CHINESE PREMIER Wen Jiabao made his annual speech to almost 3,000 delegates at the official opening yesterday of the country’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, an event that gives an indication of the direction of the world’s most populous nation.
“Everything we do, we do to ensure that the people live a happier life with more dignity and to make our society fairer and more harmonious,” Mr Wen said in a speech that is effectively the equivalent of the US president’s State of the Union address.
Among the wide pallet of topics addressed at the annual talking shop, which has no teeth in terms of broader representation but can be relatively lively, Mr Wen said that China wants to sign a broad economic agreement with Taiwan that would slash import tariffs and open the banking sector. This would be part of a drive to promote peaceful ties with the self-ruled island that China sees as a renegade province.
The government was continuing with plans to strengthen economic growth while dampening social tensions, introducing a budget intended to narrow the rich-poor gap and bring growth to rebellious ethnic areas, he said. The development environment was better than in 2009, although China still faces “a complicated situation”.
Many policymakers in Europe are watching this NPC closely to see what kind of pointers Beijing will give about its currency policy. The EU accuses China of keeping its currency artificially low to boost exports. Mr Wen said the government would maintain a “basically stable” yuan exchange rate this year and keep the currency at an “appropriate and balanced” level.
He went on to say that China would target economic growth of 8 per cent this year, increase spending on social programmes and direct more development money at ethnic areas.
This is a particularly sensitive issue after riots in Xinjiang last year about autonomy and in Tibet the year before over similar issues.
“The Chinese nation’s life, strength and hopes lie in promoting solidarity and achieving common progress of our ethnic groups,” Mr Wen said.
“We need to take a clear-cut stand against attempts to split the nation, safeguard national unity, and get ethnic minorities and the people of all ethnic groups who live in ethnic minority areas to feel the warmth of the motherland as one large family,” he said.
Although in recent years China has set a goal of 8 per cent growth and usually exceeded it, the target shows it aims to avoid any slip after rebounding strongly last year from the world economic crisis.
Based on these economic growth forecasts, China will replace Japan sometime this year as the world’s second largest economy after the US.