The second session of China’s
12th National People’s Congress (NPC) opened in Beijing, on March 5, 2014.
Premier Li Keqiang delivered his first government work report at the opening
meeting.
What can we learn from this
report intended for all Chinese people?
To start, Premier Li reviewed
China’s progress over the past year: In 2013, China’s GDP grew by 7.7%. CPI
increase was kept around 2.6%. Enterprise retiree pensions increased by 10%.
Urban and rural medical care subsidies were raised to 280 RMB per person.
Income of urban and rural residents grew substantially. The added value of the
service industry surpasses that of the secondary industry for the first time.
The 4G mobile communication network has been put into commercial operation. The
operating mileage of China’s high-speed railway ranks first in the world.
During the past year, China’s development can be summarized as having been “stable
and improved.”
What can we expect in 2014?
Taking into account the two
factors of “demand” and “possibility,” China holds the following expectations
in 2014: GDP will grow at about 7.5%. CPI increase will be kept around 3.5%.
The unemployment rate will be kept at a maximum of 4.6%. Central investment
budget will rise to 457.6 billion RMB.
In this year, the government will
continue to streamline administration and delegate power to its lower levels,
and set up “power lists.” China will further promote the legislation of
property tax and environment protection tax, as well as the establishment of
small and medium-sized banks funded with private capital.
Finance, oil, electric power,
railway, telecom, and some other areas will also release a batch of investment
projects to non-state capital.
On the topics of people’s
concerns, this report puts great emphasis on the left-behind children in rural
areas, safety of drinking water, education equality, medical reform, public
services, and similar topics.
On the issue of economic
development, Premier Li emphasized the necessity to expand service consumption,
promote information consumption, and boost integration of three networks. Those
who are engaged in e-commerce, logistics, express delivery, and online-shopping
industries can develop their businesses more boldly and confidently.
On the issue of urbanization,
Premier Li puts forward the need to focus on three tasks, each concerning 100
million people. One of the tasks is to grant urban residency to around 100
million rural people who have moved to cities, introduce a residence permit
system, and ensure that more children of rural migrant workers living with
their parents in cities will be entitled to go to school there. All of this
comes as good news for rural migrant workers.
On the issue of environment,
Premier Li set aside a large part of his speech to discuss the smog problem,
demonstrating the determination of the government to take strong measures
towards curbing pollution. We wish to breathe more fresh air in the near
future.
The report is just the start. In
the following period, we will keep an eye on the government’s actions to
witness the implementation of the report. We are looking forward to the New
Year.
