Senior Chinese leader stresses safe operation of economy ahead of Spring Festival, political meetings

BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese leader Zhou Yongkang Thursday called for efforts to ensure the nation's sound development and stability, to ensure the safe operation of the economy.

Zhou, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks after hearing reports from government departments and major enterprises in the transportation and power supply sectors.

He stressed the significance of the adjustment of the economic development mode, saying the adjustment would help improve the sectors' development quality and expand their space for development.

"Our country is still in a stage where conflicts are likely to arise," he said.

He asked relevant authorities to handle conflicts and disputes properly, and to boost efforts to prevent them from taking root in the first place by balancing interests and relations between different groups of people.

He also called for an "all-out" effort to ensure sound operation during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday and the two national sessions of the country's top legislative and advisory bodies.

He asked relevant authorities and companies to guard against workplace and public security accidents, and to ensure supplies of coal, electricity, oil, and gas during the festive period.

The Spring Festival, the Chinese lunar New Year begins Sunday this year and the holiday lasts for a week.

The annual sessions of the country's legislative and advisory bodies, the National People's Congress (NPC) and the the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), to be held in March, are China's two most important political gatherings.