Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a report on the work of the government to the Fourth Plenary Session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) that opened in Beijing yesterday. Wen announced that the central government will allocate 71.6 billion yuan (US$8.91 billion) this year to science and technology development, representing a year-on-year increase of 19.2 percent.

The announcement was warmly welcomed by scientists and specialists who are now in Beijing attending the Fourth Plenary Session of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body.

"I am very encouraged that China will establish a mechanism to ensure stable growth of government appropriation for sci-tech. I believe the growth will serve as a jump-start for China's drive toward an 'innovative country'," Huang Chunping, a CPPCC member and chief commander of rocket system of China's manned space program, told china.org.cn on Sunday.

"China boasts huge production output and value in many areas, but we haven't mastered the core technologies. We don't want to be known as the world's largest processing factory and a country of cheap labor," Huang said. "In order to reduce the reliance on foreign technologies, we need to have our own innovations in sci-tech. More funds should be used to encourage the 'three innovations' -- creating innovation, integrating innovation and absorbing innovation -- because it is the lifeline of the country's development. It will largely decide whether China can change its economic growth mode and realize sustainable development." The proposal Huang brought to the ongoing session is to set October 15 as China's 'Aerospace Day'. China successfully launched its first manned spacecraft on October 15, 2003. He explained that the aerospace industry is a comprehensive hi-tech area that can drive the development of many industries. 'Aerospace Day' would serve as a good platform to introduce science to younger generations, and encourage their participation. Huang's view was echoed by another CPPCC member He Jingtang, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE): "I think one thing is very essential in promoting innovation: that is to transform the innovative results into productivity and new competitive products. It can be realized through the combination of talents, technology, enterprises and market. However, we should also avoid the blind pursuit of increased gross domestic product (GDP) at the expense of the environment and energy resources."

Chen Qingquan, also a CPPCC member and an academician with CAE, said: "What impressed me most about Premier Wen's work report is that the plan is to grow GDP by 8 percent and reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by about 4 percent. This is the first time China would be combining energy-efficiency with economic growth indices for macro-control of its economy. This is a very inspiring signal, indicating the shift in the government's development philosophy from growth-centered to people-centered.

"The acute contradictions between development and resources and the environment can no longer continue. China has to increase its growth patterns and create an energy-efficient, environment-friendly society in order to maintain a sustainable development. And the state financial investment should be used to mainly support basic research, frontier research and key technology research."

According to the 11th Five-Year Development Guidelines (2006-2010), which is currently being deliberated by lawmakers, China will launch a number of sci-tech projects in strategic industries such as information technology and biotechnology, and projects to address important, pressing problems in energy, resources, the environment and healthcare, as well as technologies with both military and civilian applications.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Wang Qian, March 6, 2006)