Chinese scholars interpret Government Work Report
On March 5th, 2013, the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC) opens at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, China.
On March 5th at 9 a.m., Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivered the Government Work Report (hereafter referred to as Report) at the opening meeting of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC). The Report reviewed the progress achieved in the past five years and set targets for 2013. Lü Zhongmei, president of Hubei University of Economics, said the current government has given Chinese people a satisfying resolution in terms of economic development, welfare, education and technology.
Liu Jiaqiang, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Sichuan Province, was most impressed by the shortened content and simplified procedures. Similarly, Wu Hong, vice president of South China Agricultural University, and a first time electee as deputy to the NPC, also said, the report is more concreted. Without lengthy introductions giving the background for topics addressed within, the key points of the Report are more clearly articulated. In addition, the Report includes explicit interpretation of major anticipated targets and macroeconomic policy by providing an explanation of the grounds on which targets and policy were based. In so doing, the report better enables the public to understand the key points, targets and policy, as well as implement them, Wu elaborated.
On his way to the venue, Zhang Xiaoshan, former director of the Rural Development Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), explained that one of the highlights of the Report is its emphasis of the “three rural issues” as a top priority. It stresses that land policy is a central concern for the fundamental stability of rural areas, as well as China’s long term development. “This grasps the core of rural issues,” Zhang said.
The Report objectively iterates the problems of government work, said Liu Jiaqiang. He praised the Report’s rational approach, indicating that it deliberates over the problems and dilemmas of the development process. Some of them are accumulated of a long period of time, Liu added; some of them are newly incurred and some are the result of government inefficiency.
The issues raised in the Report also provide new topics and agendas for scholarship. Lü Zhongmei said that issues such as imbalanced development, unsustainable development, the pressure of economic downsizing, potential risks in finance and the transformation of governmental functions will all become important areas of research in the social sciences.
This year, 2,969 NPC deputies attended the NPC session. For the first time, the election of NPC deputies first time adopted a new regulation in distribution requirements, whereby urban and rural areas were equally represented by percentage. This new rule is designed to facilitate the realization and safeguarding of equal rights by protecting rural citizens’ legitimate rights and equitability. It is the product of significant hard work over the past few years--as early as 2008, many deputies drafted and submitted a proposal about revising the NPC election laws. Compared to the 11th NPC, Of the 2,969 deputies elected, 401 rural citizens and workers were elected to the 12th NPC, accounting for of 13.42% of the total and marking a 5.15% increase from the 11th NPC. The number of party and official deputies decreased 6.93%.
The Chinese version is appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 423, March 6, 2013.
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(Translated by Feng Daimei)
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