CHINA unveiled Saturday the draft outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan for the national economy and social development of the country, which sets the target of average annual economic growth above 6.5 percent from 2016 to 2020.

    China’s GDP is expected to exceed 92.7 trillion yuan (US$14.2 trillion) in 2020, compared with 67.7 trillion yuan in 2015, Premier Li Keqiang said at the opening of the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, while delivering a government work report.

    The country will implement an innovation-driven development strategy and promote science and technology innovation, mass innovation and entrepreneurship, with supporting reforms and policies, the premier said.

    China will stick to and improve the basic economic system, push forward reform of State-owned enterprises and support the private sector.

    Out-of-date rules targeting the private sector will be abolished and firms will be encouraged to enter more fields, according to the premier.

    The country will also ease entry access to services, such as childcare and construction. Overseas institutions will be encouraged to invest more in advanced manufacturing, high-tech industries and environmental protection, Li said.

    The government work report also outlined tasks and targets covering a variety of fields including agricultural modernization, manufacturing upgrades, pollution control, poverty reduction, energy conservation and opening up.

    China set the GDP growth target at between 6.5 and 7 percent this year, taking into consideration the need to advance structural reform and create jobs, according to the work report. The economy grew 6.9 percent in 2015, the slowest in a quarter of a century.

    “A comprehensive analysis of all factors shows that China will face more and tougher problems and challenges in its development this year, so we must be fully prepared to fight a difficult battle,” Li said while delivering the government work report to national legislators.

    “China has laid a solid material foundation, and its economy is hugely resilient and has enormous potential and ample room for growth,” he said.

    Among the major targets for the next five years, urban residents will make up 60 percent of the population from 56.1 percent in 2015.

    The added value of the service sector will account for 56 percent of GDP in 2020 from 50.5 percent in 2015, when the country for the first time exceeded the threshold of services accounting for more than half of GDP.

    To boost innovation, research and development spending will occupy a 2.5-percent share of GDP in 2020, closer to developed economies which are incubating most innovation.

    By 2020, the number of invention patents for every 10,000 Chinese people will double to reach 12, while the contribution of science and technology to economic growth will increase to 60 percent from 55 percent.

    Pro-growth measures

    According to the government work report delivered by Li, China will invest 1.65 trillion yuan in road construction and 800 billion yuan in new railways.

    Other investment for the year includes 20 water conservation projects and projects ranging from hydropower and nuclear power to urban rail transit and urban underground pipelines.

    Though such concentrated investment might give the impression China is returning to the old strategy of investment-led growth, the premier gave his reassurance that they are effective investments.

    China is working to transition to self-sustaining growth, a departure from wasteful investment fed by unbridled credit expansion. A more efficient network of roads and better use of clean energy fits the goal.

    Investment will also go toward sophisticated projects, such as deep space exploration and robot development.

    Anti-pollution effort

    China will intensify its efforts to reduce pollution, the premier said, citing as an example ambitious targets in fighting smog that will increase the number of days with good air quality.

    “Pollution control and environmental protection are important to people’s health and the sustainable development of the nation. Some must work hard to move forward,” he said.

    Lower emissions of major water and air pollutants have been targeted, cutting them by 2 to 3 percent this year. This will help reduce the concentration in the air of PM2.5, particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter that is hazardous to health.

    New urban jobs

    China aims to create at least 10 million new urban jobs and keep the registered urban unemployment rate within 4.5 percent this year, according to the government work report delivered by Li.

    Although the targets are unchanged from those for last year, meeting them this year is unlikely to be easy. Weighed down by a property market downturn, industrial overcapacity and subdued global demand, the Chinese economy grew 6.9 percent last year, the lowest annual expansion in a quarter of a century. The growth target for this year is between 6.5 and 7 percent.

    China is going through a painful economic transformation, switching from an investment-led model to one that relies on domestic consumption, services and innovation. To achieve this goal, the country is actively slimming down its bloated State-owned enterprises, especially in the coal and steel sectors.

    To cushion the effect of job losses on families and society, the Central Government will allocate 100 billion yuan in two years to help laid-off workers find new jobs

    12th Five-Year Plan fulfilled

    The premier said that the country had successfully fulfilled all the main tasks and targets set out in the economic and social development roadmap for 2011-2015, setting an optimistic tone for the implementation of the next Five-Year Plan.

    The country, he said, had seen impressive achievements in its development in the 12th Five-Year Plan period, defying a “complicated international environment” and “challenging tasks of carrying out reform and development and maintaining stability at home.”

    In particular, the country sustained high economic growth in the five years and progressed in structural adjustments.

    China’s GDP grew at an average annual rate of 7.8 percent between 2011 and 2015. This enviable rate made China the world’s second-largest economy, and the largest trading nation in terms of goods as well as a major outbound investor, Li said.

    Meanwhile, services grew to be the largest economic sector in the country, while consumption became a major driver of growth, the premier noted. Energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped by 18.2 percent, and the emissions of major pollutants were cut by over 12 percent.

    Li then pointed to across-the-board infrastructure improvements and major scientific and technological innovations. Achievements were made in popular undertakings such as manned space flight, the lunar exploration program, and deep-water exploration, as well as lesser known research into quantum communication, neutrino oscillation, and iron-based high-temperature superconductivity.

    He went on to commend improved living standards and notable social developments, which saw the urban-rural income gap narrow and basic health insurance expanded to achieve complete coverage.

    More than 100 million rural residents were lifted out of poverty, and over 300 million rural residents gained access to safe drinking water, Li said.

    “China’s soft power continued to grow. The rule of law was advanced in all respects. Significant achievements were made in the military revolution with Chinese characteristics,” the premier said.

    Li said China’s success “demonstrate the strength of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the creativity of the Chinese people.”

    The people can derive great confidence and a strengthened sense of unity from these achievements, drawing on them to forge ahead on this new leg of the journey toward realizing the Two Centenary Goals, he said.

    (Xinhua)