The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature,
on Tuesday voted in favor of Premier Wen
Jiabao's government work report and the country's newest
five-year development blueprint. The decision endorses China's new
economic policies that relate primarily to rural development and
sci-tech progress.
The vote was taken at the closing meeting of the annual session
of the 10th NPC in Beijing attended by 2,891 NPC deputies from
across China. The session that convened on March 5 concluded
today.
The government work report and the five-year plan for national
economic and social development set an eight percent growth rate
for 2006, and 7.5 percent per year for the next four years up to
2010. A key focus of the plan is to reduce energy consumption and
pollutant discharge.
Wen's report received 98.86 percent of the votes, and the
11th Five-Year Guidelines for Economic and Social Development
more than 97 percent.
Top lawmaker Wu
Bangguo presided over the closing meeting, also attended by
President Hu
Jintao, Wen and other leaders.
"This validation of the government's action plan for the next
five years signifies a major shift in China's economic policies:
from urban development and heavy investment in billion-dollar
projects to increasing rural and sci-tech investment in the
interest of sustainable development," according to Li Chong'an, an
NPC deputy and vice-chairman of the NPC Law Committee.
Over the last five years, China has maintained an average 9.5
percent annual economic growth rate. In 2005, this rose to 9. 9
percent and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded
US$1,700.
The government action plan not only emphasizes economic
efficiency, but also stresses social equity by narrowing the gap
between rich and poor to achieve "the ultimate goal of easing
social confrontations and maintaining social stability", according
to Dr. Ding Yuanzhu of the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Throughout the session, Hu and Wen both highlighted the central
authorities' determination to press ahead with reform measures
initiated by the late Deng Xiaoping in the 1970s.
But Dr Ding pointed out that "they have put more emphasis on
democratic and scientific policy making and balanced development to
ensure that reforms benefit the majority, if not all, of the
population".
This paradigm shift is clear if the 11th Five-Year Guidelines
are compared with the 10th. The latest version contains fewer plans
for multi-billion-dollar construction projects such as diverting
water from the country's south to the north, or a gas pipeline
stretching from western frontiers to the coastal east.
Instead, more government funds will be used to improve standards
of living for the country's 900 million, and boost sci-tech
research and development. The aim is to transform the country from
a workshop of cheap exports into a manufacturer of homegrown global
brands.
Infrastructure investment will be shifted from the urban areas
to the countryside, with a focus on farmland, roads, safe drinking
water, methane facilities, power grids and telecommunications
networks.
Wen also pledged that rural children will receive a free nine
years of compulsory education, an unprecedented decision in the
history of modern China.
"It will not be easy to fulfill the goals of the 11th Five-Year
Guidelines, especially where reducing energy consumption and saving
resources are concerned," admitted NPC deputy Li Chong'an. "But
they are necessary and efforts will be intensified to realize
them."
The NPC resolution endorsing the Guidelines states that the
goals are "achievable through tangible efforts". This is because
the action plans reflect the real conditions of China and the
common aspirations of the Chinese People.
Also on Tuesday, the NPC approved the central budget for 2006,
and the work reports of the NPC Standing Committee, the Supreme
People 's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2006)
