China's Development and Future Course

 Zheng Xinli

Vice Director of the Policy Planning Office Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

The Communist Party of China (CPC) convened its 17th National Congress in October last year. The congress was considered as the most important political event in China. The report delivered by General Secretary Hu Jintao at the congress on behalf of the CPC Central Committee put forward new requirements for attaining the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020. It also introduced strategies, principles and policies for China's economic, political, cultural and social development in the next few years. They will serve as guidelines for advancing socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The Scientific Outlook on Development is an important guiding principle for China's economic and social development. Hu's report to the 17th CPC National Congress called on us to observe the following principles while applying the Scientific Outlook on Development:

Openning Remarks by Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan

First, we must always give top priority to development. Development is the key to resolving all China's problems. Without development, we will not be able to achieve modernization. Development enables China to provide for its more than 1 billion people, better undertake its international obligations and make greater contributions to the world economy.

Second, we must put people first as we seek development. We should see to it that development is for the people, by the people and with the people sharing in its fruits. We should respect the democratic rights of the people, give play to the people's creativity, safeguard the people's economic, political, cultural and social interests, seek common prosperity and promote all-round development of the people.

Third, we must pursue sustainable development. We must harmonize economic growth with the population, resources and the environment. We must adopt an enlightened approach to development that results in expanded production, a better life and sound ecological and environmental conditions and build a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society so that our people will live and work under sound ecological and environmental conditions and our economy and society will develop in a sustainable way.

Fourth, we must persist in overall consideration. Overall consideration is a basic approach to balancing the interests of people from all walks of life. We should balance urban and rural development, development among regions, economic and social development, relations between man and nature, and domestic development and opening to the outside world, thus striking a balance in all links and aspects of China's economic, political and cultural development.

The 17th CPC National Congress set new objectives for China's development: We will quadruple the per-capita GDP of the year 2000 by 2020. We will greatly enhance our capacity for independent innovation, enabling scientific and technological advancement to contribute much more to economic growth and making China an innovative country. We will expand socialist democracy and better safeguard the people's rights and interests as well as social equity and justice. We will promote cultural development and notably enhance the cultural and ethical quality of the whole nation. We will accelerate the development of social programs and improve every aspect of the people's well-being. We will further improve the modern system of national education, expand employment and establish a basic system of social security that will cover both urban and rural residents so that everyone is assured of basic living standards. Middle-income people will make up the majority and absolute poverty will basically be eliminated. Everyone will have access to basic medical and health services. We will promote a conservation culture and bring the discharge of major pollutants under effective control.

By 2020, China will have basically accomplished industrialization, with its domestic market ranking as one of the largest in the world. It will be a country whose people are better off and enjoy markedly improved quality of life and a good environment. Its citizens will have more extensive democratic rights and show higher ethical standards. China will have better institutions in all areas and Chinese society will have greater vitality coupled with stability and unity. The country will be still more open and friendly to the outside world and make greater contributions to human civilization.

--Economic development. We will seek to transform the mode of economic development. First, we will adjust the demand structure, pursue the policy of boosting domestic demand, particularly consumer demand, enhance the role of consumption in promoting economic growth and promote the transition from relying mainly on investment and export to relying on a well coordinated combination of consumption, investment and export.

Second, we will adjust the product mix, upgrade the secondary industry, accelerate the modernization of agriculture, invigorate the tertiary industry and promote the transition from secondary industry serving as the major driving force to primary, secondary and tertiary industries jointly driving economic growth.

Third, we will increase investment in technological research and development, put in place a system for technological innovation in which enterprises play the leading role and which combines the efforts of enterprises, universities and research institutes, train innovative personnel in scientific and technological research and highly skilled personnel, encourage innovation in management and promote the transition from relying heavily on increased consumption of material resources to relying mainly on advances in science and technology, improvement in the quality of the workforce and innovation in management.

We will take achieving the three transitions as an important strategic task in the next few years and a fundamental approach to promoting sound and rapid economic development. We will make every effort to propel the transitions and insure their fulfillment.

We will accelerate our efforts to improve China's socialist market economy. First, we will improve our basic economic system. We will unwaveringly consolidate and develop the public sector of the economy, encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector, insure equal protection of property rights and create a new situation in which all economic sectors compete on an equal footing and reinforce each other.

Second, we will accelerate the formation of a modern market system that is unified and open and allows orderly competition and develop markets for factors of production.

Third, we will deepen fiscal, taxation and financial restructuring and improve macroeconomic regulation. We will improve the public finance system as we work to insure equal access to basic public services and establish development priority zones. We will proceed with financial reforms to develop various types of financial markets and build a modern financial system that is inclusive of different forms of ownership and different ways of operation and that features a reasonable structure, complete functions, efficiency and security.

Fourth, we will expand opening up in scope and depth and improve our open economy. Adhering to the basic state policy of opening up, we will better integrate our "bring in" and "go global" strategies and expand the areas of opening up. We will make innovations in the way of using foreign capital, improve the structure of foreign investment utilized and let the use of foreign capital play a positive role in facilitating independent innovation, industrial upgrading and balanced development among regions. We will implement a strategy of free trade zones and expand bilateral and multilateral trade and economic cooperation. We will adopt comprehensive measures to maintain a basic equilibrium in the balance of payments.

--Political development. We will make unremitting efforts to develop socialist democracy. On the basis of ensuring the people's position as masters of the country, we will expand socialist democracy, build a socialist country under the rule of law and develop socialist political civilization to enhance the vitality of the Party and the state and arouse the initiative of the people.

First, we will expand people's democracy and insure that they are masters of the country. The essence and core of socialist democracy are that the people are masters of the country. We need to carry out democratic election, administration and oversight in accordance with the law to guarantee the people's rights to be informed, to participate, to be heard and to oversee. We must pursue scientific and democratic decision-making, increase its transparency and expand public participation in it.

Second, we will develop primary-level democracy. We will improve the system of villagers' self-governance, increase transparency in factory affairs and village affairs and enhance the self-governance capability of society.

Third, we will comprehensively implement the rule of law as a fundamental principle. We need to step up the legislative process, carry out government administration in accordance with the law, standardize judicial practices and safeguard the authority of the law.

Fourth, we will expand the patriotic united front. We will promote harmony in relations between political parties, between ethnic groups, between religions, between social strata and between our compatriots at home and overseas. We will select and recommend a greater number of outstanding non-CPC persons for leading positions. We will strengthen and develop socialist ethnic relations based on equality, solidarity, mutual assistance and harmony. We will also bring into play the positive role of religious personages and believers in promoting economic and social development.

Fifth, we will accelerate the reform of the administrative system and build a service-oriented government.

Sixth, we will improve the mechanism of restraint and oversight. We will establish a sound structure of power and a mechanism for its operation in which decision-making, enforcement and oversight powers check each other and function in coordination. We will focus on tightening oversight over leading cadres and especially principal ones, over the management and use of human, financial and material resources, and over key positions to insure that power is exercised in the sunshine.

--Cultural development. We will promote vigorous development and prosperity of socialist culture. Culture is an important source of national cohesion and creativity. As their living standards improve, the Chinese people have an increasingly ardent desire for a richer cultural life. General Secretary Hu Jintao's report to the 17th CPC National Congress underscored the importance of promoting cultural innovation and development and bringing about a new upsurge in socialist cultural development. We will stimulate cultural innovation and develop the productive forces in the filed of culture. We will keep to the orientation of serving the people and socialism, uphold the principle of letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend, and encourage the creation of more excellent, popular works that reflect the people's principal position in the country and their real life.

--Social development. We will accelerate social development with the focus on improving people's livelihoods. We will give priority to education and turn China into a country rich in human resources. In order to create equal opportunities and foster social equity, we must first of all achieve equality in education, the starting point of life. We will promote balanced development of compulsory education. We will make senior secondary education largely universally available by 2020. We will vigorously develop vocational education and attach importance to higher education. We will implement a development strategy that promotes job creation and encourage entrepreneurship to create more employment opportunities.

We will deepen reform of the income distribution system and increase the income of urban and rural residents. A proper balance will be struck between efficiency and equity in both primary distribution and redistribution. We will increase the share of personal income in the distribution of national income and raise that of work remuneration in primary distribution. We will improve the distribution system to allow factors of production such as labor, capital, technology and managerial expertise to have a rightful share according to their respective contribution. We will intensify efforts to regulate income distribution and gradually reverse the growing income disparity.

We will accelerate the establishment of a social security system covering both urban and rural residents and guarantee their basic living conditions. We will establish a basic medical and health care system and improve the health of the whole nation. We will improve social management, safeguard social stability and unity and concentrate on building a harmonious socialist society.

The 17th CPC National Congress once again demonstrated to the world China's determination to pursue peaceful development. Peaceful development is a major historical decision made by the CPC and the Chinese Government at this new stage in the new century and their solemn commitment to the world. The decision to follow the path of peaceful development is based on China's national conditions, cultural traditions and the trend of the world.

Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism have dominated China's intellectual history in the past several thousand years. Buddhism celebrates beneficence and universal salvation. Taoism underlines the unity between heaven and man and the natural way. Confucianism values the golden mean, peace, world harmony and harmony in diversity. The Chinese nation has long been imbued with these important concepts.

The essence of China's peaceful development is to secure a peaceful international environment for its development and at the same time promote and safeguard world peace through its development. China seeks development mainly by relying on itself and promotes development by expanding domestic demand and meeting the growing material and cultural needs of the people. It aims to achieve win-win results and common development with other countries. It stands for enhancing international cooperation, liberalizing and facilitating world trade and investment, eradicating various trade barriers and establishing a just, equitable, transparent, open and non-discriminatory multilateral trading regime based on mutual benefit, mutual trust and reciprocity. It is committed to promoting balanced and orderly development of the world economy and narrowing the gap in development with effective steps.

We maintain that the people of all countries should join hands and strive to build a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity. Politically, all countries should respect each other and conduct consultations on an equal footing in a common endeavor to promote democracy in international relations. Economically, they should cooperate with each other, draw on each other's strengths and work together to advance economic globalization in the direction of balanced development, shared benefits and win-win progress. Culturally, they should learn from each other in the spirit of seeking common ground while shelving differences, respect the diversity of the world and make joint efforts to advance human civilization. In the area of security, they should trust each other, strengthen cooperation, settle international disputes by peaceful means rather than by war and work together to safeguard peace and stability in the world. On environmental issues, they should assist and cooperate with each other in conservation efforts to take good care of the Earth, the only home of human beings.

Chinese and Indian economies are highly complementary. The two countries have great potential for developing bilateral trade and investment relations. The trade target previously set by the two countries' leaders for 2010-$40 billion-will be reached this year. Not long ago, Chinese President Hu Jintao and visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed on a new goal of raising bilateral trade volume to $60 billion by 2010. We believe the new target will be fulfilled. India's competitive software services and agricultural and mineral products are major potential exports to China. China's electronic and IT products, textiles, power generation units and infrastructure construction capacity are badly needed in the Indian market. Also, there are many prospective projects for the two countries to cooperate in the fields of science and technology, education and jointly investing in a third country. We should make concerted efforts to expand bilateral cooperation and achieve mutually beneficial and win-win results.

Representing nearly 40 percent of humanity, China and India have made important contributions to human civilization. The 21st century will be a century of rejuvenation of the two great ancient nations. Let us join hands to create a bright future for the modernization of China and India through cooperation!