Premier Li Keqiang urged upgrading the economy, promoting high-quality development and improving people’s lives at a State Council plenary meeting he chaired on May 25.
The Premier said China’s development faces both precious opportunities and challenges hard to foresee, as the international political and economic landscape is being reshaped.
He said the reforms of streamlining administration, delegating power and improving service should be continued to stimulate the market, in addition to easing market access and cutting taxes and administrative fees. The market should play a decisive role in resource allocation while the government should play a better role, he said.
Efforts should be made to strengthen market supervision to create an environment for fair competition, while cutting repetitive supervision and red tape and reducing the discretionary powers of the government, he noted.
A unified online administrative service platform should be built to facilitate people’s lives and businesses. Opening-up should be expanded, so that domestic and foreign companies can compete fairly in China’s vast market, he added.
The Premier stressed the need to transform economic structure, nurture new growth drivers and upgrade traditional drivers to promote industries to the middle- and high-end.
He urged more efforts in basic research and key technologies, encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, and promoting new technologies and new industries through inclusive and prudent supervision.
It is important to eliminate backward capacity and develop environmentally friendly industries in order to achieve a win-win situation between ecological protection and economic development, he said.
Premier Li asked related departments to stick to people-oriented development concepts, with priorities on securing people’s basic livelihoods. Guarantee mechanisms should be constantly improved in poverty alleviation, employment, compulsory education, basic healthcare, basic pension insurance and basic living allowances, among which more efforts should be put on targeted anti-poverty measures, distribution of pensions in full amounts and on time, as well as increasing reimbursement ratios and coverage for major illness insurance. In addition, more nonbasic public services will be provided to meet the diversified demands of society.
He also stressed risk prevention and emergency management in finance, urban governance, safe production, pollution control, natural disasters and major challenges from international society, so as to secure steady economic and social development.
