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Jiang outlines China's economic
agenda
BEIJING - Jiang Zemin, in
his report to the 16th National Congress of the
Communist Party of China (CPC), on Friday outlined the
main tasks for China's economic development and reform
in the first two decades of this century.
The
tasks are to improve the socialist market economy;
promote strategic adjustment of the economic structure;
accomplish industrialization; energetically apply
information technology (IT); accelerate modernization;
maintain a sustained, rapid and sound development of the
national economy; and steadily uplift the people's
living standards.
Jiang said that to fulfill the
tasks, China must take a new road toward
industrialization and implement the strategy of
rejuvenating the country through science and education
and that of sustainable development. It is necessary to
persist in using IT to propel industrialization, which
will in turn stimulate IT application, blazing a new
trail to industrialization featuring high scientific and
technological content, good economic returns, low
resource consumption, low environmental pollution and a
full display of advantages in human resources, he said.
The country must press ahead to bring about an
industrial pattern with high- and new-technology
industries as the leader, basic and manufacturing
industries as the kingpin and the service industry
developing in all areas, Jiang said.
"We must
give play to the important role of science and
technology as the primary productive force and pay close
attention to improving the quality and efficiency of
economic growth by relying on scientific and
technological progress and raising the qualities of the
labor force," he said.
Top priority must be
given to sustainable development, Jiang said, stressing
adherence to the basic state policies of family planning
and environmental protection.
Jiang called for
efforts to make the rural economy flourish and speed up
urbanization, saying the country must strengthen the
position of agriculture as the foundation of the
economy, carry on the restructuring of agriculture and
the rural economy, protect and raise grain production
capacity and improve the competitiveness of agriculture
in the market. It is essential to persist in the
coordinated development of large, medium and small
cities and towns along the path to urbanization with
Chinese characteristics, he said.
"We must
continue with the reform in taxes and fees in rural
areas to lighten the burdens of farmers and protect
their interests," he added.
When talking about
the development of the western region and the
coordinated development of regional economies, Jiang
said that to lay a solid foundation and forge ahead in a
down-to-earth manner, China must give priority to
infrastructure and ecological environment improvement
and strive for breakthroughs in a decade.
"The
state should provide the western region with greater
support in such areas as investment projects, tax
policies and transfer payments," he said.
The
central region should redouble its efforts toward
structural adjustment and cultivate new economic growth
points, while the eastern region should quicken the pace
of upgrading its industrial structure and further
develop the outward-looking economy, he said.
"The
eastern, central and western regions should strengthen
economic exchanges and cooperation to complement one
another and secure common development," Jiang added.
In line with the requirements of releasing and
developing the productive forces, Jiang said China must
uphold and improve the basic economic system, with
public ownership playing a dominant role and diverse
forms of ownership developing side by side.
"We
must unswervingly consolidate and develop the public
sector of the economy and also encourage, support and
guide the development of the non-public sectors of the
economy," he said, stressing that the country must
stimulate the development of the non-public sectors
while keeping the public sector as the dominant player,
incorporating both into the process of the socialist
modernization drive instead of setting them against each
other.
Jiang listed continuing to adjust the
distribution and structure of the state sector and
reforming the state property management system as major
tasks for deepening economic restructuring.
Jiang said that measures should be taken to give
a fuller play to the basic role of the market in the
allocation of resources and create an environment for
the equal use of production factors by market players
and promote free movement of commodities and production
factors on markets around the country.
"We must
improve the government functions of economic regulation,
market supervision, social administration and public
services," he said.
Jiang said it is essential
to deepen the reform of the distribution system and
improve the social-security system, indicating that
China should establish the principle that labor,
capital, technology, managerial expertise and other
production factors participate in the distribution of
income in accordance with their contributions, thereby
improving the system under which distribution according
to work is dominant and a variety of modes of
distribution co-exist. Efforts should be made to improve
the basic old-age-pension and medical-insurance systems
for urban workers and the systems of unemployment
insurance and subsistence allowances for urban
residents, he said.
In response to the new
situation of economic globalization and China's entry
into the World Trade Organization, the nation should
take part in international economic and technological
cooperation and competition on a broader scale, in more
spheres and on a higher level, make the best use of both
international and domestic markets, optimize the
allocation of resource, expand the pace for development
and accelerate reform and development by opening up, he
said.
Jiang said China should do everything
possible to create more jobs and improve people's lives.
It is the long-term strategy and policy of the state to
expand employment. Party committees and governments at
all levels must take it as their major obligation to
improve business environment and create more jobs, he
said. The country should introduce flexible and diverse
forms of employment and encourage people to find jobs on
their own or become self-employed, he said.
"The
fundamental goal of economic development is to uplift
the living standards and quality of life of the people,"
Jiang said. "As the economy develops, we should increase
the income of urban and rural residents to meet their
multifarious material and cultural needs."
(Asia
Pulse/XIC)
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