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 16th 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 16th 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 16th 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 legal 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 10th 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 outfox 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 16th 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, and 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 16th 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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