Newspapers and wire services in Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Britain have published reports on China's Central Economic Work Conference which ended Thursday, speaking positively of China's economic strategy and policy for the coming year.

Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported on Friday that the meeting has set eight main tasks for 2006, including keeping a stable growth of the economy and stepping up the building of an energy efficient, environment friendly society.

The Japan Economic News said the meeting concentrated on middle-term development and was aimed at resolving the structural problems. It said the tasks set at the meeting focused on coordinating relations between consumption and investment, especially consumption by the rural population.

The newspaper said in another article that the eight tasks put forward at the conference, with the content of strengthening environmental protection and work safety, showed the Chinese government's determination to solve the problems caused by the rapid economic growth.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said the economic work meeting attached importance to the interests of the general public, saying the government is resolved to boost rural development and address the problems people most care about.

In Thailand, the Universal Daily News said that from the eight tasks set at the meeting, it is foreseeable that China will continue to pay high attention to macro-regulation of the economy and implement prudent fiscal and monetary policies.

Britain's Financial Times carried an article on Nov. 29, saying China's economic growth will be maintained at around 7 percent to 8 percent through to the year 2010.

The new emphasis for China's new five-year program for 2006-2010, The Financial Times said, is to readjust the economy, to reduce investments that need huge energy consumption, and to address the trade imbalance.

The three-day Central Economic Work Conference, an annual event, set major economic strategy and policy for 2006, the first year of China's 11th Five-Year Program.

Source: Xinhua