Report on the Work of the Government
By Premier Wen Jiabao on March 5, 2004
Following is the full text of the Report on the Work of the Government delivered
by Premier Wen Jiabao at the Second Session of the Tenth National People's
Congress on March 5, 2004.
Fellow Deputies,
Premier Wen Jiabao
delivers his government work report to the NPC.
[chinadaily.com.cn] |
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% over the 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 million laid-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 sped up 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 to rectify 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 and ecological 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 government allocated 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-servicemen 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 of the 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 order and 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 in foreign 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 $403.3 billion 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 in filing 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 will be 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 of the 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, keep the 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 and
raise 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 is a 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 crops will 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 grains will 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 more jobs 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 farmers will 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
and western 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 principles of 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
region should 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 will work 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 should provide 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 the need 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 conservation
conscientiously and implement a strategy for developing forestry focused on
ecological conservation. We will intensify law enforcement to strengthen
ecological and environmental control and monitoring. 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 in rural 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 be managed 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 carried out 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 system and
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 studies
and formulate specific methods to encourage non-public enterprises to
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 in a 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 fraud must be severely punished. Intellectual property rights must be
protected more effectively and piracy and patent infringement must be 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 in international 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 up the
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 are to 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 yuan more 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 and interests 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 will
vigorously 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 on the three basic
principles of scientific and democratic policy- making, law-based administration
and better administrative oversight. These principles were implemented
conscientiously. This year, 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 and oversee 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 for more 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 to be 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 general public. 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 of public 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 to build a contingent of public
servants who are politically reliable, professionally competent and clean and
honest and have a good work style. 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 ties with
the people, and serve them wholeheartedly. They should abide by the Constitution
and the law and have the ability to administer the 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 work style, 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 regions in 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 common interest, 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!
