Reform and opening-up brought a fundamental change to the closed, backward and ossified situation that existed in China for years. They freed people's minds, broke the institutional barriers to development, unleashed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity of hundreds of millions of Chinese people, injected great vigor and vitality into the nation, and greatly stimulated economic and social development. As a result,China has achieved 30 years of continued fast economic growth. Back in 1978, China's GDP accounted for only 1% of the world's total. By 2007, it was over 5%. China's share in global trade jumped from less than 1% to roughly 8% during this period. Reform and opening-up have delivered real benefits to the people, whose livelihood has undergone great changes – from lack of adequate food and clothing to moderate prosperity. What is more important is that reform and opening-up have invigorated the whole society and enabled people to freely pursue a happy life through hard work, frugality and wisdom.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
China's changes over the past three decades would not have been possible without reform and opening-up. To meet the goals of the modernization drive and build China into a prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious country, we must remain committed to reform and opening-up. China is still in the primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long time to come, and there are many economic and social issues that call for our attention. For example, there is a lack of balance and coordination in the development between urban and rural areas, among different regions and between the economic and social sectors. The pattern of economic growth remains extensive. There are heavy population, resources and environmental pressures, as well as many challenges in employment, social security, income distribution, education and health. Corruption is also a serious problem. The fundamental solution to these problems lies in deepened reform. Only by continuing reform and opening-up and unswervingly following the path of socialism with distinctive Chinese features can China have a bright future. Reform and opening-up must be carried on through the entire process of China's modernization drive.
-- We will continue to deepen economic reform. We will further improve the basic economic system and market system, deepen reform of the fiscal, taxation and banking systems and improve the macro-economic regulation system. At the current stage, it is particularly important to accelerate reform of the price-setting mechanism of resource products, bring into full play the basic role of the market in resources allocation, further deepen reform to institute the shareholding system in SOEs and improve the modern corporate system. We will build better public finance and transfer payments systems, push forward reform of value-added tax, set up and improve the compensation systems for use of resources and for damage caused to the ecosystem, and carry forward reform of the resource taxes system. We will also work hard to develop financial markets of various types, promote stable and sound development of the capital market, improve the RMB exchange rate regime and gradually make the RMB convertible under capital accounts. By deepening reform, we aim to build a whole set of systems that can better meet the needs of modern economic development.
-- We will continue to promote political restructuring and reform in other aspects. People's democracy is the lifeblood of socialism. Without democracy, there can be no socialism. We will not only improve people's lives by developing economy, but also protect their democratic rights by improving democracy and the legal system and achieve social equity and justice. We will build a socialist country under the rule of law and run state and social affairs according to law. We will create conditions that allow people to criticize and supervise the work of the government more effectively, and foster a lively political environment in which everyone feels happy and the society is harmonious. We must ensure that our education system can meet the needs of the people, and every child can afford to go to school and receive good education.We will set up basic medical and health care system for the entire population. And we will further improve the social security system covering both urban and rural areas at a faster pace, take better care of the vulnerable in the society and let everyone share the fruits of reform and development.
