Session Attendees Hail Good Start of 10th Five-year Plan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 01, 2002

Session Attendees Hail Good Start of 10th Five-year Plan

The convening of the "two sessions", which represents a major event in the political life of all ethnic groups of the country, is of important significance for mobilizing and inspiring the people of the whole country to further emancipate their minds, seek truth from facts and make exploration and progress in the beginning of the "10th Five-year Plan" for national economic and social development.

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Making Preparation For The 5TH NPC Session

People's Daily Editor's Notes: "Under the correct leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, China will welcome in the convocation of the Fifth Session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) and the Fifth Session of the Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) [hereinafter referred to as the "two sessions"] shortly after it made a good start of the 10th Five-year Plan for economic and social development.

The convening of the "two sessions", which represents a major event in the political life of all ethnic groups of the country, is of important significance for mobilizing and inspiring the people of the whole country to further emancipate their minds, seek truth from facts, advance with time, and make exploration and progress, and for consolidating and developing the good momentum gained in the beginning of the "10th Five-year Plan" for national economic and social development, maintaining the favorable situation in reform, development and stability and giving an all-out impetus to China's economic construction and social progress." Beginning from today, this newspaper will carry a series of special reports on the "two sessions".

This report written by People's Daily correspondent Zhu Jianhong focuses on the following three points:

Hard-earned Good Beginning

The year 2001 saw the start of implementation of China's 10th Five-year Plan for national economic development. With regard to the achievements gained in the national economy last year, Lin You, member of the CPPCC National Committee and professor of Peking University, described the achievements as "hard won".

He said that influenced by factors such as the Internet and the shattering of stock market bubbles, US economic growth was only 1.1 percent last year. It is people's general view that the round of economic growth that began in 1991 and lasted the longest time in US history has come to an end and recession has appeared.

The condition of Japan, the world's second largest economy, has fared no better, and currently there is no sign showing when Japan can lift itself out of the slump. Downturn and even recession have appeared in the economic growth of Europe and Southeast Asia, and there is even negative growth in some countries and regions.

Against the background of a slump in the world economy, the growth rate of China's export last year also witnessed a sharp drop from the previous year; nevertheless, it still had a 6.3 percent increase, with the total volume reaching US$241.6 billion. Under the circumstance of a fairly big fall in external demand, China's GDP had a 7.3 percent growth, higher than the 7-percent target set at the beginning of the year.

In the meantime, the overall quality and efficiency of China's economic operation witnessed constant improvement, an accelerated tempo of growth in fixed asset investment, a steady growth in consumption demand, a continued rise in the utilization of foreign capital, a major progress in the large-scale development of the western region, an increase in financial revenue, a stable financial operation, a further deepening of various reforms and a quickening growth in the incomes of urban and rural residents. In the opinion of Prof. Lin You, China's sustained and rapid economic growth in 2001 is a fact generally praised by international academic and media circles.

In the beginning of the "10th Five-year Plan" period, we not only scored extraordinary economic achievements, but also pressed ahead with reform, social development and many other fields of endeavor.

What made us unforgettable is: Beijing's dream of hosting the Olympic Games has been turned into reality, thus infusing some vigor into China's economy; the successful convening of the APEC summit and a series of other important conferences, which drew government heads of a number economies to gather together in Shanghai, attracted the attention of the whole world; China's accession to the WTO, the entry of reform, opening-up and economic construction into a brand-new stage of development; the men's soccer team of China breaking through Asia and into the world arena-all these are heart-stirring events.

Macro-control Measures Seen as Effective

The achievements chalked up in the beginning of the "10th Five-year Plan" period are attributed to the host of correct policy decisions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and to the efforts of all Chinese people working with one heart and one mind.

Wang Yang, NPC deputy and vice-minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission, confirmed that the good beginning of the "10th Five-year Plan" period is the result of the successful application of macro-control measures taken by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and thus brought about a good performance of the Chinese economy under a complicated international economic environment.

After the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the Chinese government, by judging the hour and sizing up the situation, decisively adjusted the macro-economic policy by effecting a change from a moderately tight financial and monetary policy to a stable money policy and a proactive fiscal policy.

The central government has, for several straight years since 1998, implemented a proactive fiscal policy to expand domestic demand and boost economic growth through issuing more treasury bonds (T-bonds) and strengthening infrastructure construction. In the period from 1998 to the end of 2001, China had issued a total of 510 billion yuan worth of long-term construction T-bonds. Estimate shows that T-bond project investment spurred economic growth by 1.5 percentage points in 1998, 2 percentage points in 1999, 1.7 percentage points in 2000 and 1.8 percentage points in 2001.

Remarkable achievements had been made in the financial policy based on expansion of domestic needs. Over the past four years, GDP has increased 7.8 percent, 7.1 percent, 8 percent and 7.3 percent year-on-year, thus bringing about a sustained, steady and healthy development of the national economy.

Wang Yang specially briefed the participants on the host of achievements gained in T-bond investment. He remarked that T-bond investment benefited the country and the people, and stimulated domestic investment and consumption demands within a short term and laid a solid foundation for long-term economic development and created conditions for the long-term growth of productive forces.

Facts prove that T-bond investment is a successful practice pursued by the Party Central Committee and the State Council in solving problems cropped up in the course of advance by persistently applying the method of development and in promptly adjusting the macro-control policy in light of the changed international and domestic situations.

While implementing the proactive fiscal policy and the stable monetary policy, the central government also adopted other measures to expand domestic demands, such as rectifying the market economic order, improving the investment and consumption environment; increasing wages for employees in institutions and work units, raising the lowest income guarantee level in towns, abolishing some irrational policies that restrict consumption, so as to encourage and stimulate consumption.

In the aspect of encouraging the expansion of exports, the central government further rectified and regulated the order of foreign economic and trade market in order to create a favorable and relaxed a business environment for enterprises; departments concerned have gone all out to implement the strategy of invigorating trade through science and technology and earnestly adjust the mix of export commodities.

Scaling New Height with Reinforced Confidence

A good beginning has laid a solid foundation, but to guarantee a smooth accomplishment of the "10th Five-year Plan" still requires that we face up to the problems before us. Lin maintains that there are still many problems facing China's economy this year, it is impossible for a quick recovery of the US economy and it is difficult for Japan to lift its economy out of the slump in a short term.

The international economic environment will still be fairly grim this year, and China's exportation will still encounter fairly big difficulties. It is an urgent need to study and solve a host of problems in the domestic economy, such as how to boost the growth of non-governmental investment, how to raise farmers' incomes, how to get rid of the shadow of deflation, and how to solve the problem of employment.

Deputy Wang Yang said that in light of the internal and external situation facing China, the Central Economic Work Conference held last year determined that "expanding domestic demand" will remain essential for China's economic development this year.

To do our economic work well this year, we must further deepen our knowledge about the principle of the Party Central Committee and the State Council for expanding domestic demand and continue to adhere to the proactive fiscal policy and the stable monetary policy.

The State Development Planning Commission will continue to do well the management work relating to T-bond investment and, while keeping necessary investment impetus, the commission should choose the right projects for investment, pay attention to investment efficiency, make proper, genuine use of T-bonds and avoid ineffective investment and irrational redundant construction.

As NPC deputies and CPPCC members are gathering together in Beijing to offer their advice and suggestions on expediting achievement of the third-step strategic goal, we expect the sessions to be a success, and firmly believe that under the correct leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council and with the common efforts of the people of the whole country, China's economy will continue to grow by cleaving waves.

By People's Daily Online

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