NPC Deputies, CPPCC Members on Challenges Facing China

Chinese enterprises must get prepared for increasing international competition on the home market, said Li Huaiqing, a deputy to the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC), which is to open Monday.

"Of China's 80,000 enterprises, only a few can rank among the world's top 500 companies," Li, an entrepreneur from central China's Henan Province, said in an interview with Xinhua.

Li's anxiety was shared by many of his fellow deputies and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, which opens Saturday.

Said Cai Caiji, a CPPCC National Committee member, "The world has gone into the era of a knowledge-based economy, which will have a great impact on human society, politics and economy. We must have the strategy and foresight to keep pace with the development of human civilization."

The rapid development of economic globalization and the progress of science and technology will inevitably lead to economic restructuring. Whether or not China could seize opportunities arising from such restructuring will be critical to the attainment of China's modernization goal, said Zhao Guozhong, an NPC deputy from Hebei Province in north China.

Another CPPCC National Committee member, Li Zhongzhen, noted that China's strategic goal of doubling its 2000 GDP by 2010 will require an annual growth of seven percent.

This is a realistic goal, but all the same, its attainment requires painstaking efforts and breakthrough on key issues, he said.

Liu Mingshan of the CPPCC National Committee said, "The fundamental purpose of economic development is to improve people's life. Adherence to this principle will lead to success and departure from it to frustrations."






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