The just closed Central Economic Working Conference set forth general requirement and worked out an all-round plan for next year's economic work. In the opinions of Chinese and foreign economists, the conference reflects top-level Chinese leaders'clear understanding of the deep-rooted contradictions and problems accumulated over long years in economic operations, which constrain the whole situation. The measures set forth by the conference for changing the mode of economic growth, accelerating adjustment of the economic structure, propelling coordinated development and speeding up improvement of systems and mechanisms are very timely, profound and in place.

Associate researcher Lin Yueqin with the Economics Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said although China's average annual economic growth rate has exceeded 9 percent over the past 20 years and more, many deep-rooted problems and contradictions are concealed behind the high-speed growth, for instance, excessive dependence on investment.

He said that China's economic growth is boosted mainly by huge amounts of investment, for many years the investment rate has always lingered at a high place of around 40 percent, which is rarely seen in the world; the situation of a host of considerably serious unbalanced development exists between regions, between town and country, between industrial departments, between growth and environment, and between investment and consumption, bearing a variety of hidden troubles for future stability, coordination and sustainable development; the problems of slow technical progress, low returns on investment, high consumption of energy and serious environmental pollution are especially striking.

Li Yueqin warned that if the way of economic growth remains unchanged and continues to "grow at high speed" in line with the destructive mode, it will be hard for China's funds, technologies, resources, environment and other conditions to support the train of China's economy in speeding on. If the method of economic growth is not fundamentally changed, more and more regions and cities would fall one after another into the predicament of losing the sources of development after the drying up of resources as the case of northeast China's old industrial areas. Du Dawei, director of the China Bureau of World Bank, said the decision made at the conference is wise and conforms to China's present economic situation, what is especially important is the call for economizing on energy and resources and for efforts to develop a cyclic economy. At the same time, the conference stressed the need to solve the problem concerning farmers, rural areas and agriculture and the unbalanced development between regions, which seize the crux of the matter.

Dr. Tang Min, deputy head of the Representative Office of Asia Development Bank in China and chief economist, said that it was highly necessary and timely for the conference to emphasize efforts to develop a cyclic economy, and that China's economy has been developing at high speed for many years, but the current development mode is not sustainable. To establish a cyclic economy, it is necessary to rely on mechanistic innovation, but the existing development mode fails to encourage the economy of energy sources. This requires reform of the investment system, so that investment and economizing on energy become profitable.

He said that solving the question regarding farmers, rural areas and agriculture is a long-term, arduous task facing China, the core of this issue is a matter concerning farmers' income. How to increase farmers' income is a major topic placed before the Chinese government and the academic circles at present and in the future. If the government wants to tackle this issue simply by relying on expanding investment or by employing the traditional input method of building water conservancy projects, and increasing subsidies to the purchase of seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticide, it will not necessarily produce good result, moreover, it will be liable to create waste. "The key lies in seeking for a new point of increase in farmers' income."

He affirmed that there is not much room left for lightening farmers' burden through tax-for-fee reform, but much remains to be done in reducing farmers' expenditures, we can further reduce farmers' burden through increasing investment for rural compulsory education and for medical and health departments.

Chen Dongqi, deputy director of the Macro-Economic Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, holds that macro-control is not a short-term action, but is routine work that runs through the entire market economic operation. Currently, economic development is uneven, the development of service trade is slow and contains unhealthy factors in relevance to that of industry and manufacturing industry. Problems remain: such as the pressure of a price hike, international oil price rise, poor quality of investment and credit, unbalanced development between town and country, and the strained employment situation in rural areas, all these need to be solved through macro-control.

By People's Daily Online