The Chinese authorities said Thursday economic policies will be
continued, aiming to maintain fast, stable growth in the new year.
Work should be done to make economic expansion more efficient, and
help the rural poor left behind by a two-decade boom. The nation's
leadership put forward major tasks for economic work next year at a
key, closed-door meeting beginning Tuesday, addressed by President
Hu
Jintao and Premier Wen
Jiabao.
Fast growth is imperative for increasing national strength and
effectively relieving contradictions in economic and social
development, said a statement issued after the meeting.
The statement emphasized it is a "long-term, strategic
principle" to increase domestic demand. It said efforts should be
made to adjust the relationship between investment and consumption,
adding the centerpiece job is to increase spending, especially the
farmers' expenditure.
China's economy has been largely driven by investment over the
past decade. Reckless investment in sectors such as steel and real
estate has fanned worries for an overheating economy in recent
years, forcing the government to take a slew of measures, including
bank lending cuts and stricter provision of land for industrial
use.
The statement said the country, however, should maintain a
"reasonable" investment size, while optimizing the investment
structure and keeping a tight lid on new projects.
Investment in fixed assets, an indicator of how much the
government spends on roads, power plants and other infrastructure
and factory equipment, rose 24 percent year-on-year in the first
three quarters this year, official figures show.
The government also vowed to work to optimize the structure of
imports and exports and resolve trade imbalance, a reference to the
facts that China's export commodities are mostly labor-intensive
and contributed by foreign-funded firms, and that China has a large
trade surplus with the United States.
The United States has been demanding China further revalue its
currency to help remove their trade imbalance. China, however, says
the United States should allow more export goods involving
state-of-the-art technologies.
China's economy, Asia's second largest, grew a brisk 9.4 percent
in the first three quarters, with inflation having fallen to a
moderate 2 percent, government figures show.
As a new concept and "common action" of the whole Party and
nation, "new socialist countryside" was highlighted at the meeting.
The statement said it features growing production, better
livelihood, cultural development, clean villages and democratic
management of village affairs.
It said measures should be boosted to raise the farmers' income,
calling for speeding up the construction of basic facilities and
increase investment in rural education, culture and public health.
The development of eastern, central and western areas should be
more balanced.
"More attention should be paid on social fairness and justice,
promotion of social harmony and social stability."
Another emphasis of economic work is placed on sharpening the
competitive edge of domestic enterprises and helping them build
popular brands.
The statement said it is urgent to accelerate industrial
restructuring by using advanced technology to upgrade traditional
industries and eliminate out-of-date productive forces.
Based on a "scientific concept of development," efforts will be
intensified to save resources and protect the environment, while
deepening the reform and opening wider to the outside world for
win-win results between China and other countries.
In an interview with Xinhua, Zhang Liqun, a research fellow with
the State Development and Research Center, forecasted a 9 percent
growth pace for 2006, on the back of a 10-plus percent rise in
consumer demand and 20-plus jump in investment in China.
(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2005)