Report on the Work of the Government

4. Accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development

The key to solving the problems of imbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsustainable development is to accelerate the transformation of the pattern of economic development and carry out strategic adjustment of the economic restructure. This is both a long-term task and our most pressing task at present.

We will improve and upgrade the industrial structure. We will promote the sound development of strategic emerging industries. We will accelerate the establishment of mechanisms that promote the use of new energy sources; strengthen overall planning, auxiliary projects and policy guidance; and expand domestic demand. We will prevent blind expansion in our capacity to manufacture solar energy and wind power equipment. We will develop next-generation information technology, strengthen network infrastructure, and make substantive progress in integrating the telecommunications network, the radio and television broadcasting network, and the Internet. We will energetically develop the high-end equipment manufacturing, energy conservation, environmental protection, biopharmaceuticals, new-energy vehicles, and new materials industries. We will increase funding for technological upgrading projects, and press ahead with the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. We will control increases in production capacity, improve existing production facilities, encourage enterprise mergers and reorganizations, and increase industrial concentration and economies of scale, with the focus on the automobile, steel, shipbuilding, and cement industries. We will implement and improve policies to promote the growth of small and micro businesses, further reduce burdens on enterprises, and promote the vibrant growth of small and micro high-tech enterprises. We will implement fiscal, taxation, and financial policies that facilitate the development of the service sector and encourage nongovernmental investment in this sector, in order to promote faster development of the sector, increase its share in the economy, and facilitate its upgrading.

We will conserve energy, reduce emissions, and protect the ecological environment. The key to conserving energy and reducing emissions is to save energy, improve energy efficiency, and reduce pollution. We will promptly formulate and promulgate a work plan for appropriately controlling total energy consumption, and move quickly to base the energy pricing system on the market. We will use economic, legal, and the necessary administrative means to conserve energy and reduce emissions in key areas such as manufacturing, transportation, construction, public institutions, and people's homes, and in 1,000 key energy-intensive enterprises; and close down more outdated production facilities. We will tighten supervision of energy use, develop smart power grids and ensure the proper distribution of energy supplies, and implement effective administrative practices such as efficient electricity generation and distribution, energy performance contracting, and government procurement of energy-efficient goods and services. We will optimize the energy structure, promote clean and efficient use of traditional energy, safely and effectively develop nuclear power, actively develop hydroelectric power, tackle key problems more quickly in the exploration and development of shale gas, and increase the share of new energy and renewable energy in total energy consumption. We will step up the construction of energy transportation routes. We will thoroughly implement the basic state policy of conserving resources and protecting the environment. We will carry out certification of energy-efficient products and oversight and inspection of energy efficiency labeling; encourage economical use of energy, water, land, and materials as well as comprehensive use of resources; and vigorously develop a circular economy. We will strengthen environmental protection; strive to solve major environmental problems that directly affect people's lives, such as heavy metals, drinking water sources, air, soil, and marine pollution; reduce pollution from non-point agricultural sources; and put hazardous chemicals under strict oversight and supervision. We will start monitoring fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River delta, the Pearl River delta and other key areas as well as in municipalities directly under the central government and provincial capital cities, and extend the practice to all cities at and above the prefectural level by 2015. We will improve the ecology, establish a sound system of compensation for ecological damage, strengthen ecological protection and restoration, and consolidate achievements in protecting virgin forests, turning vulnerable farmland into forests and grasslands, and stopping grazing to let grasslands recover. We will strengthen grassland ecological conservation; vigorously carry out afforestation; make progress in dealing with desertification and stony deserts and in improving terraced farmland; and strictly protect river sources, wetlands, lakes, and other priority functional ecological zones. We will strengthen capacity building to adapt to climate change, and especially to respond to extreme climate events, and improve our ability to prevent and mitigate natural disasters. We will uphold the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and the principle of fairness, and play a constructive role in promoting international talks on climate change. We will show the world with our actions that China will never seek economic growth at the expense of its ecological environment and public health. We are definitely capable of taking a path of civilized development which ensures that production increases, people's living standards rise, and we live in a good ecological environment.

We will enhance balanced economic development among regions. We will implement the master strategy for regional development and the plan for developing functional zones, give full play to the distinctive strengths of each region, better coordinate development among regions, and make delivery of basic public services more equitable. We will conscientiously implement the policies and measures for the large-scale development of the western region in the new decade, work even harder to implement the strategy for the rise of the central region, more quickly revitalize the old industrial bases in northeast China, and actively support the eastern region in transforming its economy and participating in international competition and cooperation at a higher level. We will increase support to old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, and poverty-stricken areas. We will encourage special economic zones, the Pudong New Area in Shanghai, and the Binhai New Area in Tianjin to better play their role of leading the way and exploring new paths in reform and opening up. We will formulate and implement a strategy for marine development, and promote the development of the marine economy. We will strengthen and improve inter-regional cooperation mechanisms, remove market barriers, facilitate the flow of factors of production, guide the orderly transfer of industries, and promote mutually reinforcing and coordinated economic development among regions.

We will actively yet prudently promote urbanization. We will promote the coordinated development of large, medium-sized, and small cities as well as small towns in light of local conditions and in accordance with the laws governing urban development. On the basis of the carrying capacity of China's resources, environment and population, we will improve the distribution of the productive forces across the country, develop cities and towns rationally, and ensure that the geographical distribution of the population is suited to land availability, resources distribution, and development potential. We will strengthen the economic foundation and create job opportunities in all cities, improve their infrastructure and living environment, strengthen urban management and services, and raise the quality and level of urbanization. We will give higher priority to registering rural migrant workers with stable jobs and permanent homes in cities or towns as permanent urban residents in an orderly manner. We will relax eligibility for registering as urban households in small and medium-sized cities, guide the rational flow of the population, and enable more surplus rural workers to find nonagricultural employment in nearby towns and cities. We should care more deeply for rural migrant workers and provide more services to them; resolve difficulties they have in securing employment services, obtaining social security benefits, getting their children enrolled in preschools and schools, and renting or purchasing homes; and gradually extend to them basic public services that are available to urban residents. We will take care of children, women and old people who are left behind by rural migrant workers who work in cities. We will enable rural residents to enjoy a happy life whether they go to the city or stay in the countryside.