Wen's report "realistic": foreign diplomats

The United States Ambassador to China, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., walks towards the  Great Hall of the People, where China's National People's Congress (NPC) - the country's parliament - started its annual full session in Beijing Friday morning.  Some ambassadors to China have attended the opening ceremony and listened to  Premier Wen Jiabao's government work report.

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BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's government work report to the annual parliament session that started Friday was realistic and enlightening, said foreign ambassadors to China who sat in the meeting.

"The comprehensive report draws a very realistic picture of what China needs to do in the short, medium and long terms," said Murat Salim Esenli, ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to China.

"It clearly indicates the impressive accomplishment in the past year, and also points to some of the shortcomings in the country," Murat Salim Esenli said.

Wen's report predicted a target economic growth of 8 percent, and said the government would focus on transforming the pattern of economic development and restructuring the economy.

Mikael Lindstrom, Ambassador of Sweden to China, said, "The target of 8 percent is very realistic after what it has achieved in the past years."

For this year the 8% growth target was a modest level, said Dr. Michael Pulch, Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Union.

"Most European observers believed China would achieve or probably overachieve the target again," he said.

China's economy expanded 8.7 percent year on year in 2009, staging a faster-than-expected recovery amid the global economic downturn, buoyed by a raft of stimulus measures, including the four-trillion-yuan massive investment.

However, the premier warned the nation still faced "a very complex situation" after it went through "the most difficult year" in 2009 for the country's economic development.

Citing Wen's remarks that China "urgently" needs to transform the pattern of economic development, Mikael Lindstrom said,"I take that as a sense of the speech in a very strong statement."

Lindstrom also noticed that the word "innovation" appeared many times in the report.

"'Innovation' should be the new 'friend word' of this year, which is also an important part of the transformation of economic development pattern," Lindstrom said.

Ante Simonic, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to China, said China's way of solving economic problems was "fascinating".

"The best future is to produce the future, and China is producing a desirable future," said Atne Simonic.