Premier on Guiding Principles for New 5-Year Plan (03/05/2001)

Making development the central theme; concentrating on economic restructuring; making reform and opening up and technological progress the driving force for economic growth; making improvement of the people's living standards the prime goal; and coordinating economic development with social development.

These are five guiding principles for the Tenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2001-2005) listed by Premier Zhu Rongji Monday in his report on the outline of the new five-year plan at the opening of the Fourth Session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC).

The premier briefed NPC deputies on the rationale of the five guiding principles for the new five-year plan.

Referring to the principle of "making development the central theme", the premier stressed a balance between a high growth rate and good economic returns and the need to attain fairly rapid growth by improving economic returns.

Sound economic growth must be based on strong market demand and good economic returns. This is a fundamental principle, he said. Based on an overall analysis of conditions in all sectors of the economy, "we have set the target for the average annual economic growth rate in the Tenth Five-Year Plan period at around seven percent," he said.

Though slightly lower than the actual growth rate of the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, which is 8.3 percent, it is still fairly high, according to the premier.

Arduous efforts have to be made to attain this target through better economic performance, he stressed.

On the principle of "concentrating on economic restructuring", he said that China has already reached a point where it cannot further develop its economy without making structural adjustments.

Under the old economic structure and its crude manner of growth, products would not be marketable, and it would be impossible to sustain resources availability and preserve the environment, he noted. "We must adjust the economic structure in the process of developing the economy and maintain a relatively rapid growth in structural adjustments," he said.

In the next five years, efforts should be intensified to adjust the industrial structure, regional economic structures and economic structures in urban and rural areas, with emphasis on the industrial structure, according to the premier.

On the principle of "making reform and opening up and technological progress the driving force" for economic growth, Zhu said that the success of both economic development and structural adjustment depends on institutional, scientific and technological innovation.

In the next five years, "we must unswervingly pursue reform, open China wider to the outside world, and break down institutional obstacles to the development of productive forces," he said. This will provide a strong impetus for economic and social development, he added.

"We should give priority to the development of science, technology and education and further implement the strategy of developing China through science and education," the premier stressed.

Explaining the principle of "making improvement of the people's living standards the prime goal," he said that raising the people's living standards in both urban and rural areas is the basic goal of economic development and a crucial factor for expanding domestic demand and stimulating sustained economic growth.

"We must give priority to raising the people's living standards. To accomplish this we must create more jobs, increase personal income, distribute income more equitably, improve the social security system, and ensure a more comfortable life for the people, " he said.

On the principle of "coordinating economic development with social development," the premier called for great efforts to promote socialist cultural and ethical progress, democracy and the legal system; balance reform, development and stability; accelerate development of various social undertakings; and ensure social stability.