| |
From 1996 to 2000, China's national economy has been in a macro-domestic
and international environment seldom seen in all previous Five-Year
Plan periods. In the face of the complicated environment, the Central
Committee of Communist Party of China (CCCPC) and the State Council
have made a timely readjustment of the policy and, relying on the
joint efforts of the people of the whole country, have overcome
various difficulties and maintained a sustained, rapid and healthy
development of the national economy and have thus comprehensively
fulfilled the second-step strategic plan for the modernization drive
and brought about a marked enhancement in China's comprehensive
national strength.
Following the achievement of the goal of quadrupling the 1980 GNP
ahead of time in 1995 and through efforts in the first two years
of the ninth Five-Year Plan, China fulfilled the task of quadrupling
the 1980 per-capita GNP in 1997 three years ahead of schedule, a
task set down in the ninth Five-Year Plan. The national economy
is expected to grow by 8 percent in the ninth Five-Year period.
Meanwhile, the country has brought about notable improvement in
the quality and benefits of the economic growth and effectively
boosted the shift in the mode of economic growth.
During the ninth Five-Year Plan period, China ended its shortage
era as evidenced by the fact that the level of social productive
forces has advanced to a new stage, the buyer's market for material
products has taken initial shape and the supple-demand relationship
has undergone historic changes. The position of agriculture as the
foundation of the national economy is being constantly strengthened.
The comprehensive production capacity of grains is stabilized at
about 500 billion kg. On the basis of paying more attention to quality
and efficiency in industrial production, products which are in great
demand and of great competitiveness continue to grow. Post and telecommunication
services have developed rapidly. The tertiary industry has become
an important channel for employment.
By the end of the ninth Five-Year Period, China's per-capita GDP
will have exceeded US$ 800. The annual increase of per-capita income
for urban residents and net income per farmer will have exceeded
the planned targets of 5 percent and 4 percent respectively. The
per-capita housing space for urban residents will surpass the planned
nine square meters. The TV penetration rate of the country will
exceed 100 percent. People's living standards will witness marked
improvement. The system guaranteeing the basic living standards
of laid-off workers from SOEs, unemployment insurance, and the minimum
living standards of urban residents, as well as the social insurance
system, which mainly includes basic endowment insurance, unemployment
insurance and medical insurance of urban residents, will be initially
established. The impoverished rural population will have decreased
from 65 million in 1995 to 34 million.
In the ninth Five-Year Plan period, the reform of China's economic
system has been further deepened, the socialist market economic
structure has been set up by and large. SOE reform has been intensified.
Positive progress has been made in the readjustment and perfection
of the ownership system and major progress has been achieved in
the reforms of state-owned enterprises, the housing system, and
government institutions. Continued headway has been registered in
the reform of finance, banking, sci-tech and education. At the same
time, the general pattern of China's opening to the outside world
has been further improved, the scale of foreign trade has been unceasingly
enlarged, the composition of export commodities has been further
optimized and the scale and quality of the use of foreign capital
has been enlarged and improved.
(People's Daily 09/21/2000)
|
