Outgoing premier says second largest economy faces mounting social problems and should prioritise citizens' wellbeing
China's outgoing premier Wen Jiabao has warned that the world's second largest economy faced mounting social problems and "unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable" growth as he said farewell after a decade in power.
A new generation of leaders has already taken charge of the Communist party, the ultimate source of power in the world's second largest economy.
This year's session of the National People's Congress will formally appoint Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang as president and premier respectively, as well as filling government jobs lower down the ranks.
In his final work report to the annual session of the country's largely rubberstamp parliament, Wen said the overall growth target would remain at 7.5% – although the figure is largely symbolic and usually far outstripped by the real growth rate — with an inflation target of 3.5%.
The 2013 budget issued alongside his speech highlighted hefty increases for areas including health and the military, resulting in a 10% overall rise in government spending to 13.8tn yuan ($2.2tn), boosted by a 50% increase in the fiscal deficit to 1.2tn yuan.
The premier warned the almost 3,000 deputies gathered in Beijing for the opening session of the Congress that the global recovery remained uncertain.
"We should unswervingly take expanding domestic demand as our long-term strategy for economic development," he said, adding that people's ability and desire to consume needed to be boosted.
But the administration has long vowed to rebalance the economy and his repetition of earlier warnings about its problematic development underscored how much work remains.
Amid growing public dissatisfaction about the challenges the country faces after years of high-octane growth —–from pollution and inequality to staggering levels of corruption – Wen urged: "We must make ensuring and improving people's wellbeing the starting point and goal of all the government's work, give entire priority to it, and strive to strengthen social development."
Among the measures to tackle that were a 27% boost to health spending, taking the total to 260bn yuan, and a 13.9% increase for social security and employment, to 655bn yuan. His speech stressed green issues – the budget promises an 18.8% boost for energy conservation and environmental protection, to 210bn yuan – and also touched on the need to address corruption.
"People are thirsty, but it does not solve the problems. He did not respond enough to the issues people expect, especially anti-corruption," said Chen Ziming, an independent Beijing-based scholar.
Zhang Ming, a political scientist at Peking University, said the report was "not very satisfying", but that Wen was constrained by the system.
In an indication of government anxieties about unrest, Wen stressed the need to improve the system for assessing the risks that major policy decisions might pose to social stability.
The budget published on Tuesday also shows that China will spend more on domestic security than the military for a third year in a row, with an 8.7% funding increase to 769bn yuan.
"Even though the party has decided to limit the political clout of the security apparatus by excluding its leader from the politburo standing committee, the role of the police remains central in a political system based in part on suppression of dissent," said Nicholas Bequelin, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"The weight of the domestic security budget reflects the central role that the security apparatus plays in the eyes of the party as it braces for a predicted uptick in social protests in the coming years."
Military expenditure will see another double digit hike, but the 10.7% rise – to 740.6bn yuan – is below last year's increase, which was projected at 11.2% and ultimately came in at 18.5%.
Territorial disputes with neighbours, and China's investment in equipment such as an aircraft carrier, a "carrier-killer" anti-ship missile and new jet fighters and submarines have raised concerns about its might among other countries. But its spending and technology remains far behind that of the US.
"It's not good news for the world that a country as large as China is unable to protect itself," NPC spokeswoman Fu Ying said on Monday.
While there are complaints that China does not declare all defence-related spending, US academics Adam Liff and Andrew Erickson argue in a forthcoming paper: "Beijing's official defence budget increasingly captures actual PLA funding and the PLA's widely criticised opacity is improving gradually and is not exceptional among countries at its stage of development."
The work report is a consensus driven document that will have been developed in discussion with the new leaders.
Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a political scientist at Hong Kong Baptist University, said China seemed to be "staying on the same lines, with new targets but very much expanding current policies".
The congress will also approve a shakeup of ministries designed to curb excessive powers and increase efficiency.
"People say that's only rewiring the system, but if they could rewire it, that would be great. It's something we could legitimately hope for, but it's not everything," said David Kelly, research director for China Policy and visiting professor at Peking University.
"What's needed more than new ministries is coordination and some way through the silo mentality." Reported by guardian.co.uk 34 minutes ago.
China's outgoing premier Wen Jiabao has warned that the world's second largest economy faced mounting social problems and "unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable" growth as he said farewell after a decade in power.
A new generation of leaders has already taken charge of the Communist party, the ultimate source of power in the world's second largest economy.
This year's session of the National People's Congress will formally appoint Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang as president and premier respectively, as well as filling government jobs lower down the ranks.
In his final work report to the annual session of the country's largely rubberstamp parliament, Wen said the overall growth target would remain at 7.5% – although the figure is largely symbolic and usually far outstripped by the real growth rate — with an inflation target of 3.5%.
The 2013 budget issued alongside his speech highlighted hefty increases for areas including health and the military, resulting in a 10% overall rise in government spending to 13.8tn yuan ($2.2tn), boosted by a 50% increase in the fiscal deficit to 1.2tn yuan.
The premier warned the almost 3,000 deputies gathered in Beijing for the opening session of the Congress that the global recovery remained uncertain.
"We should unswervingly take expanding domestic demand as our long-term strategy for economic development," he said, adding that people's ability and desire to consume needed to be boosted.
But the administration has long vowed to rebalance the economy and his repetition of earlier warnings about its problematic development underscored how much work remains.
Amid growing public dissatisfaction about the challenges the country faces after years of high-octane growth —–from pollution and inequality to staggering levels of corruption – Wen urged: "We must make ensuring and improving people's wellbeing the starting point and goal of all the government's work, give entire priority to it, and strive to strengthen social development."
Among the measures to tackle that were a 27% boost to health spending, taking the total to 260bn yuan, and a 13.9% increase for social security and employment, to 655bn yuan. His speech stressed green issues – the budget promises an 18.8% boost for energy conservation and environmental protection, to 210bn yuan – and also touched on the need to address corruption.
"People are thirsty, but it does not solve the problems. He did not respond enough to the issues people expect, especially anti-corruption," said Chen Ziming, an independent Beijing-based scholar.
Zhang Ming, a political scientist at Peking University, said the report was "not very satisfying", but that Wen was constrained by the system.
In an indication of government anxieties about unrest, Wen stressed the need to improve the system for assessing the risks that major policy decisions might pose to social stability.
The budget published on Tuesday also shows that China will spend more on domestic security than the military for a third year in a row, with an 8.7% funding increase to 769bn yuan.
"Even though the party has decided to limit the political clout of the security apparatus by excluding its leader from the politburo standing committee, the role of the police remains central in a political system based in part on suppression of dissent," said Nicholas Bequelin, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"The weight of the domestic security budget reflects the central role that the security apparatus plays in the eyes of the party as it braces for a predicted uptick in social protests in the coming years."
Military expenditure will see another double digit hike, but the 10.7% rise – to 740.6bn yuan – is below last year's increase, which was projected at 11.2% and ultimately came in at 18.5%.
Territorial disputes with neighbours, and China's investment in equipment such as an aircraft carrier, a "carrier-killer" anti-ship missile and new jet fighters and submarines have raised concerns about its might among other countries. But its spending and technology remains far behind that of the US.
"It's not good news for the world that a country as large as China is unable to protect itself," NPC spokeswoman Fu Ying said on Monday.
While there are complaints that China does not declare all defence-related spending, US academics Adam Liff and Andrew Erickson argue in a forthcoming paper: "Beijing's official defence budget increasingly captures actual PLA funding and the PLA's widely criticised opacity is improving gradually and is not exceptional among countries at its stage of development."
The work report is a consensus driven document that will have been developed in discussion with the new leaders.
Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a political scientist at Hong Kong Baptist University, said China seemed to be "staying on the same lines, with new targets but very much expanding current policies".
The congress will also approve a shakeup of ministries designed to curb excessive powers and increase efficiency.
"People say that's only rewiring the system, but if they could rewire it, that would be great. It's something we could legitimately hope for, but it's not everything," said David Kelly, research director for China Policy and visiting professor at Peking University.
"What's needed more than new ministries is coordination and some way through the silo mentality." Reported by guardian.co.uk 34 minutes ago.