Fellow Deputies,
This government
has now been in office for a year. I now submit a report on
its work on behalf of the State Council 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
Past Year's Work
Last year was a significant and unusual year in
the course of China's development. It was a year in which we
made remarkable achievements in reform and opening up and in
the modernization drive. In the face of a complex and
volatile international situation, the unexpected outbreak of
the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and frequent
natural disasters, governments at all levels and the people
of all our ethnic groups put into practice the guiding
principles of the Sixteenth National Congress of the
Communist Party of China (CPC) under the leadership of the
CPC and the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the
important thought of Three Represents. We braved
difficulties and hardships in an indomitable and innovative
spirit and made important advances in building a moderately
prosperous society in all respects.
-- We won a great
victory in the fight against SARS.
-- The economy
grew rapidly. China's GDP increased by 9.1% overthe previous
year and reached 11.67 trillion yuan. Per capita GDP passed
the important benchmark of US$ 1,000, calculated at the
current exchange rate.
-- China's financial strength grew
noticeably. Total government revenue was 2.17 trillion yuan,
278.7 billion yuan more than the previous year.
--
Foreign trade expanded significantly. Total import and
export volume was $851.2 billion, 37.1% more than the
previous year, raising China from fifth to fourth place in
the world.
-- We created more jobs than planned
--
8.59 million urban residents became employed and 4.4
millionl aid-off workers, reemployed.
-- People's
incomes increased. Urban per capita disposable income grew
by 9% in real terms, and rural per capita net income rose by
4.3% in real terms.
-- China's first manned spaceflight was
a complete success. These achievements indicate that China's
overall national strength has reached new heights. They have
boosted the confidence and courage of all our people to
continue forging ahead. The work we did over the past year
was mainly in the following six areas.
1. Taking
resolute measures against SARS and concentrating our
resources on the campaign against it
China suffered
from a disastrous SARS outbreak last spring. The Party
Central Committee and the State Council gave top priority to
protecting people's health and lives and promptly
investigated SARS and took steps to prevent and treat it. We
enforced the Law of the People's Republic of China on the
Prevention and Treatment of Communicable Diseases,
formulated the Regulations on Public Health Emergency
Response, and classified SARS as a communicable disease. We
reported the facts of the SARS situation exactly as they
were and mobilized the general public throughout the country
to control the outbreak. The State Council and local
governments established anti-SARS headquarters to coordinate
human, material and financial resources and to make full use
of primary-level organizations in both urban and rural
areas, so as to ensure that prevention and treatment work
was done quickly and orderly. We organized research on and
made significant progress in diagnosing,treating and
preventing SARS. We took such measures as providing free
treatment for SARS patients among rural workers in urban
areas to prevent the spread of SARS to rural areas. During
the difficult days of our anti-SARS campaign, leading cadres
at all levels took to the frontlines, the people throughout
the country united as one, all sectors of society pulled
together, large numbers of medical workers faced danger
fearlessly, and the Chinese nation withstood a severe test.
2. Exercising timely and appropriate
control to promote stable and rapid economic development
We
adhered to the policy of expanding domestic demand and
continued to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a
prudent monetary policy. We took measures to exercise
macro-control over new developments as soon as they arose in
the course of economic operation.
When the SARS
outbreak hit, we worked unflaggingly to prevent and control
it, while at the same time unswervingly promoting economic
development. We concentrated on strengthening key areas,
stimulating industrial production and ensuring unimpeded
flow of goods and materials. In addition, we promptly
adopted such supportive policies as reducing or exempting
taxes and administrative charges on industries that were
worst hit by SARS and granting soft loans to them. We also
enacted measures for increasing employment and rural
incomes. All this helped minimize the impact of the SARS
outbreak on economic development.
We provided
guidance and control for investment, mainly through a
combination of economic and legal means. We further
rectified and standardized the order of the land market and
screened development zones of all types to stop disorderly
and unauthorized acquisition of farmland. We increased the
deposit-reserve ratio for financial institutions to an
appropriate level to bring the excessively rapid growth of
credit under control. In exercising control, we did an
appropriate amount of fine-tuning and dealt with problems
individually.
We expanded support for agriculture,
rural areas and farmers and made plans in a timely fashion
to ensure the continued enthusiasm of major grain producing
areas and grain producers. We strengthened coordination of
economic operation and took measures to increase supply and
rationally guide the growth of demand, thus alleviating
transport difficulties and shortages of coal, electricity,
petroleum and important raw and processed materials.
We
stepped up the strategic restructuring of the economy and
put greater efforts into a number of key projects vital to
economic growth and economic restructuring. In particular,
we spedup the launching and construction of water control,
energy and transport projects. The second phase of the key
water control project at the Three Gorges on the Yangtze
River was completed successfully and work on the third phase
began. The eastern section of the pipeline for transmitting
natural gas from the west to the east was completed. Laying
of track proceeded smoothly on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
trunk line. Transmission of electricity from the west to the
east was increased. Construction of the eastern and central
routes of the south-to-north water diversion project began.
Large-scale development of the western region continued.
Implementation of the strategy to revitalize northeast China
and other old industrial bases was begun.
3. Accelerating
the development of social undertakings on the basis of an
overall consideration of all issues
The spread of
SARS exposed problems arising from disparities between
economic and social development. We promptly made necessary
adjustments to the government's priorities and investment to
stimulate the development of social undertakings. The
central government spent 85.5 billion yuan in 2003 on
education, health, science and technology, culture and
sports, 12.4% more than the previous year. Treasury bonds
worth 16.3 billion yuan were issued to support the
development of social undertakings,an increase of nearly
200%.
We improved the national public health system,
focusing on epidemic prevention and control and on rural
areas. The National Plan for Developing an Information
System for Public Health Monitoring and the National Plan
for Developing a System for Medical Rescue and Treatment in
Public Health Emergencies were formulated and implemented. A
system was set up for early warning and response for public
health emergencies. Public health infrastructure was
improved, with the focus on networks spanning provincial,
city (prefecture) and county levels for disease prevention
and control. The central government worked with local
governments to build more rural health and medical
institutions. Pilot projects for a new cooperative medical
care system and medical assistance system were initiated in
rural areas.
The State Council issued the Decision on Further
Strengthening Rural Education. Increased financial support
was extended to rural education from the central budget and
treasury bonds. Priority was given to subsidizing rural
teachers' salaries in the central and western regions,
renovating dangerous primary and secondary school buildings,
carrying out pilot projects in modern distance education and
aiding needy students. Many cities began to make schooling
available for the children of migrant rural workers, and the
governments of those cities took over primary administrative
responsibility.
Great progress was made last year in
basic research, strategically important hi-tech research,
and industrial application of new and high technologies. The
State Council began formulating a national medium- to
long-range program for scientific and technological
development. It organized many experts to participate in
feasibility studies and a number of important research
results have already been obtained.
Reform of the
cultural system and the development of cultural undertakings
were vigorously promoted. Efforts were intensified torectify
the cultural products and services market. Fresh
achievements were made in amateur and competitive sports.
Population and family planning work was further
strengthened. Fresh progress was made in the areas of land
and resources administration, environmental protection,
forestry development andecological improvement.
4. Caring for people's well-being, creating more
jobs and administering social security work well
We
consider it highly important to protect the vital interests
of the people and help them, especially the needy, in
solving problems in their work and daily lives. Governments
at all levels conscientiously implemented a series of
measures drawn up by the Party Central Committee and the
State Council for increasing employment and reemployment and
increased their efforts, capital spending and policy support
in this regard. The central governmentallocated an
additional 4.7 billion yuan of subsidies for job creation.
We increased our employment guidance and services for last
year's college graduates, who were the first to be enrolled
under the college expansion plan of 1999. By the end of last
year,83% of last year's graduates from regular institutions
of higher learning had found jobs, 600,000 more than the
previous year.
To continue ensuring the "two
guarantees" (guaranteeing that the living allowances
for workers laid off from state-owned enterprises and that
the pensions of retirees are paid on time and in full) and
the "three-stage guarantee" for laid-off workers,
the central government spent 70 billion yuan in 2003, 19.9%
more than the previous year; of this sum, subsidies for
subsistence allowances for the urban poor increased from 4.6
billion yuan in 2002 to 9.2 billion yuan in 2003. This
allowed 22.35 million urban residents throughout the country
to receive such benefits. In 2003,the central government
began making annual allocations of special funds to help
local governments assist ex-service men who are working in
enterprises to solve their financial difficulties. Benefits
were again raised for disabled revolutionary servicemen and
other people who are entitled to special care by the
government.
We further intensified efforts to alleviate rural
poverty through development and we invested more to improve
working and living conditions in underdeveloped areas. We
made all-out efforts to fight disasters and ensure adequate
disaster relief. Central budget funds totaling 8.03 billion
yuan were spent on relief for people affected by floods,
droughts, earthquakes or other disasters, up 63.9% over the
previous year, and 2.79 billion yuan was invested in
post-disaster reconstruction. As a result, proper living
arrangements were made for people in disaster-afflicted
areas, production resumed and reconstruction proceeded in an
orderly way.
Governments at all levels took
the problem of wage arrears for migrant rural workers very
seriously, worked harder to resolve it and achieved initial
results.
5. Pressing forward with institutional innovation
and making significant progress in reform and opening up
Institutional restructuring of the State Council was
accomplished smoothly on the basis of the plan approved at
the First Session of the Tenth National People's Congress
and the adjusted and newly set up bodies are now operating
normally. Significant progress was made in establishing a
macro-control mechanism, restructuring the management of
state assets and establishing a mechanism for oversight and
management of the banking sector. We unified the mechanisms
for administering domestic and foreign trade and improved
monitoring systems for food and workplace safety.
Institutional restructuring of provincial governments has
been basically completed. The reform of the administrative
examination and approval system was deepened.
Fresh
progress was made in transforming state-owned enterprises
into stock companies. Reforms of the electricity,
telecommunications and civil aviation industries were
accelerated. The economic returns of state-owned industrial
enterprises and enterprises whose controlling stake was
owned by the state increased substantially; they generated a
total of 378.4 billion yuan in profits, 45.2% more than the
previous year. The reforms ofthe banking, securities and
insurance industries progressed steadily. We formulated and
implemented a pilot plan to transform state-owned commercial
banks into stock entities. The system for examining and
verifying the issuance of securities was reformed.
Remarkable progress was made in transforming state-owned
insurance companies into stock companies. After several
years of deliberation, we began a pilot project for
reforming rural credit cooperatives in eight provinces and
municipalities directly under the central government. The
experimental reform of rural taxes and administrative
charges was extended to cover the whole country. Policies
and measures for promoting the development of the non-public
sectors of the economy were further implemented. We deepened
the rectification and standardization of the market orderand
cracked down on manufacturing and marketing of counterfeit
and substandard goods, smuggling and other illegal and
criminal activities. This improved the market climate and
helped protect the legitimate rights and interests of both
consumers and producers.
We worked
conscientiously to fulfill the commitments we made for
accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). We
continued to lower tariff rates and opened the service
sector wider to the outside world. We further relaxed
control over who could engage inforeign trade. We formulated
and put into effect a plan for reforming the mechanism for
export tax rebates; this will gradually bring about a
rational settlement of the longstanding problem of overdue
export tax rebates. We intensified our work dealing with
anti-dumping investigations made against China and settling
trade disputes. The import and export mix was further
improved. China utilized $53.5 billion in foreign direct
investment in 2003. State foreign exchange reserves reached
$403.3billion at the end of the year, $116.8 billion more
than at the beginning. The exchange rate for the Renminbi
remained stable. Last year, we signed the Closer Economic
Partnership Arrangement with both Hong Kong and Macao,
thereby strengthening economic ties between the mainland and
the two regions.
6. Improving the legal system and
maintaining social stability
We put great
effort into improving government legislation. The State
Council submitted five bills in 2003, including a draft law
on oversight and management of the banking sector and a
draft amendment to the Foreign Trade Law, and enacted 28
administrative regulations, including the Provisional
Regulations Concerning the Oversight and Management of
State-owned Assets in Enterprises. To solve problems in our
handling of indigent migrants, we formulated and implemented
the Measures for Assisting Vagrants and Beggars with No
Means of Support in Cities together with supporting
measures. The implementation of the Legal Assistance
Regulations helped solve the difficulties people in
financial straits faced infiling lawsuits.
We increased our
efforts to maintain law and order by taking comprehensive
measures, focusing on high-crime areas. We further improved
public order by cracking down more severely on violent and
other serious crimes. We steadfastly enforced laws in the
interests of the people and maintained strict police
discipline, and we concentrated on the problems of detention
beyond the legally prescribed time limits and illegal use of
coercive measures to protect the lawful rights and interests
of citizens. We improved the overall quality of procurators
and judicial and public security officers and made full use
of the important role of public security organs and armed
police units in safeguarding social stability.
In
accordance with the Party Central Committee's
instructions,governments at all levels last year encouraged
a groundswell of study and practice of the important thought
of Three Represents and the guiding principles of the
Sixteenth National Congress of the CPC. Socialist political
civilization and spiritual civilization were strengthened.
New achievements were made in building a clean government
and fighting corruption and in our work concerning ethnic,
religious and overseas Chinese affairs. New steps were taken
to modernize national defense and the armed forces. Our
diplomatic work entered a new phase.
None of these
notable achievements of the past year came easily.We
attribute them to the Party Central Committee's broad vision
and correct leadership and to the concerted efforts of the
people of all ethnic groups. On behalf of the State Council,
I would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our
workers, farmers, intellectuals and cadres; to all those who
work for the cause of socialism; and to the members 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, to all democratic
parties and mass organizations and to people from all walks
of life for their trust in and support for the work of the
government. I would also like to express our sincere thanks
to all our compatriots in the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region,the Macao Special Administrative
Region and Taiwan as well as overseas Chinese who care about
and support the development and reunification of our
motherland, and to all our friends in other countries who
care about and support China's modernization drive.
In
reviewing our work of the past year, we are clearly aware
that many difficulties and problems remain on our way ahead,
that there are still quite a few shortcomings in the
government's work,that there remain areas our people are not
satisfied with, and that it will take a long time to
fundamentally eradicate longstanding and deep-seated
problems. Rural incomes have grown too slowly; the task of
increasing employment and improving social security is
arduous; development in different regions of the country is
not balanced; the income gap is too wide among some members
of society; and pressure on resources and the environment is
mounting. As economic growth has accelerated, a number of
new problems have emerged. These include, among others, the
excessively broad scale of investment, the serious problem
of haphazard investment and low-level, redundant
construction in some industries and regions, the strain
between supply and demand in energy, transport and some raw
and processed materials, the marked decrease in grain
production, and the widespread illegal appropriation of
farmland. The development of social undertakings lags
behind, and people have strong complaints about the cost and
availability of schooling and medical treatment. Many
low-income residents in both town and country lead
relatively difficult lives.Serious crimes have occurred in
some places. Frequent serious accidents that inflict heavy
loss of life and property have taught us a sobering lesson.
We are also clearly aware that some government officials
have a subjective, formalistic and bureaucratic style of
work, and they are wasteful, extravagant and fraudulent, and
sometimes even corrupt. It will be an arduous task for the
government to rectify itself and fight corruption.
We
must not evade these difficulties and problems but instead
face them squarely; we must work hard to resolve them and
not let them grow. The government will shoulder heavy
responsibilities for years to come. We must remain
sober-minded, become more aware of potential problems and
enhance our sense of historical responsibility. We must make
up our minds to forge ahead in spite of difficulties and to
work in a pioneering and creative spirit and in a
down-to-earth manner. We must take on new tests with a fresh
mental outlook and a new style of work, and we absolutely
must not fail to live up to the expectations of the people.
II. Principal
Domestic Tasks for 2004
The year 2004 is a crucial year for China's reform
and development. The main ideas and principal tasks for the
work of the government are: to take Deng Xiaoping Theory and
the important thought of Three Represents as our guide; to
comprehensively put into practice the guidelines of the
Party's Sixteenth National Congress and the Third Plenary
Session of its Sixteenth Central Committee; to make the most
of the present important strategic opportunities while they
last; to make development our top priority and adhere to the
scientific viewpoint of development; to pay more attention
to exercising macro-control, balancing the interests of all
parties, putting people first, and promoting reform and
innovation in accordance with the "five balanced
aspects" (balancing urban and rural development,
balancing development among regions, balancing economic and
social development, balancing development of man and nature,
and balancing domestic development and opening wider to the
outside world); to concentrate on resolving prominent
conflicts in economic and social development and acute
problems concerning the vital interests of the people and
properly balancing reform, development and stability; to
promote all-round, balanced and sustainable development of
the economy and society; and to coordinate the progress of
socialist material, political and spiritual civilizations.
1.
Strengthening and improving macro-control and maintaining
stable and rapid economic growth
The basic focus
of this year's economic work is to safeguard, guide and
utilize the enthusiasm of all sides for accelerating
development in order to achieve stable and rapid economic
growth without drastic fluctuations. In setting a target for
this year's economic growth of around 7%, the central
government has taken into consideration both the need for
continuity in macro-control and the relationship between the
pace of economic growth and the conditions for its
attainment, including supply and demand in energy, important
raw and processed materials, and transport capacity, also
taking into account the need to alleviate the pressure on
resources and the environment. This target also encourages
all sides to focus on deepening reform, adjusting the
economic structure and improving the quality and efficiency
of economic growth and to devote more financial and material
resources to promoting social development and strengthening
weak links.
To ensure effective macro-control, we need to
maintain consistency and stability in our macroeconomic
policies while adjusting the intensity and focus of policy
implementation at the proper time and to an appropriate
degree in response to developments and changes in the
economic situation. By "at the proper time," we
mean seizing the opportune moment for introducing control
measures by observing small clues that may indicate what is
coming in order to forestall any possible trouble.By
"to an appropriate degree," we mean that
macro-control should neither be too loose nor too tight and
that we must not apply the brakes too hard or apply control
measures too rigidly.
We must
adhere to the policy of expanding domestic demand and
continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a
prudent monetary policy. The issuance of construction
treasury bonds is an interim policy adopted during a period
of insufficient demand. Their scale should be reduced
gradually as the increase in nongovernmental investment
accelerates. We plan to issue 110 billion yuan in
construction treasury bonds this year, 30 billion yuan less
than last year. As the issuance of treasury bonds is to be
reduced year by year, it will be necessary to appropriately
increase the investment from the central budget for regular
construction annually in order to develop a regular
government investment mechanism and stabilize the sources of
funding. To begin with, we plan an increase of 5 billion
yuan this year. The general idea is to appropriately
increase investment from the central budget for regular
construction each year for several years while
systematically decreasing the issuance of treasury bonds,
and at the same time ensuring that the size of the deficit
remains at the current level. We will adjust the way funds
from construction treasury bonds are used, concentrating
them on promoting economic restructuring and ensuring
all-round social development. This year, funds from the sale
of treasury bonds willbe directed toward rural areas, social
undertakings, the western region, northeast China and other
old industrial bases, ecological improvement, environmental
protection, and ongoing bond-financed projects. We need to
manage and use treasury bonds well and ensure the quality of
the projects they finance and the efficient use of
investment capital. We must continue to do our fiscal and
taxation work well by working hard to increase revenue and
reduce expenditure, collecting taxes in strict accordance
with the law and guaranteeing funding for key items. We
should make full use ofthe role of monetary policy,
appropriately control the size of credit and optimize the
credit structure to support economic growth while fending
off inflation and financial risks. We will work to basically
balance international payments and keep the exchange rate
for the Renminbi basically stable at a proper and balanced
level.
One important task for macro-control this year is
to appropriately control the scale of investment in fixed
assets and firmly halt haphazard investment and low-level,
redundant construction in some industries and regions.
Guided by market forces, we will use a comprehensive range
of measures, mainly economic and legal means supplemented by
any necessary administrative measures, to strengthen
guidance and control. First,industrial policies and planning
should be improved and the information release system for
industries should be improved to correctly guide
nongovernmental investment. Second, we must quickly
formulate and revise standards for admittance into
industries and enforce market admittance strictly. Projects
that do not meet standards for environmental protection,
safety, energy consumption, level of technology or quality
and have not yet been started should be blocked and those
already under construction should resolve such problems,
while those already completed should be upgraded within a
specified time. Third, land-use management must be improved
in accordance with the law. No land should be approved for
projects that fail to meet the requirements of the state's
industrial policies and standards for admittance into
industries. We should continue clearing up problems relating
to development zones and rectifying and standardizing the
land market.Fourth, auditing and oversight of credit
transactions must be strengthened. Financial institutions
should not make any loans to new projects or rebuilding and
expansion projects that do not meet the requirements for
market access. Fifth, the taxation system must be tightened
and the practice of introducing unauthorized tax privileges
must be stopped and rectified. On the basis of these
measures we will strive to optimize the investment
structure, keepthe overall investment volume at a reasonable
level and improve returns on investment. In order to take a
new road to industrialization, we must base the national
economy and society on IT and upgrade the industrial
structure. We will energetically promote the development of
new and high technology industries capable of spurring
economic growth and with proprietary intellectual property
rights. We will accelerate the revival of the equipment
manufacturing industry. We will energetically develop modern
distribution, tourism, intermediary services and other
aspects of tertiary industry, and gradually raise their
proportion in the national economy.
To ensure
stable and rapid economic development, we must alleviate the
current disparities between supply and demand in energy,
important raw and processed materials and transport
capacity. On the one hand, we must increase the production
of coal,electricity and processed oil while at the same time
strengthen the regulation of economic activity to balance
supply and demand in coal, electricity, oil, transport
capacity and important raw and processed materials while
meeting the needs of the people, important industries and
key enterprises. We must speed up the development of large
coal mines, important power generating facilities and power
grids, the exploration and exploitation of petroleum and
other important resources, and the construction of major
transport trunk lines and hubs. On the other hand, we must
increase production and practice economy, with the emphasis
on economizing. This is not only urgently needed to
alleviate the current disparities between supply and demand,
but is also a long-term strategy to alleviate the pressure
on resources and the environment. The way the economy grows
must change, and all industries must eliminate waste, reduce
consumption of energy and raw and processed materials, and
use resources more efficiently, to develop production and
consumption patterns that conserve resources and build a
conservation-minded society.
Balancing
investment and consumption is an important aspect of this
year's work for macro-control. Consumption occupies too
small a proportion of China's GDP. This is not conducive to
ensuring a stable increase in domestic demand, sustaining
rapid economic growth and establishing a beneficial economic
cycle. We must work hard to increase the incomes of both
urban and rural residents andraise their purchasing power.
Regulation of income distribution will be intensified to
enable low- and middle-income people to consume more.
Consumption on credit must be expanded, consumption policies
must be optimized and the consumption climate must be
improved. To adapt to changes in consumption patterns, we
need to expand the consumption of services and improve the
production and supply structure. The reform measures we take
should enhance consumer confidence, so as to create positive
consumer expectations and increase immediate consumption. We
should gradually reduce the rate of investment in relation
to the rate of consumption.
2. Consolidating and strengthening the position of
agriculture as the foundation of the national economy and
increasing rural incomes and agricultural production
Solving problems facing agriculture, rural areas
and farmers isa top priority in all our work. Once again,
China's agriculture is in a crucial period of its
development. This year we must take more direct and
effective policies and measures to strengthen, support and
protect agriculture and increase rural incomes in line with
the need to balance urban and rural development.
First, the overall grain production capability
must be maintained and increased. The strictest possible
system for protecting farmland will be implemented and
control over the use of farmland will be strengthened in
accordance with the law. We will resolutely put an end to
illegal acquisition and use of farmland and rectify
unauthorized changes in the use of primary farmland. Reform
of the system for land expropriation and requisition will be
accelerated, and the expropriation and requisition
procedures and mechanisms for compensation will be improved
to ensure that the compensation for expropriated or
requisitioned land is appropriate. The acreage sown in grain
cropswill be expanded, and the yield per unit area
increased. Support will be focused on increasing production
in major grain producing areas. Projects to industrialize
production of high-quality grainswill be undertaken. We will
make primary farmland capable of producing stable, high
yields.
Second, we will promote strategic
restructuring of agriculture and the rural economy. Great
efforts will be made to develop high-quality, high-yield,
cost-effective, eco-friendly and safe agriculture, to
improve the quality of agricultural products and enhance
their competitiveness. We will carry forward the development
of industrial belts for producing competitive agricultural
products and promote the industrialization of agriculture.
We will energetically develop animal husbandry and prevent
and control the spread of the highly pathogenic bird flu and
other animal epidemics. We will encourage the development of
industries that process agricultural products and other
non-agricultural industries in rural areas and expand
intra-county economies. We will steadily carry out the
process of urbanization.We will improve the employment
environment for rural workers in cities, provide them with
more and better training and create morejobs for them in
various ways.
Third, we will press ahead with the
reform of rural taxes and administrative charges. All taxes
on special agricultural products will be repealed except for
tobacco, thus reducing the financial burden on farmers by
4.8 billion yuan annually. Beginning this year, the
agricultural tax rate will be reduced by more than 1
percentage point per year on average, and agricultural taxes
will be rescinded in five years. The agricultural tax burden
on farmerswill be reduced by 7 billion yuan this year. The
central government will appropriate 39.6 billion yuan this
year from its budget for transfer payments to support the
reform of rural taxes and administrative charges. We will
accelerate reforms of county and township government
institutions.
Fourth, we will deepen the reform of
the grain distribution system. All controls over grain
purchase and sales markets will be lifted. The reform of
state-owned grain enterprises will be accelerated. Control
and regulation of grain markets will be strengthened, and
subsidies will be given directly to grain producers. The
state will appropriate 10 billion yuan this year from its
grain risk fund to directly subsidize these producers in
order to stimulate their enthusiasm for grain production.
The prices of the means of agricultural production will be
better monitored and controlled to protect farmers'
interests.
Fifth, we will increase investment in agriculture
and rural areas. Governments at all levels must invest more
in agriculture, rural areas and farmers. This year, the
central government will appropriate over 30 billion yuan for
this purpose, at least 20% more than last year. Treasury
bond funds should be invested mainly in the construction of
six categories of small projects for rural areas
(water-efficient irrigation, potable water supplies, roads,
methane production facilities, hydroelectric plants and
pasture enclosure) and in construction of water control
projects, in order to improve the living and production
conditions of farmers. We will continue to aid the rural
poor through development by increasing funding for poverty
alleviation in various ways and giving people work in place
of relief subsidies. Rural financial services will be
improved. To assist rural residents expand production, rural
credit cooperatives will extend more micro-credit loans to
individual families and groups in rural areas.
Sixth, progress in agro-science will be
accelerated. We will tackle agro-science problems with
greater intensity and increase our ability to make advances
in agro-science and hold them in reserve and find
applications for them. We will strengthen the system for
spreading the application of science and technology in rural
areas. We will energetically promote wider application of
advanced applied technology that can help increase
production and improve productivity. We will expand both the
size and scope of subsidies for developing seeds of
high-quality crop varieties.
3.
Coordinating economic development in different regions and
promoting the development of the western region and the
revitalization of northeast China and other old industrial
bases
Promoting the coordinated development of all
regions is of strategic importance to China's modernization
drive. We need to steadfastly push forward with the
development of the western region, revitalize northeast
China and other old industrial bases,promote the development
of the central region and encourage faster development in
the eastern region so that the eastern, central andwestern
regions can better interact, complement and support each
other, and develop together.
We will continue
to implement the strategy of developing the western region.
On the basis of a conscientious review of our experience, we
will improve our policies and carry out relevant measures to
ensure positive and orderly progress. We will work in a
down-to-earth manner to ensure successful implementation of
such key ecological conservation projects as returning
farmland to forests and animal breeding grounds to pastures,
protecting natural forests, bringing sources of sandstorms
under effective control and preventing karst areas from
becoming stony deserts. We will strengthen infrastructure
development efforts, emphasizing major projects of key
importance to the overall economy to increase the potential
for economic development. At the same time,we will continue
to pay adequate attention to the construction of smaller
projects that will improve the living and production
conditions of farmers and herdsmen. Social undertakings will
be promoted, with priority given to compulsory education,
public health and primary-level cultural undertakings. We
will encourage the development of economies with local
characteristics and competitive industries and promote the
development of key regions.
We will conscientiously implement the strategy for
revitalizing northeast China and other old industrial bases,
working to get off to a good start this year. We must carry
out all the policies and measures of the central
authorities, emphasizing innovation in institutions and
mechanisms and opening wider both domestically and
internationally. We need to accelerate economic
restructuring and technological progress, especially for key
industries and enterprises, transform the resource-based
economies of certain cities, and solve the problem of
sinking land and cave-ins above exhausted mines in
coalmining areas. We must uphold the principlesof
self-reliance and hard work and let cadres and the general
public give full expression to their initiative and
creativeness.
Accelerating the development of the
central region is an important aspect of our endeavor to
ensure well-balanced development of regional economies. The
state is encouraging the central region to exploit its
geographical and economic advantages to quicken the pace of
its reform, opening up and development, modernize its
agriculture, and build key areas for commercial grain
production, strengthen its infrastructure development,
expand its competitive manufacturing and new and high
technology industries, and raise its levels of
industrialization and urbanization.
Accelerating
development of the eastern region will strengthen the
country financially, materially, scientifically and
technologically, thereby providing more support for the
development of the central and western regions. The eastern
regionshould continue making the most of its advantages,
speed up efforts to upgrade its industrial structure and
make its economy more oriented to the global market; areas
where conditions are most favorable should take the lead in
becoming basically modern. The eastern, central and western
regions should increase cooperation in various ways and
gradually achieve common prosperity through balanced
development. The government will continue to take measures
to help old revolutionary base areas develop more quickly.
4. Continuing to implement the strategy of
invigorating China through science and education and staying
on the road of sustainable development
In the course of
development, we will steadfastly give priority to education
and devote more energy and financial resources to
accelerating its development. We will adopt a fresh round of
measures to implement the Action Plan for Reinvigorating
Education,with the focus on compulsory education,
particularly in rural areas. This year we will begin to
implement the plan to make nine-year compulsory education
basically available throughout the western region and
basically eliminate illiteracy among the adults there by
2007. The central government will spend 10 billion yuan on
this work. The system for managing compulsory education in
rural areas must be improved by shifting the main
responsibility to county governments and increasing transfer
payments from central, provincial and city (prefectural)
governments for compulsory education in poverty-stricken
counties. The central government will contribute 6 billion
yuan to carrying out the second phase of the plan for
renovating dangerous primary and secondary school buildings
in rural areas. Both central and local governments will
increase their investment to develop modern distance
education in rural primary and secondary schools. We
willwork to optimize the education structure, take energetic
and steady steps to develop higher education, and put more
effort into developing vocational education and continuing
education. Schools of all kinds and at all levels should
fully implement the Party's education policy, emphasize
competence-oriented education, deepen the reform of
education and improve its quality. We will standardize and
develop non-government funded education. Unauthorized
collection of fees by educational institutions must be
resolutely stopped to reduce the financial burden on
students' families.
This year, we will continue to
concentrate on formulating a medium- and long-range state
plan for developing science and technology in order to
define the strategy, objectives, tasks and policies in this
field for the coming 15 years. Institutional reform and
innovation in the field of science and technology should be
continued. We will accelerate the establishment of a
national innovation system and construction of the science
and technology infrastructure, and effectively strengthen
basic research. We will carry out a number of projects of
major importance for overall economic and social
development, promote the integration of science and
technology with industry and encourage the application of
new and high technologies in industrial production. We
consider social and natural sciences equally important and
will make full use of the important role of philosophy and
social sciences in economic and social development.
We
should conscientiously implement the strategy of
reinvigorating China through human resource development.
Training,recruiting and properly using talented people in
all fields shouldprovide substantial personnel and
intellectual support for the modernization drive.
We
will vigorously implement the strategy of sustainable
development and successfully carry out all work related to
population, natural resources and the environment in line
with theneed to balance development of man and nature. We
will keep the birthrate low and improve the health of
newborns. We will improve the infrastructure and service
system for family planning at the primary level and
strengthen the management of family planning among the
floating population. Work related to senior citizens should
be carefully conducted. We will implement the national plans
for ecological and environmental protection and
conservationconscientiously and implement a strategy for
developing forestry focused on ecological conservation. We
will intensify law enforcement to strengthen ecological and
environmental control andmonitoring. We will strictly
control the discharge of major pollutants and work hard to
eliminate environmental pollution that seriously threatens
people's health and safety. We will energetically promote
the recycling industry and clean production. We will protect
our land and resources in accordance with the law and
utilize them rationally. We will pay close attention to the
development and protection of marine resources. We will
better conserve our water resources and use them more
economically. We will do a good job of disaster prevention
and reduction.
5. Accelerating the development of
health, culture and sports and promoting spiritual
civilization
We have three priorities in the area of health
this year. The first is to strengthen the public health
system. We will try to establish within three years a fully
functioning system for disease prevention and control and
for emergency medical aid that covers both urban and rural
areas in order to increase our ability to deal with serious
epidemic diseases and other public health emergencies. We
need to maintain a high degree of vigilance and take firm
and effective measures to control SARS, AIDS,
schistosomiasis and other serious communicable diseases. The
second priority is to improve medical and sanitation
conditions inrural areas and carry out pilot projects on a
new type of rural cooperative medical care system. We need
to focus our medical and health efforts on rural areas,
upgrade the medical and sanitation infrastructure and train
more medical and sanitation personnel there to gradually
alleviate the shortage of medical services and medicines
there. We will press ahead steadily with the pilot projects
for a new type of system for rural cooperative medical care
and health services based on the actual conditions in
different regions. Our objective is to establish a rural
medical care system organized and guided by the government,
based on mutual assistance of the participants, and with
voluntary participation of local people and diverse sources
of funding from individuals, collectives and the government,
one which takes treatment of serious diseases as its main
responsibility and ensures that the rural population
benefits from it. The third priority is to vigorously
promote the trial reform of the urban medical care and
health service system. We will continue to reform the basic
medical insurance system for urban working people, the
medical care and health service system and the
pharmaceutical production and distribution system. Medical
institutions should bemanaged according to their type in
order to ensure rational distribution and efficient
utilization of the available health care resources.
Community-based health care should be developed and medical
and health services should be improved. At the same time, an
extensive patriotic sanitation campaign should be carriedout
in both urban and rural areas.
The people's
intellectual and cultural needs are constantly increasing
along with the economic development and social progress in
China, so we must attach greater importance to cultural
development. It is necessary to energetically develop an
advanced socialist culture. We will vigorously promote
national spirit centered on patriotism and intensify the
ideological and moral education of young people in
particular. We must encourage the general public to
participate in activities designed to promote spiritual
civilization. We will strengthen basic-level cultural
development in rural areas, urban communities and
enterprises. We will spread scientific knowledge and promote
a scientific spirit, a scientific and healthy lifestyle and
good manners. We must further develop literature, art, the
press, publishing, radio, film and television. We will
follow a strategy of product excellence to provide more
healthful, inspiring cultural works that people can enjoy.
We will press ahead with formulating an overall plan f or
cultural restructuring and a program for cultural
development. We should promote the reform of the system and
innovation of the mechanisms of the cultural industry, give
more support to non-profit cultural undertakings and improve
our policy for the cultural industry to give a greater role
to the market and ensure the simultaneous development of
cultural undertakings and the cultural industry. We should
do more to protect our cultural relics and archives as well
as our natural and cultural heritage. We will continue to
strengthen the development and management of the market for
cultural products and the Internet, fight unremittingly
against pornographic and illegal publications and actively
conduct cultural exchanges with other countries. We will
carry out extensive mass fitness programs and strive to
raise the standards of our competitive sports. We will
continue to work hard to prepare for the 2008 Olympic Games
in Beijing and the 2010 World Exposition in Shanghai.
6. Seizing the opportune moment and deepening
economic restructuring
We will systematically carry forward
reforms this year, focusing on certain areas in accordance
with the decision adopted at the Third Plenary Session of
the Sixteenth CPC Central Committee and strive to make fresh
progress in some important areas.
We will deepen
the reforms of the state asset management systemand
state-owned enterprises. We need to promptly improve
legislation pertaining to oversight and management of state
assets and methods for its implementation, conduct research
to establish a budgetary system for state capital management
and a performance evaluation mechanism for enterprises, and
make sure that the responsibilities for state asset
management are truly met. We should energetically work to
transform state-owned enterprises into standard stock
companies, optimize the structure of property ownership,
improve corporate governance and encourage enterprises to
change how they operate. We will vigorously develop a mixed
ownership economy and gradually make the shareholding system
the principal form of public ownership. We will press ahead
with the reform and reorganization of the
telecommunications, electricity and civil aviation
industries, make steady progress in the reform of the postal
service and railway transport, and encourage the
commercialization of urban public utilities. A number of
large, competitive companies or conglomerates that own
proprietary intellectual property rights and name brands
should emerge through reform and development. We will
continue to reform collectively owned enterprises and
develop diverse forms of the collective economy.
We
will vigorously promote the development of the non-public
sector of the economy and actively guide it. Governments at
all levels must promptly eliminate or revise regulations and
policies that restrict the development of this sector and
implement measures that relax market access. We will conduct
further studiesand formulate specific methods to encourage
non-public enterprisesto participate in the reorganization
of state-owned enterprises and expand into infrastructure
development, public utilities and other industries and
domains. We will take measures to ensure that non-public
enterprises receive the same treatment as other enterprises
in investment, financing, taxation, land use and foreign
trade. We will protect their legitimate rights and interests
and improve government service to and oversight over them,
so as to support and encourage qualified non-public
enterprises in their efforts to grow stronger and larger. We
will speed up the establishment of a modern system of
ownership.
We will carry forward the reform of the financial
system. We need to accelerate the reform of the wholly
state-owned commercial banks, focusing on a pilot project to
transform the Bank of China and China Construction Bank into
stock enterprises. Other commercial and policy banks must
also deepen their reform. We will press ahead with the trial
reform of rural credit cooperatives and,on the basis of a
review of that experience, gradually expand the reform to a
wider area. We will continue to reform and open up the
capital market and develop it steadily. We will allow the
amount of bonds issued by enterprises to increase and the
proportion of direct financing by enterprises to rise
gradually. We will continue reforming the insurance industry
and expand the insurance market. We need to improve the
regulatory systems for banking, securities and insurance,
coordinate these systems better, and tighten financial
control to ensure sound operation of the financial sector.
We
will carry forward the reform of the fiscal and taxation
systems. We will focus on gradually shifting from a
"production VAT" to a "consumption VAT"
by reclassifying equipment investment as VAT-deductible to
facilitate the technological upgrading of enterprises and
enhance their capability for self-development. These reform
measures will be tried out first in some industries in
northeast China this year. Supporting measures must be
formulated quickly so that we can carry out the plan for
reforming the export tax rebate system in earnest.
We will carry forward the reform of the investment
system. Our main objectives are to reform the system of
government oversight of enterprise investment and allow
enterprises greater independence in making investment
decisions in line with the principle that "the investor
makes the investment decisions, reaps the profits and bears
the risks." Another objective is to rationally define
the government's investment functions, improve the
management of government investment and establish an
accountability mechanism for government investment. Finally,
we want to establish a macro-control mechanism for
investment and improve control methods and measures. These
efforts will result ina new investment system under which
investment is guided by the market, enterprises make their
own investment decisions, banks examine credit worthiness
independently, various forms of financing coexist,
intermediary services are standardized and macro-control is
efficient.
We need to quickly establish a system to ensure
credibility in society. We need to make intensive efforts to
put in place a system for collecting information on the
credibility of enterprises and individuals, a system for
overseeing the credit market, and a mechanism for penalizing
those who lose their credibility. We should intensify our
efforts to rectify and standardize the market order, giving
priority to cleaning up markets that have a direct bearing
on people's health and lives such as those for food and
medicine. Producing and marketing counterfeit and shoddy
goods, pyramid schemes and commercial fraudmust be severely
punished. Intellectual property rights must be protected
more effectively and piracy and patent infringement mustbe
punished in accordance with the law. We must severely crack
down on tax evasion, tax fraud, money laundering, smuggling
and other illegal and criminal activities.
7. Adapting to the new situation and opening still
wider to the outside world
We must
coordinate domestic development with opening up, fully
exploit domestic and foreign markets and resources, and
expand development into new areas. We will do all our work
pertaining to opening up energetically and improve our
ability to participate ininternational cooperation and
competition.
We will strive to keep foreign trade growing at an
appropriate rate. We should continue to follow the strategy
of market diversification, emphasize the export of
technology , compete on quality, optimize our export mix,
and promote the transformation and upgrading of the
processing trade. We should improve coordination among
foreign trade entities, strive to overcome trade barriers
and minimize trade friction to create a fair trade
environment for our enterprises. The foreign-related
economic system must be further reformed. We will carry out
the policy of allowing enterprises under all types of
ownership to independently engage in importing and
exporting. We should import more badly needed raw and
processed materials, key technologies and important
equipment and diversify our sources of important imports.
More rational and appropriate use of foreign capital is
necessary to raise the performance of foreign investment. We
will continue to enforce policies and measures that
encourage foreign investment and further improve our
investment environment. We should speed upthe implementation
of the strategy of "going global" and better
coordinate and guide Chinese investment abroad. Enterprises
under all forms of ownership are encouraged to invest in
overseas operations in various forms and expand their
international market shares. We should energetically carry
out bilateral, multilateral and regional economic
cooperation. We will continue to conscientiously fulfill all
our commitments for China's accession to the WTO.
8. Intensifying job creation and social security
work to further improve people's lives
Doing everything
possible to create more jobs is one of the major
responsibilities of the government. Our targets for 2004
areto create 9 million jobs for urban residents and get 5
million laid-off workers reemployed. We will continue to
follow an energetic employment policy, focusing on
effectively implementing the policies of fiscal and credit
support and tax cuts and exemptions. The central government
will allocate 8.3 billion yuan in this year's budget to
subsidize reemployment, 3.6 billion yuanmore than last year.
We will expand the avenues for employment and emphasize the
development of labor-intensive industries, small and
medium-sized enterprises and the non-public sector of the
economy,promote flexible and diverse types of employment and
encourage people to find jobs on their own or become
self-employed. We need to develop a fully functioning
reemployment assistance mechanism, giving people with
difficulties in finding jobs on their own hiring preference
in non-profit undertakings funded by the government. We will
support efforts of large and medium-sized state-owned
enterprises to separate their secondary lines of business
from their core business, turn their secondary lines into
independent companies, and reassign their redundant
personnel to these new companies. We will focus our support
on reemployment of laid-off workers in old industrial bases,
cities and industrial and mining areas whose locally
available natural resources have been exhausted, and the
defense industry and the coal and logging industries. We
will improve our system of employment services to provide
better job training and guidance and assist people to find
job opportunities. This year is another peak year for
college graduates entering the job market and ex-servicemen
being transferred to civilian jobs, so we need to work hard
to provide them with effective employment guidance and
services.
We need to build a social security network suited
to China's conditions and the level of our economic
development. This is an important yet demanding task. We
will continue to ensure the "two guarantees" and
better integrate the "three-stage guarantee." We
will steadily integrate the subsistence allowances for these
workers into the unemployment insurance system. The existing
system of basic old-age pensions for workers will be
improved by combining contributions from enterprises and
institutions with personal accounts. We will expand the
coverage of social security in accordance with the law. We
will intensify efforts to collect social security
contributions from all types of participating enterprises.
Governments at all levels must put greater effort into law
enforcement and inspection in this regard. We will do a
better job in providing subsistence allowances for needy
urban residents and establish standards and criteria for
eligibility. We will continue to raise social security funds
through a variety of channels and manage them properly. On
the basis of a review of our efforts to improve the urban
social security system in Liaoning Province, we will extend
them to Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces.The central
government will allocate 77.9 billion yuan this year in
subsidies for the "two guarantees" and subsistence
allowances for needy urban residents, up 11.3% over last
year. Local governments will also spend more in this area.
We
will take better care of urban and rural residents with
special difficulties. We will continue to improve the system
of social relief and assistance and help those families that
cannot afford medical treatment, tuition for their children,
housing or heating in winter. We will improve the "five
guarantee" relief program for childless and infirm
people in rural areas and ensure funding for it. We will
reduce and exempt taxes in disaster-afflicted rural areas
and provide relief to the affected people who have
difficulties in their production and daily lives. We will
show our concern for the disabled and support programs that
benefit them.
We must promptly solve problems arising
from the demolition of urban residential buildings and the
expropriation of farmland. When demolishing urban buildings
and relocating their occupants, we must ensure that overall
urban development plans and short-term construction plans
are strictly followed, that the area to be demolished is
defined reasonably, and that the examination and approval
procedures are properly applied. Furthermore, we must
improve the policy for compensating and relocating displaced
inhabitants, and intensify oversight and inspection. When
expropriating farmland, we must strictly limit the area
expropriated and follow the plan and proper procedures in
accordance with the law. We must promptly give affected
farmers reasonable compensation to ensure that their
legitimate rights andinterests are protected.
Measures must be
taken to ensure that rural workers in cities are paid on
time and in full. We must pay very close attention to
solving the problem of their wages being docked or not paid
on time. The State Council has decided to basically solve
the problems of default on construction costs and wage
arrears for migrant rural workers in the construction
industry within three years. Clearing up such back payments
should begin with government-invested projects, but
different types of enterprises should also be urged to pay
off their arrears as soon as possible. Enterprises and
managers that refuse to pay back wages to migrant rural
workers must be held accountable in accordance with the law.
We need to develop a mechanism to ensure the timely payment
of migrant rural workers' wages, thereby eliminating the
root cause of wage arrears. All enterprises must pay wages
on time and strictly obey the minimum wage regulations. We
must ensure that all state organs and institutions pay
salaries and retirees' pensions on time and in full. New
arrears will not be allowed anywhere. Accounts for paying
salaries must be placed under stringent oversight, and
budgetary funds should be used to pay wages and salaries
first.
9. Strengthening
democracy and the legal system and safeguarding national
security and social stability
Concrete and
prudent efforts will be made to promote political
restructuring, develop socialist democracy and improve the
socialist legal system. We will further expand democracy at
the lowest levels of government, improve self-governance by
villagers and urban residents, and respect the democratic
rights of the government authorities and people at the
lowest levels of government. We will uphold and improve the
system of workers' conferences and other systems of
democratic management practiced in government institutions
and enterprises and protect the legitimate rights and
interests of workers.
We will continue to carefully carry out
work related to ethnic minorities, religious groups and
overseas Chinese. We must fully implement the Party's ethnic
policy and consolidate and develop socialist ethnic
relations based on equality, solidarity and mutual
assistance. In order to promote common prosperity and
progress for all our ethnic groups, we will increase support
for economic and social development in ethnic minority areas
and intensify training of ethnic minorities in all fields of
work. We will fully implement the Party's policy on freedom
of religious belief, handle religious affairs in accordance
with the law, help religious organizations adhere to the
principle of independence and self-governance, and actively
guide religions to adapt to socialist society. We will
improve our work concerning overseas Chinese, their
relatives in China and returned overseas Chinese, and fully
utilize their unique role in promoting the reunification of
the motherland and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The legislative work of the government will be
strengthened. We will place greater emphasis on legislation
concerning social management and public service. Priority
should be given to legislation for dealing with emergencies,
protecting farmers' rights and interests, safeguarding
employment and social security and developing social
undertakings. We will work hard to improve the quality of
government legislation. We must solicit opinions from all
sectors of society when drafting important laws and
administrative regulations that affect the vital interests
of the people. We will work to improve legal and notary
services and carefully carry out legal assistance work. The
legitimate rights and interests of women, minors and the
handicapped shall be protected as prescribed by law. We will
increase publicity and education concerning the law in order
to create a good social environment in which the people
study the law, understand the legal system and abide by the
law.
The government is
duty-bound to ensure peace and security for the people. We
will further implement all measures to improve all facets of
public security and press ahead with efforts to build a
crime prevention and control system. We will severely crack
down on crimes committed by Mafia-like gangs, violent
crimes, frequent property-related crimes, and drug-related
crimes. We will increase our efforts to deal with serious
crimes and areas with serious security problems. The funding
mechanism for procuratorial, judicial and public security
organs will be improved in order to ensure their smooth
operation. We take terrorism seriously and will intensify
our battle against it. We will expand and deepen our battle
against cults. To ensure public order and social stability,
it is imperative that we correctly handle internal
contradictions among the people as they crop up under
changing circumstances, improve the mechanism for
forestalling and resolving conflicts and disputes, and
properly handle letters and complaints from the people.
Our strong sense of responsibility for the state
and the people compels us to effectively improve our work
with regard to safety. We must strengthen oversight and
administration to ensure production safety, carry out more
special programs to address safety problems, implement
preventive safety measures, and improve the system of
responsibility for production safety. We will tenaciously
investigate all kinds of accidents and prosecute those
responsible for them in accordance with the law to uphold
the sanctity of the law and disciplinary regulations.
Stepping up efforts to modernize our national
defense and armed forces is an important guarantee for
safeguarding national security and building a moderately
prosperous society in all respects. We will strengthen the
building of our armed forces in keeping with the general
requirements of "being qualified politically and
competent militarily and having an excellent style of work,
strict discipline and adequate logistic support." We
will energetically carry forward military reforms with
Chinese characteristics and work hard to take efforts to
modernize our national defense and armed forces to a higher
stage of development.As part of our strategy of using
science and technology to build strong armed forces, we will
focus on developing new and high technology weaponry and
equipment, foster a new type of highly competent military
personnel, and promote modernization of our armed forces
with IT application as the main content and mechanization as
the basis in order to enhance our overall defense capability
under hi-tech conditions. We will adhere to the principle of
running the army in accordance with the law and increase its
standardization. We will continue to balance efforts to
strengthen national defense and economic development and
raise the overall effectiveness of efforts to strengthen
defense. We will adhere to the principle of combining
civilian and military production and letting military
production reside in civilian production and vigorously
promote the reform, adjustment and development of
defense-related science, technology and industry to enhance
our capability for independent innovation. We will work
painstakingly to adjust and realign our military strength to
ensure that the armed forces are reduced by 200,000 troops
and that related tasks are completed by 2005. We will
intensify our efforts to build and reform our military
logistics apparatus and enhance our logistic support
capability. We will make the People's Armed Police more
proficient and more capable of responding to emergencies.
Education in national defense among the people will be
intensified to raise their awareness of its importance. We
willvigorously support the strengthening of national defense
and the armed forces and we will build up the reserve forces
and the militia to develop a fully functioning national
defense mobilization system that is highly effective and can
respond rapidly. We will intensify activities to promote
mutual support between the military and civilian sectors and
their cultural and ethical programs to forge solidarity
between the military and the government and between the
military and civilians.
III. Government Self-improvement
The government bears heavy and
demanding responsibilities in the effort to build a
moderately prosperous society in all respects. Governments
and leading cadres at all levels need to adapt to new
situations and tasks and continually raise their
administrative and management ability. In conformity with
the principle of government for the people and in order to
build a law-based government, we placed special emphasis
over the past year onthe three basic principles of
scientific and democratic policy-making, law-based
administration and better administrative oversight. These
principles were implemented conscientiously. Thisyear, we
will focus on the following aspects of our work.
First, we will further transform government
functions. Governments at all levels must fulfill all of
their responsibilities. While working to better regulate the
economy andoversee the market, the government must pay more
attention to social administration and public service work.
In particular, we need to speed up the establishment of
emergency response mechanisms and improve the government's
ability to deal with public crises. We must accelerate the
separation of government functions from enterprise
operations, turn over responsibility formore activities the
government should not be engaged in to enterprises,
nongovernmental organizations and intermediary agencies, and
give greater scope to the basic role of the market in
resource allocation. At the same time, we need to strengthen
regulation and oversight of intermediary agencies. The
government must perform all its functions well, and adapt
methods and style of management to changing circumstances to
improve the results of its administration and work.
Second, we will adhere to scientific and
democratic policy-making. We need to improve the
policy-making process by integrating public participation,
expert evaluation and government decision-making to ensure
that our policies are scientific and correct. We need to
speed up the formation and improvement of systems for making
collective decisions on major issues, for soliciting
opinions from experts, for keeping the public informed and
holding public hearings, and for accountability in
policy-making. All major policies must be decided
collectively on the basis of in-depth research, widely
solicited opinions, and full evaluation by experts. These
procedures must be closely followed as one of the long-term
basic systems for government work.
Third, we will
perform all our duties in accordance with the law.
Governments at all levels must exercise their power and
perform their duties within the scope of their authority
defined by law and in accordance with legal procedures. All
government employees must learn to deal with economic and
social issues by legal means. The system of administrative
law enforcement needs tobe reformed so that the
administrative right to grant licenses and impose penalties
will be relatively concentrated. Experiments should be
conducted on integrated law enforcement to solve problems of
duplicate law enforcement and arbitrary imposition of fines.
We need to increase oversight of administrative law
enforcement to make it stricter, fairer and more courteous.
We should institute an accountability system for law
enforcement and a mechanism for investigating and
prosecuting law enforcement improprieties, and improve and
strictly implement a system of administrative compensation
that holds those who exercise power accountable, places them
under supervision and compensates those whose rights have
been compromised. The Administrative Permission Law of the
People's Republic of China will come into force officially
on July 1, 2004. This is an important law for regulating
government acts, and governments at all levels must strictly
abide by it.
Fourth, we will consciously accept the
oversight of the generalpublic. All power of the government
is bestowed by the people, so the government must be
accountable to the people, act in their interests and accept
their oversight. Only the people's oversight can prevent the
government from being lax in its duties. Governments at all
levels should consciously accept the oversight of the
people's congresses and their standing committees at the
corresponding levels and the democratic oversight of the
committees of the People's Political Consultative
Conference, and conscientiously listen to the opinions of
the democratic parties, federations of industry and
commerce, persons without party affiliations and mass
organizations. At the same time, they should accept the
oversight of the mass media and the general public. They
must take seriously the people's oversight of government
organs and employees through reconsideration of
administrative decisions, administrative lawsuits and other
legal channels. We should strengthen internal supervision by
supporting supervision departments and audit offices in the
conduct of their independent oversight in accordance with
the law. To keep the people informed so they can oversee
government work, we will introduce a system ofpublic
information concerning government work and increase the
transparency of government work.
Fifth, we will
improve the government's style of work and improve the
overall quality of public servants. An important aspect of
efforts to improve the government's style of work is for
government employees to adopt a realistic and pragmatic
approach, a scientific outlook on development and a correct
attitude toward their own performance. Governments at all
levels need to bear in mind China's current national
conditions when acting and making decisions. We must always
be realistic and act in accordance with objective laws. We
need to work in an enterprising manner while working within
our capabilities and stop the practice of blindly competing
to outdo each other. We must persist in doing down-to-earth
work, seek practical results, conserve manpower and refrain
from building "vanity projects" that waste both
money and manpower.We must determine the true state of
affairs and tell the truth; we should not falsify reports or
exaggerate achievements. We must make overall plans that
balance the interest s of different sectors and stay rooted
in the present while having a long-term perspective, instead
of blindly seeking quick success and instant benefits. We
must continue to improve our work style, reduce the number
of meetings and documents, and put more time and energy into
going down to the primary level to do investigations and
research. Everything we do must stand the tests of actual
practice,people's acceptance and history.
The quality of
public servants determines how well the government is
managed and how efficient it is. It is imperative tobuild a
contingent of public servants who are politically
reliable,professionally competent and clean and honest and
have a good workstyle. They should emancipate their minds,
seek truth from facts and keep pace with the times. They
should bear in mind that public servants work for the
interests of the people, maintain close tieswith the people,
and serve them wholeheartedly. They should abide by the
Constitution and the law and have the ability to
administerthe government in accordance with the law. They
should be dedicated, hard working and eager to learn. They
should observe disciplinary regulations and professional
ethics. They should be honest, clean, upright, impartial and
devoted. Governments at all levels should be strict in
enforcing disciplinary regulations and be fair in meting out
rewards and punishments. Training public servants and
evaluating their work is very important, and we must
intensify our work in this area.
We will work
harder to build a clean government and fight more vigorously
against corruption. We will develop a mechanism that
combines education, institutional measures and oversight to
prevent and punish corruption. We will resolutely deal with
all breaches of the law or disciplinary regulations and
punish those guilty of corruption. We are determined to
rectify unhealthy conduct that affects the interests of the
people. All government employees, particularly leading
officials at all levels, must remain modest and prudent,
guard against an arrogant and rash workstyle, and continue
to live plainly and work hard.
Fellow
Deputies,
It is our unshakable goal to maintain the
long-term stability and prosperity of Hong Kong and Macao.
We will continue to uphold the principle of "one
country, two systems," according to which "Hong
Kong people administer Hong Kong" and "Macao
people administer Macao" with a high degree of
autonomy, and we will act in strict accordance with the
basic laws of the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative
regions. We will give our full support to the chief
executives and governments of the two regionsin their
administration in accordance with the law. We will unite as
broadly as possible people from all walks of life in Hong
Kong and Macao and effectively implement the Closer Economic
Partnership Arrangement between the mainland and Hong Kong
and the mainland and Macao. We have full confidence in the
future of Hong Kong and Macao.
We will adhere to
the basic principle of "peaceful reunification and one
country, two systems" and, during this current stage,
to the eight-point proposal for developing relations across
the Taiwan Straits and promoting the peaceful reunification
of the motherland. We will vigorously expand visits of
individuals across the Straits and economic and cultural
exchanges and energetically promote establishment of the
"three direct links" between the two sides. We
will protect the legitimate rights and interests of our
Taiwan compatriots on the mainland in accordance with the
law and continue to pursue the resumption of dialogue and
negotiations between the two sides on the basis of the
one-China principle. With the utmost sincerity, we will do
everything possible to bring about the peaceful
reunification of the motherland. We stand firmly opposed to
any form of separatist activities aimed at "Taiwan
independence" and will never allow anyone to split
Taiwan from China by any means. We are convinced that with
the unremitting efforts of all the sons and daughters of the
Chinese nation, including our Taiwan compatriots, we will
realize our common aspiration, the complete reunification of
the motherland, as soon as possible.
Fellow Deputies,
The international situation is continuing to
undergo complex and profound changes. Peace and development
remain the themes of our times. World multipolarization and
economic globalization are making tortuous progress. Seeking
peace and development and promoting cooperation and progress
have become an irreversible historical trend. However, the
tendency toward unilateralism is reemerging, local conflicts
continue, international terrorist activity is rampant, the
North-South gap is widening, and traditional and
non-traditional security issues are intertwined. All these
problems pose serious challenges to the people of all
nations.
During this past year we followed an independent
foreign policy of peace. We seized opportunities, responded
to challenges, took the initiative, and made noticeable
achievements in foreign affairs. We have won more
understanding, trust, respect and support from the
international community, and we enjoy higher status and
greater influence in the international arena than ever
before.
This year we will continue to hold high the banner
of peace, development and cooperation, unswervingly pursue
an independent foreign policy of peace, adhere to the Five
Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, increase friendly
exchanges and cooperation with other countries, and strive
to further improve international and neighboring
environments.
We will continue to promote world
multipolarization, advocate democracy in international
relations and diversity in development models, and encourage
the progress of economic globalization in a direction that
benefits the common prosperity of all nations. We will
adhere to a new concept of security based on mutual trust,
mutual benefit, equality and cooperation, and we will oppose
hegemonism, power politics, and terrorism in all its
manifestations. We will continue to work for a new
international political and economic order that is fair and
equitable.
We will deepen our friendly cooperation with
developing countries, explore new avenues and forms of
cooperation, and support the efforts of developing countries
to become stronger through unity.
We will continue
our policy of friendship and partnership with our
neighboring countries, deepen good-neighborly and friendly
cooperation with all our neighbors and safeguard regional
peace and stability. We will constantly strengthen our
relations with developed countries, strive to seek out and
expand areas of commoninterest, gradually settle existing
differences through dialogue and consultation on an equal
footing, and facilitate the steady development of our
relations with developed countries.
We will actively
engage in multilateral diplomacy and play a constructive
role in the United Nations and other international and
regional organizations.
The Chinese government and people will,
as always, support the cause of justice for the whole human
race and work tirelessly with the people of all other
nations to safeguard world peace and promote common
development.
Fellow Deputies,
The
government is faced with arduous tasks this year, and we are
keenly aware of the heavy yet lofty responsibilities we
bear. The trust and support that the whole nation gives to
the government is for us an inexhaustible source of strength
and confidence. We firmly believe that, under the leadership
of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as
General Secretary, by holding high the great banners of Deng
Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three
Represents, and by relying closely on the people of all our
ethnic groups, we will surely overcome all difficulties and
obstacles and make continuous progress in reform and opening
up and in the socialist modernization drive!(End)
(from
Xinhuanews)