The year 2014 is crucial for China to implement the projects of its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15). It is also the year the country will push forward its comprehensive and deepened reforms. As a result, higher-than-average expectations have been pinned on this year's "two sessions"—annual plenary sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Reform, anti-corruption, stabilizing the economy and cracking down on pollution are all topics of public concern.
The past year was the first year in power for the current Central Government. It seems that the new government has won large amounts of praise from the public. The furthering of the reform throughout 2014 will touch on deeply rooted conflicts and is likely to encounter more obstacles. We believe the new leadership will show their courage and wisdom to cope with these problems. Of the 60 items for reform in 15 areas, which were put forward last year, at least 23 items have seen relevant measures or detailed agendas on how to conduct reforms. Many of the measures have also dealt with vested interests, such as the policy to streamline administration and delegate power to lower levels. In 2014, progress is expected to be made in more areas, such as the reform on income distribution and state-owned enterprises. The work on comprehensively deepening China's reform is moving forward on schedule.
The stability of the country's economic growth is expected to remain unchanged, which has boosted the confidence of decision makers. However, in order to accelerate the transition and upgrading of the country's economic structure, China has slowed down its economic growth slightly. In spite of this, its economic growth rate is still quite high among the five top economies in the world. China is now at a point where it has many strategic opportunities and there is plenty of room for further development in its new type of industrialization and urbanization. These have laid a solid foundation for the country's medium- and high-speed economic development for a certain period of time. The key to China's economic development lies in the building of a new type of economic system and the promotion of opening up. Against the backdrop of global economic recovery, the Chinese economy is closely linked to the global economy and thus a mutually beneficial development mode will play a positive role in maintaining China's steady economic growth.
Of course, China is still faced with complex situations this year, and various problems may arise. This year's "two sessions" is surely an important event in China's implementation of its decisions on comprehensively deepened reforms. We hope that the upcoming "two sessions" will be a great success! |