Gov Reports

Report on the Work of the Government [Full Text]

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-19 10:39

5. Deepening economic reform and opening wider to the outside world.

It has been 30 years since China introduced the reform and opening up policy, which has brought about great historic changes to the country. However, China is still in the primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long time to come. To further promote unfettered development of the productive forces, promote greater social fairness and justice, and attain the magnificent goals of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and modernizing China, we must continue to unswervingly implement the reform and opening up policy. We will concentrate on the following areas this year.

We will advance the reform of SOEs and improve their ownership structure. We will continue to adjust state-owned assets and reorganize SOEs. We need to deepen the reform to convert SOEs into stockholding corporations. We will improve corporate governance, carry out policy-mandated closures and bankruptcies, separate SOEs' secondary businesses from their core businesses, and convert the former into independent companies. We will expand the experiment of setting up a budget system for managing state capital. We will deepen the reform of monopoly industries by introducing competition and strengthening government regulation and public oversight of them. We need to strictly standardize procedures for transforming SOEs into stock companies and for transferring ownership of state-owned assets to prevent their erosion. We will protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers. We will advance the reform of collectively owned enterprises and develop diverse forms of collective and cooperative economic operations. We will conscientiously implement the policies for encouraging, supporting and guiding the development of individual-proprietorship businesses and private companies in the nonpublic sector of the economy. In particular, we will help them solve problems related to market access and financial support.

We will deepen reform of the fiscal and taxation systems and accelerate improvement in the public finance system. We will reform the budget system and tighten budgetary management and oversight. We need to improve and standardize the system of transfer payments, raise the volume and proportion of general transfer payments and increase spending on public services. We will energetically push ahead with the reform of fiscal systems at and below the provincial level. The new Law on Corporate Income Tax will be comprehensively enforced. We will reform the system of resource taxes and fees, and improve the compensation systems for use of resources and for damage caused to the ecosystem. We will carry forward the trial VAT reform and formulate a plan to carry out the reform nationwide.

We will speed up reform of the financial system and strengthen financial oversight. We will continue deepening reform of the banking industry, focusing on the introduction of a shareholding system in the Agriculture Bank of China and the reform of the China Development Bank. A deposit insurance system will be set up. We will accelerate rural financial reform and strengthen the role of the Agriculture Bank of China, the Agricultural Development Bank of China and the China Postal Savings Bank in serving agriculture, rural areas and farmers. We will continue to deepen the reform of rural credit cooperatives and actively promote the development of new types of financial institutions in rural areas. We will improve the structure of the capital market, promote steady and sound development of the stock markets, strive to improve the performance of listed companies, and maintain an open, fair and equitable market environment. We will establish a market for growth enterprises, accelerate development of the bond market and steadily develop the futures market. We will deepen reform of the insurance industry, vigorously extend the scope of agricultural insurance, and successfully carry out trials of policy-supported agricultural insurance. We will take stern measures to combat violations of financial laws and regulations and guard against and defuse financial risks to maintain financial stability and security.

We will expand the breadth and depth of China's openness and make its economy more open. We will accelerate change in the pattern of foreign trade growth, improve the mix of exports, encourage the export of products with Chinese intellectual property rights and trademarks, and raise the quality, grade and added value of exports while maintaining steady export growth. We need to increase export of services and encourage foreign businesses to outsource services to China. We will energetically increase imports, with the focus on advanced technology and equipment, important raw materials, and key spare parts and components. We will improve the mix of industries using foreign investment and their geographic distribution, and steadily make service industries more open. We will limit or ban foreign investment in projects that are energy intensive or highly polluting, limit or ban foreign investment in some areas of resource exploitation, and correct illegal practices for attracting foreign investment. We will make innovations in the way we make investments and engage in cooperation overseas, and improve and implement policies and measures to support Chinese enterprises wishing to "go global." We will strengthen bilateral, multilateral and regional economic cooperation. We will continue to promote talks on free trade zones and honor the treaties we have signed. We are committed to an equitable international trade order.

In carrying out reform and opening up, we will accelerate the development of a modern market system, energetically develop modern logistics, intensify efforts to ensure orderly markets and promote the development of a credit system for individuals.