.
The development of our western region
requires sound and persistent efforts. We should
focus on key projects, stress practical results and lay a
solid foundation. While continuing to strengthen
our protection of the ecological environment and
infrastructure development, we should effectively restore
cultivated land to forests, protect natural forests, and
prevent further desertification. The program of
restoring grazing areas to grasslands should continue, and
relevant legal work should be intensified. We
should work harder and more effectively on major projects to
ensure the progress and quality of construction.
Economic activities with local characteristics and
competitive industries should be given greater support.
We should accelerate the development of science,
technology and education in the western region.
Economic exchanges and cooperation among the
eastern, central and western regions should be strengthened,
so that they can complement one another and develop side by
side. Measures should be tightened to prevent
unwarranted transfer to the western region of discarded,
obsolete industrial equipment and polluting enterprises.
We should take effective measures to support the
old industrial bases in Northeast China and other regions in
their efforts to quicken readjustment and technological
transformation, encourage cities or areas that are mainly
dependent on resource exploitation to develop alternative
industries, and help the old revolutionary base areas and
areas inhabited by ethnic minorities to develop more
quickly.
4. Deepen economic
restructuring and open still wider to the outside
world
While adhering to and improving our basic
economic system in which public ownership plays the dominant
role and diverse forms of ownership develop by its side, we
will unswervingly consolidate and develop the public sector
of the economy, and unswervingly encourage, support and
guide the development of the individual, private and other
non-public sectors of the economy. We should
continue to push reforms turning state-owned enterprises
into standard joint-stock companies and improve the
mechanisms of supervision over them in accordance with the
requirements of establishing a modern corporate system.
We should actively support eligible large
enterprises to become listed on overseas stock markets.
We should establish large, internationally
competitive companies or enterprise groups that have
distinctive main lines of business and possess their own
intellectual property rights and name brands. We
should do a better job of reorganizing military-industrial
and other enterprises in difficulties and help them out of
their plight. We should carry forward the reform
of the power, telecommunications and civil aviation
industries. We should reform the state property
management system from top to bottom in an orderly way.
We should expand the area in which private capital
has market access and create an environment of fair
competition for all types of market players. We
should support the development of small and medium-sized
enterprises, especially technology and labor-intensive ones,
regardless of their forms of ownership. We should
steadily carry out reform of the financial system and
continue reforms of the taxation, investment and financing
systems. We should deepen reform of the system for
income distribution and progressively rationalize
it.
Rectifying and regulating the order of the
market economy is a long-term and demanding task, but we
must persevere. We should seek both temporary and
permanent solutions to the problems, with emphasis on
permanent solutions. We should continue to focus
on special areas and key links and crack down on the making
and selling of counterfeit and shoddy goods and other
illegal and criminal activities in accordance with the law.
We should improve the formulation of institutions
and laws, strictly enforce the law and gradually bring
market management under a system of laws and standards.
We should promptly investigate and prosecute major
cases of sabotage against the order of the market economy.
We should speed up the establishment of a social
credibility system. We should pay close attention
to ensuring production safety and strengthen supervision and
management to effectively protect people's lives and
property. We should accelerate the establishment
of a new order in the socialist market economy through
reform and rectification. We should open up
further by integrating our "bringing in" and
"going global" strategies. While
continuing to do a good job during the grace period after
our entry into the WTO, we should conscientiously exercise
our rights and fulfill our commitments. We need
stability in our policies and measures to promote exports.
We should continue our market diversification
strategy and expand trade in goods and services on the basis
of fine quality. We should cultivate and support
superior domestic brands and improve the international
competitiveness of Chinese products. We should
optimize our import mix and deepen the reform of the foreign
trade system. We should continue to actively and
effectively use foreign capital, emphasize bringing in
advanced technologies, modern managerial expertise and
specialists, and support multiple forms of cooperation
between Chinese enterprises and transnational corporations.
Vigorous efforts should be made to improve our
investment environment and standardize procedures for
attracting investment. Whatever their forms of
ownership, Chinese enterprises that have comparative
advantages should be encouraged to operate internationally
through joint ventures, wholly-owned ventures or joint
operations in order to increase the export of domestically
produced goods, particularly capital goods. We
should work still harder to promote bilateral, multilateral
and regional economic cooperation.
5.
Further improve the work of job creation and
social security
Governments at all levels
should take it as a major duty to improve the employment
environment and create more jobs. Adhering to the
policy that calls for the worker to find a job on his own,
the market to regulate employment and the government to
promote job creation, we should do everything possible to
expand employment and reemployment. In the course
of reform of state-owned enterprises, we should combine the
reduction of staff for higher efficiency with the promotion
of reemployment. Policies and measures designed to
encourage reemployment of laid-off workers must be
conscientiously carried out. We should open more
avenues for employment, develop labor-intensive industries
and make full use of the role of the tertiary industry,
small and medium-sized enterprises and the individual and
private sectors of the economy in the area of job creation.
The labor market should be standardized and
developed. We should encourage people to look for
jobs on their own or become self-employed and promote
flexible and diverse types of employment. We
should vigorously develop vocational training and employment
services and improve our guidance and services to college
and vocational school graduates in their search for jobs and
career opportunities. We should continue improving
the work of ensuring payment on time and in full of the
living allowances for workers laid off from state-owned
enterprises, the basic pensions for retirees and subsistence
allowances for the urban poor. We should also do a
good job of streamlining the "three-stage
guarantees." Social security coverage should be
expanded by upgrading basic old-age pensions and medical
insurance for workers of enterprises in urban areas.
We should steadily incorporate living allowances
for laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises into the
unemployment insurance. We should rationally
determine the criteria for eligible recipients and the exact
level of each recipient, so that all the eligible urban poor
will receive the benefits to which they are entitled.
The basic livelihood of workers of state-owned
enterprises in difficulties and those which have already
gone under must be ensured appropriately. We
should raise social security funds through a variety of
channels and manage them properly. Existing
assistance systems for low-income people should be improved
and more should be established, and close attention should
be paid to properly resolving problems encountered by the
neediest urban households in housing, children's schooling,
medical care and heating. Work should be done to
ensure the success of pilot programs for a new type of rural
cooperative medical system. We should expand other
social benefit undertakings, such as social welfare, social
relief, preferential job placement for ex-servicemen and
mutual aid. The legitimate rights and interests of
women and children must be effectively protected.
We should also improve our work concerning senior
citizens and give greater support to the cause of the
disabled.
6. Conscientiously
implement the strategy of national rejuvenation through
science, technology and education and the strategy of
sustainable development
We should continue to
increase investment for developing science, technology and
education. State plans for medium and long-term
development of science and technology should be promptly
formulated and implemented. We need to promote the
development of a state innovation system. We
should effectively strengthen our basic and high-tech
research and enhance our capabilities for scientific and
technological innovation and competition. We
should lose no time in implementing the State Plan for
High-Tech Research and Development and the State Plan for
Development of Basic Research in Key Areas, as well as major
projects for science and technology development.
We should master core technologies and win
proprietary intellectual property rights in key areas and
some frontier fields of science and technology. We
should strengthen the infrastructure for science and
technology. We should continue to restructure the
administration of science and technology activities, improve
their service system, strengthen the protection of
intellectual property rights, encourage inventions and
creative work, and facilitate a faster transition from
research achievements to actual productivity.
Equal importance should be attached to social and
natural sciences, and work should be done to promote the
development of philosophy and other social sciences.
We should deepen the reform of the educational
system, encourage innovative approaches to education, and
promote competence-oriented education in an all-round way.
We should accelerate the development of all types
of education at all levels and improve the quality of
education. We should continue to improve the
management system for rural compulsory education in which
the county authorities play the principal role. We
should continue doing a good job in providing student loans
and establishing a national scholarship system.
Vocational education and training should be
strengthened. Privately-run schools should be
standardized in accordance with the law, and their
development should be supported. We should
continue implementing the strategy of making China strong by
giving full play to the role of talented people.
We should train and attract more people with
expertise in all fields, especially people of a high caliber
and with expertise badly needed in China. To
achieve this purpose, we must create the kind of conditions
whereby they can fully develop their abilities and carve out
successful careers for themselves. We should keep
up our good work with regard to population and family
planning and maintain a low birth rate. We should
improve our planning for urban and rural development.
We should effectively protect, rationally exploit
and economize on natural resources. More programs
should be implemented for developing marine resources.
Protection and conservation of the ecological
environment should be strengthened, and the environmental
protection industry should be vigorously developed.
Pollution prevention and treatment should be
intensified in key river valleys and key land and sea areas.
We must do a better job of comprehensive
environmental control in cities, and disaster prevention and
reduction should be effectively carried out.
7.
Strengthen the building of socialist democracy,
the legal system and spiritual civilization
We
should develop socialist democracy and build a socialist
political civilization. Political power and
democracy at the local level in urban and rural areas should
be strengthened. We should combine rule of law
with rule by virtue in running the country, improve the
socialist legal system and the administrative laws and
statutes, raise the level of law enforcement by
administrative authorities and cultivate a law-abiding
citizenry throughout the country. Firmly grasping
the orientation of advanced culture, we should redouble our
efforts to build up a socialist spiritual civilization.
We should earnestly put the Program for Improving
Civic Morality into practice, intensify education in
patriotism, and foster and promote a national spirit.
We should encourage popular participation in
activities to raise the cultural and ethical standards of
the general public. We should further develop
cultural undertakings, such as literature, art, mass media,
publishing, radio, film and television, and bring out a
large number of quality works. We should deepen
structural reform in the cultural field and actively develop
cultural undertakings and cultural industries. We
should improve the protection of our cultural relics and our
cultural heritage and increase our cultural exchanges with
other countries. We should disseminate scientific
knowledge, combat superstition, and promote a civil and
healthy lifestyle. We should tirelessly fight
against pornographic and illegal publications.
Development and management of Internet websites
should be strengthened. We should actively promote
the reform and development of health and sports
undertakings. Fitness campaigns for the general
public should be vigorously promoted, and the level of
competitive sports raised even further. We should
conscientiously do a good job in preparing for the 2008
Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2010 World Exposition in
Shanghai. We must spare no effort in maintaining
social stability. The principle of severely
cracking down on crimes must be adhered to, and we should
combine punishment with prevention with emphasis on the
latter, and to maintain law and order in a comprehensive
way. We must severely deal with all crimes in
accordance with the law and watch out for and punish
criminal activities of cult organizations.
8.
Earnestly improve the government
itself
Under the new circumstances of stronger
momentum in reform, opening up and the modernization drive,
it is of vital importance for the government to further
improve itself, especially its work style.
We
must deepen the reform of the administrative system.
In keeping with separation of the government from
enterprises and the principles of simplification,
consistency and efficiency, we should continue to transform
government functions, reorganize the government setup,
clarify the functions of government departments, reduce
administrative examination and approval, and improve
government management so as to bring about an administrative
system that has standardized behavior and operational
harmony and is fair, transparent, clean and efficient.
The State Council has completed the Plan for the
Reform of the Institutions of the State Council in
accordance with the Proposal on Deepening Administrative and
Institutional Restructuring examined and approved at the
Second Plenary Session of the Sixteenth Party Central
Committee. The document will be submitted to this
session for your consideration. We must follow the
law and be strict in performing our official duties.
We should improve the system of public service and
build a contingent of high-standard public servants.
We should speed up the development of
e-government. We must keep up our anti-corruption
fight, energetically rectify misconduct and unhealthy
tendencies in various trades and government departments, and
strictly deal with all breaches of law or discipline.
We should strengthen institutional improvement,
intensify administrative supervision and auditing, and fight
corruption by addressing its root causes. We
should do a good job with letters and visits from the people
and intensify oversight by the media and the general public.
In working earnestly to improve our work style, we
must oppose formalism and bureaucracy, refrain from building
"image projects" that waste both money and
manpower in the pursuit of personal fame, correct such
undesirable practices as falsifying reports, boasting and
dictating orders to the people, and resist extravagance and
waste. Government officials at all levels should
go to the people in their neighborhoods and homes, listen to
their views, care about their hardships and promptly attend
to their grievances. Given the new situation, we
should be all the more mindful of potential perils and
prepare for the worst. It is incumbent upon all of
us to remain modest, prudent and free from arrogance and
rashness in our style of work, and to preserve the style of
plain living and hard work.
Fellow
Deputies,
Strengthening ethnic solidarity and
maintaining national unity and social stability is the
common aspiration of our people of all ethnic groups.
We must fully implement the Party's policy on
ethnic affairs and uphold and improve the system of regional
ethnic autonomy. While training more cadres of
ethnic minority backgrounds, we should continue our programs
of action to bring prosperity to border areas, increase
support to less populous ethnic groups and promote common
prosperity and progress of all ethnic groups. We
will resolutely oppose any activity aimed at splitting the
motherland or undermining ethnic solidarity. We
should fully implement the Party's policy on freedom of
religious belief, manage religious affairs in accordance
with the law, actively encourage the adaptation of religions
to socialist society and adhere to the principle of
independence and self-administration in religious affairs.
We should conscientiously implement the Party's
policy on overseas Chinese affairs and do a better job in
this regard.
Strengthening national defense and
the armed forces is a reliable guarantee for national
security and the modernization drive. In keeping
with the general requirements of being qualified
politically, competent militarily, having a fine style of
work, maintaining strict discipline and being assured of
adequate logistic support, we must work hard to bring our
work of building a more modern, regularized and
revolutionary army to a new height. We must
implement a military strategy of active defense in the new
era and get better prepared for military struggle.
We should balance well the need to build a strong
defense with economic development. Greater
importance should be given to defense-related scientific
research and the development of weapons and equipment, so as
to enhance our military's overall defense combat readiness
under high-tech conditions. We must build stronger
logistic capability and vigorously promote the readjustment,
reform and development of our defense-related science,
technology and industry. Governments at all levels
should give full support to the development of national
defense and army building, and public awareness of defense
should be further raised. We must continuously
reinforce the army reserves for defense and effectively
satisfy the requirements of national defense mobilization.
We should consolidate the solidarity between the
army on the one hand and the government and people on the
other through more vigorous activities to promote their
mutual support.
Maintaining the prosperity,
stability and development in Hong Kong and Macao is an
unshakable goal of ours. We should continue to
implement the principle of "one country, two
systems" and act in strict accordance with the basic
laws of the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative
regions. We should give our full support to the
chief executives and governments of the two regions in their
administration according to law. We will make
greater efforts to encourage exchanges and cooperation
between the hinterland and Hong Kong and Macao in economic,
trade, educational, scientific, technological, cultural and
other fields. We must implement the basic
principles of "peaceful reunification" and
"one country, two systems" and the eight-point
proposal for the settlement of the Taiwan question, strive
for an early resumption of dialogue and negotiation between
the two sides of the Taiwan Straits on the basis of the
one-China principle, and strongly oppose any statements or
actions aimed at creating "Taiwan independence",
"two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan."
We should further expand the scope of personnel visits
across the Straits as well as exchanges and cooperation in
the economic, cultural and other fields while vigorously
promoting the opening of the "three direct links"
between the two sides. We should increase our
exchange of views with all political parties and prominent
people of various circles in Taiwan on developing
cross-straits relations and promoting peaceful
reunification. We should continue to give support
to the activities of overseas Chinese communities to oppose
Taiwan independence and promote national reunification.
We are convinced that with the unremitting efforts
of all sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, the
complete reunification of the motherland can be realized at
an early date.
Peace and development remain the
themes of the present era. World multipolarization
and economic globalization are making headway amid twists
and turns. Although we face an international
environment in which opportunities continue to outweigh
challenges, uncertainties have increased in the
international situation. We will unswervingly
pursue an independent foreign policy of peace. We
will continue to consolidate and strengthen our solidarity
and cooperation with the other developing countries and
support them in their efforts to defend their legitimate
rights and interests. We will continue to
cultivate friendly ties with our neighbors, increase
regional cooperation and bring our exchanges and cooperation
with neighboring countries to a new high. We will
continue to improve and develop our relations with developed
countries and, on the basis of the Five Principles of
Peaceful Coexistence, broaden the area of common interests
and appropriately iron out differences. We will
continue to take an active part in multilateral diplomacy
and promote democracy in international relations and
diversity in development models. We remain opposed
to all forms of hegemonism and power politics and stand
against terrorism in all its manifestations. The
Chinese people are ready to join the people of all other
countries in the lofty cause of promoting world peace and
development.
Fellow Deputies,
The
Sixteenth National Party Congress has mapped out a grand
blueprint and program of action for building a well-off
society in China in an all-round way. Our great
motherland already stands at a higher historic point of
departure as it sets out on a more glorious long march.
No difficulties or obstacles can stop the
triumphant advance of the Chinese people. Looking
into the future of our motherland, we see a vista of
limitless promise. We firmly believe that, under
the leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade
Hu Jintao as its General Secretary, the people of all ethnic
groups throughout the country, holding high the great banner
of Deng Xiaoping Theory and thoroughly putting into practice
the important thought of Three Represents, will dedicate
their hearts and souls to the cause of building socialism
with Chinese characteristics and achieve victory upon
victory on the road of progress!
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