BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- World leaders continued to extend congratulations to Xi Jinping on his election as president of the People's Republic of China. Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said that under Xi's leadership, China has become a major player in the world economy and a model for socio-economic transformation of developing countries, adding that Zambia looks forward to developing closer relations with China.
The debate about the appropriate weighting of English in important exams in China has resurfaced during this year's two sessions, with some national lawmakers and political advisers suggesting making it a less important subject while others maintain that it is an essential tool to understand and communicate in the fast-changing world. Chen Weizhi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and president of Shanghai New Epoch Education Group, a private K-12 school group, suggested canceling English courses for first and second grade primary school students and also reducing the course hours of English for secondary school students.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang held his first press conference as China's premier on Monday morning, during which he addressed various key issues concerning the Chinese economy, vowing to further stabilize growth, prices and employment, while making new progress on high-quality development, supporting private businesses and continuing to open up China's market to the world. Li's remarks, coming just two days after he was endorsed as Chinese Premier on Saturday, reflected his down-to-earth approach after working at various levels of local governments in economic powerhouses in eastern China, which inspires confidence among private businesses and the broader Chinese society about the country's economic and social development prospect, economists said.
China's economy is set to rebound this year, and Haikou, the core area of Hainan Free Trade Port, is speeding up economic development, according to Ding Hui, mayor of Haikou and a deputy to the National People's Congress. This year, China's GDP growth target has been set at around 5 percent, which "fully reflects the resilience of China's economic development and gives us great confidence", he said.
