In the past year, China has encountered many difficulties and challenges in its development. However, under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) headed by General Secretary Xi Jinping, and with confidence and courage, all the people of China have worked to overcome obstacles and have pressed ahead with a pioneering spirit. As a result, progress has been achieved and stability ensured in economic and social development, the main tasks and targets for the year have been fulfilled, and major achievements have been made in reform, opening up, and socialist modernization.

 

 

GDP reached 67.7 trillion yuan, representing an increase of 6.9% over the previous year-a growth rate faster than that of most other major economies. Food crop production increased for the 12th year in a row. Consumer prices grew slowly. Of particular note, the employment situation overall remained stable, with 13.12 million new urban jobs created over the course of the year, surpassing the year's target and becoming an economic highlight.

 

 

The service sector as a proportion of GDP rose to 50.5%, accounting for more than half for the first time. The contribution of consumption toward economic growth reached 66.4%. High-tech industries and equipment manufacturing grew faster than other industries. Energy consumption per unit of GDP fell by 5.6%.

 

 

Further progress was made in implementing the strategy of innovation-driven development,the penetration of the Internet into all industries picked up pace, and emerging industries grew rapidly. Business startups and innovations by the general public flourished, with the number of newly registered businesses rising by 21.6% in 2015, or an average of 12,000 new businesses per day. New driving forces played a major role in keeping employment stable and pushing ahead industry upgrading, and are now driving profound economic and social change in China.

 

 

Personal per capita disposable income increased by 7.4% in real terms, overtaking the growth rate of the economy. By the end of last year, personal savings deposits had risen by 8.5%, an increase of more than four trillion yuan. In rural areas, another 64.34 million people gained access to safe drinking water and greater alleviation efforts reduced the number of people living in poverty by 14.42 million.

 

A number of world-class innovations were made in science and technology.Major headway was made in the development of 3G nuclear power technology, China's self-developed C919 large jetliner rolled off the assembly line, and Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

 

I will now move on to discuss the main work we did last year:

 

 

In responding to the mounting downward pressure on the economy, we exercised targeted and well-timed regulation on the basis of range-based regulation. We adopted proactive fiscal policy that focused on increasing intensity and efficacy by expanding the scope of structural tax reductions, reducing fees across the board, and putting dormant budgetary funds to good use. Local government bonds issued to replace outstanding debt reached 3.2 trillion yuan, lessening the interest payment burden of local governments by approximately 200 billion yuan while also reducing their debt repayment pressure. We pursued prudent monetary policy with an appropriate amount of intensity, making several cuts to interest rates and required reserve ratios, reforming management of the loan-to-deposit ratio, creating new monetary policy tools, and increasing support for the real economy. Effective investment increased, special-purpose funds were established, and development was strengthened in areas in need of attention, including water conservancy, rundown urban areas and dilapidated rural housing, and railways and highways in the central and western regions. Consumer spending was promoted in key areas, spurring rapid growth in spending on recreational travel, online shopping, and information goods and services. In 2015, we also responded proactively to a variety of risks and challenges in the financial sector, such as unusual fluctuations in the stock market and the foreign exchange market, ensuring that no systemic or regional threats arose, thus safeguarding China's economic and financial security.

 

 

Rather than adopting strong stimulus policies that would have an economy-wide impact, we continued to move forward with structural reform. We intensified reform to streamline administration, delegate more powers, improve regulation, and provide better services. We delegated the power or cancelled the requirement for government review for 311 items, cancelled the requirement for verification or approval for 123 professional qualifications, and put a complete stop to the practice of non-administrative review. The number of items which require government approval for new businesses prior to registration was cut by 85%, and the system of a separate business license, organization code certificate, and taxation registration certificate was replaced by a unified business license with a unified social credit code. Both operational and post-operational oversight over businesses were strengthened, and public service procedures were improved. Government-related procedures for individuals and businesses were made much simpler, such that enthusiasm for stepping out into business and making innovations is rising by the day.

 

Fiscal, tax, financial, and other key reforms were deepened. The central government cut, by one third, the number of items for which special transfer payments are permitted, while scaling up its general transfer payments. Steady progress was made in replacing business tax with VAT. Ad valorem taxation was extended to cover more types of resource taxes. The upper limit of the floating band on deposit rates was removed, the deposit insurance system was introduced, and the RMB cross-border payment system was established. Pricing reform was intensified, with the number of central government set prices reduced by 80% and the number of local government set prices cut by more than 50%. We carried out state-owned enterprise (SOE) reforms, rural reforms, and investment and financing reforms, ecological management reforms, and others. Efforts to intensify reform in all respects are beginning to deliver results.

 

Momentum was created for reform and development through opening up. We worked hard to keep foreign trade stable by adjusting the mechanism for sharing the cost of export tax rebates between the central and local governments, overhauling and regulating charges for imports and exports, increasing trade facilitation, and making changes to the export mix. The number of restrictions on overseas investment in China was cut by 50%, and over 95% of overseas-funded projects may now be undertaken on a simple reporting basis. China utilized US$126.3 billion of overseas investment, an increase of 5.6%. Non-financial outward foreign direct investment reached $118 billion, up 14.7%. Pilot free trade zones were established in Guangdong, Tianjin, and Fujian based on the model of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. The RMB was included in the IMF's Special Drawing Rights basket. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was officially inaugurated, and the Silk Road Fund opened for business. China signed free trade agreements with the Republic of Korea and Australia, respectively,and signed the Protocol to Amend the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between China and ASEAN. Progress was made in the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative (the Belt and Road Initiative), the pace of our industrial-capacity cooperation with other countries was stepped up, and breakthroughs were made in China's export of high-speed railway and nuclear power equipment.

 

 

To strengthen the new growth engines, an innovation-driven development plan was adopted along with guidelines on its implementation, policies and measures were introduced to encourage public participation in starting businesses and making innovations, and the Internet Plus action plan was implemented. A great number of makers started businesses and made innovations. Improvements were made to policies in support of agriculture to promote transformation of the agricultural growth model. In addressing the decline in industrial growth and the downward slide incorporate performance, we worked to foster new industries and upgrade traditional ones. We launched the Made in China 2025 initiative to upgrade manufacturing, set up government funds to encourage investment in emerging industries and to develop small and medium-sized enterprises, and established more national innovation demonstration zones. We cut overcapacity and encouraged business acquisitions and restructuring. Cuts made in outdated production capacity over the past three years have included over 90 million metric tons of steel and iron, 230 million metric tons of cement, over 76 million weight cases of plate glass, and more than one million metric tons of electrolytic aluminum. The development of production- and consumer-oriented service industries picked up momentum. We took serious measures to conserve energy, reduce emissions, and protect the environment, exceeding obligatory targets. We released self-imposed emissions reduction targets and contributed to the positive outcomes of international negotiations on climate change.

 

 

Work continued to promote the coordinated development of the eastern region, the central region, the western region, and the northeast; priority was placed on moving forward with the Three Initiatives-the Belt and Road Initiative, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration initiative, and the Yangtze Economic Belt initiative. A number of major projects were also launched to develop infrastructure, improve the distribution of industries, and achieve ecological and environmental conservation. Policies and measures were introduced to promote the development of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Tibetan ethnic areas in the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Qinghai. We pressed ahead with the reform of the household registration system, adopted a residence certification system, and stepped up the development of urban infrastructure, making progress in developing new urbanization.

 

 

Despite fiscal constraints, we continued to intensify efforts to help ensure the wellbeing of our people. New policies were launched to create jobs and business startup opportunities for college graduates and those with difficulties finding employment. Over the course of the year, 7.72 million government-subsidized housing units were basically completed in urban areas, work started on the reconstruction of 6.01 million housing units in rundown urban areas, and 4.32 million dilapidated houses in rural areas were rebuilt, helping large numbers of families that are struggling with housing realize their dream of having a home to settle in. We moved more quickly to improve conditions in badly built and poorly operated schools providing compulsory education in poor areas, deepened the reform of the professional title system for elementary and secondary school teachers, and increased the number of students from poor rural areas who were enrolled in key institutions of higher learning by a further 10.5%. Comprehensive reform was carried out in all public hospitals at the county level, the coverage of the serious disease insurance scheme was extended to more rural and non-working urban residents, a system of assistance for treating major and serious diseases was put in place, and a system for providing living allowances for people with disabilities who are in need and for granting nursing care subsidies to persons with severe disabilities was established. We increased subsistence allowances, benefits for entitled groups, and basic pension benefits for enterprise retirees, implemented the reform of the pension system for employees of Party and government offices and public institutions, and improved their wage system. Efforts to develop basic public cultural services were also intensified. All of this has resulted in a stronger sense of benefit in society.

 

 

The State Council submitted 11 legislative proposals to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and enacted or revised eight sets of administrative regulations. Efforts were accelerated to increase government transparency and expand the application of e-government and online administration. We set up a mechanism to inspect and establish accountability for the implementation of major government policies and introduced third-party evaluations. We responded effectively to natural disasters and emergencies. Efforts were stepped up to ensure workplace safety; as a result, we have seen a continued reduction in the number of total accidents, including the number of accidents of a serious or large-scale nature as well as those in industries where accidents tend to be more common. We moved ahead with the demonstration initiative to ensure food safety. We strengthened all-round efforts to maintain law and order and cracked down on crimes in accordance with the law to safeguard public security.

 

The campaign to build understanding of the Three Stricts and Three Honests（To be strict with oneself in practicing self-cultivation, using power, and exercising self-discipline; and to be honest in one's thinking, one's work, and one's behavior）was intensified, the CPC Central Committee's eight-point decision on improving Party and government conduct continued to be implemented, action was taken against formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, and rigorous efforts were made to carry out the State Council's three-point decision on curbing government spending. Administrative supervision and oversight through auditing were strengthened. We stepped up efforts to improve Party conduct and government integrity and fight corruption, and brought a number of offenders to justice.

 

We marked the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the Global War against Fascism. This anniversary was a reminder of China's place in history as the main theater in the East during the Global War against Fascism and its major contribution to the war effort. The Chinese people marked this occasion to demonstrate their dedication to safeguarding peace and upholding justice together with other peoples.

 

Over the past year, China's all-round diplomacy has delivered fruitful outcomes. President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders have visited many countries and attended international events including the United Nations summits, the G20 Leaders Summit, the 23rd APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the East Asian leaders' meetings on cooperation, and the World Economic Forum annual meeting 2016. The Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the China-EU Leaders' Meeting were held, and the China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Forum was inaugurated. Fresh progress was made in China's relations with other major countries; pragmatic cooperation with neighboring countries was strengthened; friendship and cooperation with other developing countries grew; relations with the United Nations and other international organizations and mechanisms were strengthened in all areas; and notable achievements were made in economic diplomacy and cultural exchanges. As a responsible major country, China played an important constructive role in international and regional affairs.

 

 

On the basis of the CPC Central Committee Recommendations for the 13th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development, the State Council has drawn up the draft of the 13th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development and submitted it to this session for your review and approval.

 

The draft, centering on the goal of finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and designed to address serious issues such as unbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsustainable development, stresses the need to promote innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared development. It proposes the main targets and tasks for economic and social development over the next five years as well as development policies, initiatives, and projects. The following are the six areas highlighted in the draft.

 

 

To finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and double the 2010 GDP and per capita personal income by 2020, the economy needs to grow at an average annual rate of at least 6.5% during this five-year period. To that end, we will move faster to improve or upgrade the structure of industry and launch initiatives that use advanced technologies and can drive industrial development. Our goal is that by 2020, advanced manufacturing, modern services, and strategic emerging industries as a proportion of GDP will have risen significantly and that per capita labor productivity will have risen from 87,000 yuan to over 120,000 yuan. By that time, China's aggregate economic output should have exceeded 90 trillion yuan, and the quality and efficacy of development should have significantly improved. For a developing country like China with such a large population, this will be a truly remarkable achievement.

 

 

Innovation is the primary driving force for development and must occupy a central place in China's development strategy, which is why we must implement a strategy of innovation-driven development. We should launch new national science and technology programs, build first-class national science centers and technological innovation hubs, help develop internationally competitive high-innovation enterprises, and establish pilot reform zones for all-round innovation. We should make consistent efforts to encourage the public to start businesses and make innovations. We should promote the extensive application of big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. We need to move faster to transform China into a manufacturer of advanced and quality products and a country that is strong on intellectual property rights. We should strive to achieve major breakthroughs in basic research, applied research, and research in strategic and frontier fields by 2020. China's investment in research and development is expected to reach 2.5% of GDP, and the contribution of scientific and technological advances toward economic growth should come to reach 60%. Fulfilling these objectives will turn China into an innovative and talent-rich country.

 

 

Narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas and between regions is not only a key part of economic structural adjustment; it is also crucial for unleashing developmental potential. We should advance the new, people-centered urbanization. This will mean granting urban residency to around 100 million people with rural household registration living in urban areas and other permanent urban residents, completing the rebuilding of both rundown areas and "villages" in cities involving about 100 million people, and enabling around 100 million rural residents to live in local towns and cities in the central and western regions. By 2020, permanent urban residents should account for 60% of China's population, and 45% of the Chinese people should be registered as permanent urban residents.

 

We should launch initiatives to develop water conservancy in agriculture, farming machinery, and the modern seed industry, encourage appropriately scaled-up agricultural operations, and promote regional distribution, standardized production, and commercial agricultural services. By 2020, the supply, quality, and safety of food crops and other major agricultural products should be better ensured, notable headway should have been made in modernizing agriculture, and fresh progress should have been made in developing the new countryside.

 

Guided by the general strategy for regional development, we should pursue the Three Initiatives to form north-south and east-west intersecting economic belts along the coastline, the Yangtze River, and major transportation routes, and foster new growth poles and city clusters that facilitate the development of surrounding areas. We should also expand major infrastructure projects, with the aim of increasing the length of high-speed railways in service to 30,000 kilometers and linking more than 80% of big cities in China with high-speed railways, building or upgrading around 30,000 kilometers of expressways, and achieving full coverage of access to broadband networks in both urban and rural areas.

 

 

We need to protect the environment while pursuing development and achieve development in a well-protected environment, making sustained efforts to build a sound ecological system. We need to take serious action to prevent and control air, water, and soil pollution, set a red line that the country's total area of ecological spaces should not fall below, move forward with eco-friendly projects to protect and restore mountains, waters, forests, and farmlands, and intensify ecological conservation and restoration efforts. Over the next five years, we should aim to ensure that water consumption, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP are cut by 23%, 15%, and 18%, respectively, and that forest coverage reaches 23.04%. We should also make it our aim, within this timeframe, to develop and use energy and resources much more efficiently and make improvements to the quality of ecosystems and the environment. In particular, we should strive for major progress in the control and prevention of air pollution and see to it that the air quality of cities at and above the prefectural level is good or excellent for 80% of the year. We must work to build, through tireless efforts, a Beautiful China where the sky is blue, the land is green, and the water runs clear.

 

 

Fundamentally, development relies on reform and opening up. We must deepen reform across the board, uphold and improve the basic economic system, establish a modern system of property rights, and see that a rule of law government is basically in place. It should be ensured that the market plays the decisive role in resource allocation and the government better plays its role, and work should be accelerated to create the systems, mechanisms, and growth model that will guide the new normal in economic development.

 

We should work for significant progress in pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative and for breakthroughs in our cooperation with other countries on industrial capacity. We should promote the optimization of imports and exports, significantly increase the proportion of trade in services, and promote China's transformation from a trader of quantity to a trader of quality. We should put into force across the board the management system for pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list, and progressively build a network of high-standard free trade areas. With these efforts, we should be able to usher in a new phase in building an open economy based on new systems.

 

 

Guided by the vision of people-centered development, we need to continue to strengthen points of weakness in meeting basic needs for the people in order to achieve common prosperity. We need to fight hard to win the war against poverty and help lift out of poverty all rural residents falling below the current poverty line, and achieve poverty alleviation in all poor counties and areas.

 

We should put in place a national catalogue of basic public services. We should establish more equitable and sustainable social security systems. We need to ensure that all schools providing compulsory education comply with educational standards, that everyone has access to secondary education, that China has more world-class universities and first-class fields of discipline, and that the average number of years of schooling received by the working-age population increases from 10.23 to 10.8 years.

 

We need to create 50 million plus new urban jobs. We need to improve the income distribution system, reduce the income gap, and increase the proportion of the middle-income group in the whole populace. We should improve systems of government housing support, which should include the rebuilding of 20 million housing units in rundown urban areas.

We need to work for progress in building a Healthy China and achieve a one-year increase in average life expectancy. We need to respond proactively to population aging. We should build a modern system of public cultural services and put into effect cultural programs to boost civic morality and keep Chinese culture thriving. These efforts should enable people not only to enjoy a better life in material terms, but also to live a more enriching intellectual and cultural life.

 

 

This year, we will carry out the following eight tasks:

 

 

At present, we still have new instruments for macro regulation and a good reserve of policies at our disposal. On the one hand, we will focus on current realities and take targeted steps to withstand the downward pressure on the economy. On the other hand, we must have our long-term development goals in mind, keep some policy tools as options for later use, strategize our moves, and gather strength. We will continue to implement proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy, develop new approaches to macro regulation, strengthen range-based, targeted, and well-timed regulation, use fiscal and monetary policies and industry, investment, and pricing policy tools in a coordinated way, and implement structural reform, particularly supply-side structural reform, so as to create an enabling environment for economic development.

 

 

To solve acute problems in key areas, we must work faster to remove institutional obstacles and carry out supply-side structural reform to improve the quality and efficiency of the supply system, and further stimulate market vitality and the creativity of society.

 

 

We will work to achieve a moderate expansion of aggregate demand, adjust and reform the composition of demand, strive for better alignment between supply and demand and between investment and consumption, and work to achieve greater balance in the development of urban and rural areas and of different regions. This will create steady and long-term domestic demand to sustain economic development.

 

 

We will, with as much care and attention as ever, continue focusing on our work related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. We will strengthen policy support for these areas, deepen rural reform, expand the channels through which farmers can find employment and increase their income, and work to ensure that the quality, performance, and competitiveness of agriculture improve.

 

 

In the face of profound changes in international economic cooperation and competition, and in response to the urgent need to improve the performance of and upgrade China's economy, we must open wider to the outside world with unwavering resolve. By doing so, we can strengthen new drivers of development, add new forces to propel reform forward, and create new competitive strengths for China.

 

 

Pollution control and environmental protection are important to both the health of our people and sustainable development, so we must work hard moving forward and resolve to take a path that leads to both economic development and environmental improvement.

 

 

The best form of governance is that which puts people's wellbeing first. We must never lose sight of this and do more to improve the lives of our people and address their concerns. Growth in government revenue is slowing, but when it comes to getting things done for the welfare of the people, we mustn't drop a single thing.

 

 

We will pursue a more proactive employment policy and encourage business startups that create employment. This year, there will be up to 7.65 million college graduates. We will use multiple channels to increase employment and encourage entrepreneurship by implementing initiatives for promoting employment of college graduates and guiding them in starting up their own businesses. We will make good use of the surplus from unemployment insurance funds and increase funds for keeping job creation stable to provide skills training for laid-off enterprise employees and help them find new employment and offer basic needs assistance to those in urban areas who face difficulties in securing employment. Over 21 million training opportunities should be provided for migrant workers to improve their skills. We will strengthen assistance for flexible employment and new forms of employment. We will see that demobilized military personnel are settled into new jobs or have good access to employment and business startup services.

 

 

Education is where a country's future and its people's hopes and aspirations lie. We will allocate a greater share of funds for public education to the central and western regions and to remote and poor areas. We will unify the urban and rural mechanisms for funding compulsory education and improve conditions in boarding schools and schools which are badly built or poorly operated. We will support the development of kindergartens open to all children. We will see that special needs education is well provided. We will work faster to modernize the vocational education system and, type by type, begin waiving all tuition and miscellaneous fees at schools providing secondary vocational education. Students from families with financial difficulties will be the first to be exempted from tuition and miscellaneous fees at regular senior high schools. The salary and other benefits of teachers in rural areas will be increased. We will move faster to promote distance learning and expand the reach of quality educational resources. Institutions of higher learning should strengthen their teaching and their capacity for innovation. Regular undergraduate institutions will be encouraged to shift their focus toward providing applied education if they are in a position to do so. We will continue to help see the increased enrollment of students from poor rural areas into key colleges, and improve and implement policies enabling children who live with their migrant worker parents to go to secondary school or take college entrance exams in their city of residence. We will support the development of privately run educational institutions and work to ensure they meet all relevant standards.

 

Education should promote the moral, intellectual, physical, and artistic development of students, and particular attention should be given to fostering all kinds of high-caliber creative talent. Families, schools, governments, and our society as a whole must together shoulder the responsibility of ensuring our children, our hope for tomorrow, are safe, healthy, and can grow up with the opportunity to reach their full potential.

 

 

Health is at the root of happiness. This year, we aim to realize full coverage of the serious disease insurance scheme, and government funding for the scheme will be increased to reduce the financial burdens of more people suffering from serious diseases. The central government will allocate 16 billion yuan to be used in both rural and urban areas for medical assistance and subsidies, an increase of 9.6% over last year. We will merge the basic medical insurance systems for rural and non-working urban residents and raise government subsidies for the scheme from 380 to 420 yuan per capita per annum. We will reform the ways for making medical insurance payouts and expedite the building of a nationwide network for basic medical insurance so that medical expenses can be settled where they are incurred via basic medical insurance accounts.

 

We will see that more cities participate in piloting comprehensive public hospital reform; move forward in a coordinated way with medical service pricing reform and reform in medicine distribution; and deepen the reform of the evaluation and approval systems for medicines and medical equipment. We will move faster to train general practitioners and pediatricians. We will carry out trials for tiered medical services in around 70% of prefecture-level cities, increase basic annual per capita government subsidies for public health services from 40 to 45 yuan, and see that more medical resources are channeled toward the community level in urban areas and toward rural areas. We will encourage the development of privately run hospitals. We will promote the development of traditional Chinese medicine and the medical traditions of ethnic minorities. We will establish HR and remuneration systems suited to the medical sector to motivate medical practitioners and protect their enthusiasm. We will work to ensure harmony in the relationship between doctor and patient. We will improve the supporting policies to complement the decision to allow all couples to have two children.To see that the health of our people is protected, we will speed up the development of unified and authoritative safety monitoring systems for food and pharmaceuticals and reinforce every line of defense from the farm to the dining table, and from the enterprise to the hospital. This should ensure that people have access to safe food and medicine and can have confidence in what they are eating and taking.

 

 

We will continue to raise basic pension benefits for retirees. Local governments need to fulfill their duties to ensure that pension benefits are paid on time and in full. We will work out methods for putting a portion of state capital into social security funds. Initiatives will be launched to pilot comprehensive reform of the elderly care service industry, and progress should be made in developing a variety of forms of combined medical and care services for the elderly. We will implement the temporary assistance scheme and the system for providing basic assistance to persons living in extreme poverty, appropriately determining how much to grant and improving how it is granted. Per capita subsidies for subsistence allowances in rural and urban areas will be increased by 8% and 5%, respectively. We will speed up the development of social assistance systems so that people with urgent needs have access to assistance and support, helping society become a caring and warm one.

 

 

We will draw on the Chinese Dream and socialism with Chinese characteristics to build consensus and pool strength, nurture and practice the core socialist values, and make greater efforts to foster patriotism. We will carry out an initiative to encourage innovation in philosophy and the social sciences. We will promote the development of literature and art; the press and publishing; radio, television, and film; and archiving. New types of Chinese think tanks will be developed. China's cultural relics and intangible cultural heritage will be more effectively protected and put to better use. We will support popular activities which promote cultural and ethical progress. We will work to foster a love of reading in our people, popularize scientific knowledge, promote the spirit of science, improve the overall caliber of the population and raise the level of civility in society. We will promote the integrated development of traditional and new media. We will encourage the development of a healthy online culture. We will work to deepen cultural exchanges with other countries and strengthen our capacity for international communication. We will deepen structural reform of the cultural sector, see that more public cultural resources are made available in rural and urban communities, promote the creative development of the cultural sector, see that markets for cultural products and services flourish, and strengthen regulation of such markets. We will enable more households to enjoy digital broadcasting. We will make thorough preparations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. We will encourage new trends in popular fitness activities.

 

 

We will make sure foundational work and work at the community level is carried out to proper effect. We will promote urban and rural community development and encourage democratic consultation at the community level. We will support the participation of people's organizations, such as trade unions, Communist youth league organizations, and women's federations, in social governance. We will move faster to untie industry associations and chambers of commerce from any connections they still have with the government. Social organizations will be developed and regulated in accordance with the law, and support will be given to the development of specialized social work, volunteer services, and charity. We will step up the development of the social credit system. We will ensure the full protection of the rights and interests of women, children, and people with disabilities, and strengthen support and services provided to the children, women, and elderly who remain in rural areas while their family members work away in the cities. We will deepen the reform of the judicial system, work to raise public awareness of the rule of law, begin to implement the seventh five-year plan for increasing public knowledge of the law, and see that a good job is done in terms of legal aid provision and community corrections. We will improve the national system for cybersecurity. New ways will be developed to improve the mechanisms for maintaining law and order, an IT-based system for crime prevention and control will be developed, unlawful and criminal activities will be punished in accordance with the law, and violent terrorist activities will be dealt with severely. All these steps will ensure people's security. We will improve on work related to the handling of complaints made by letter or in person and refine the mechanisms for multimodal dispute mediation, so as to address disputes and ensure social peace and harmony.

 

Nothing is more valuable than life, and ensuring public safety is of paramount importance. We must continue our efforts to ensure workplace and public safety, improve safety infrastructure and build capacity to prevent and mitigate disasters, enhance monitoring, early-warning, and emergency response mechanisms, improve meteorological services, and deliver a good performance in seismology, surveying, mapping, and geology. We will improve and implement the system of accountability, management, and evaluation for workplace safety to ensure that both CPC committees and governments are held accountable and that officials take responsibility for workplace safety in performing their duties, and intensify efforts to see that those who fail to uphold safety standards are held accountable. We will tighten oversight and law enforcement to guard against and prevent the occurrence of major workplace accidents and protect the lives and property of our people.

 

 

The most formidable tasks demand the greatest sense of mission. Faced with the onerous and complex tasks of reform and development, we in governments at all levels should follow the new vision on development in our work, bear the weight of finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects on our shoulders, keep the people's wellbeing at the forefront of our minds, and build a law-based, innovative, clean, and service-oriented government that the people are satisfied with.

 

* LI Keqiang（李克强）, premier of the State Council, PRC. Premier LI delivered the report at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 12th NPC on March 5, 2016.