Premier calls for efforts to heed public opinion
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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has called for increased efforts to heed public opinion in formulating government policies, saying the government will create conditions to encourage people to speak truthfully.
In the full text of a speech released Sunday, Wen told the members of the Counselors' Office and the Central Research Institute of Culture and History (CRICH) at a seminar on April 14 to convey the people's wishes without concealing anything, and let the government know existing problems, contradictions and difficulties.
The Counselors' Office and the CRICH are an advisory organ and an academic research agency, respectively, under the State Council, China's Cabinet.
The government must "listen to public opinions and pool the wisdom of all people concerned in a bid to work out good government policy which accords to reality and people's aspirations," Wen said.
Wen pledged that the government would create conditions to encourage the people, as well as the members of the Counselors' Office and the CRICH, to speak truthfully.
Wen also asked the counselors and researchers to study the nation's moral and cultural building as the country is in a stage of social transition.
He said despite progress in the past decades, the cultural building, especially the fostering of the moral culture, is lagging behind the country's economic development.
He cited food safety scandals in recent years as examples, such as the melamine-contaminated infant formula, steamed buns dyed with unidentified chemicals, the use of "lean meat powder" and the use of illegal cooking oil known as "gutter oil."
"These virulent food safety incidents have shown the grave situation of the degradation of morality and the loss of credits," he said.
"A country without the improved quality of its people and the power of morality will never grow into a real mighty and respected power," he said.
Wen said that advancing the moral and cultural construction would help safeguard normal production, life and social order, as well as to eradicate the stain of swindling, corruption and other illegal conduct.
China should incorporate the concept of rule by law into the moral and cultural construction so as to make the ethical firms and individuals be protected by law and be respected in society, while the immoral be punished in accordance with law and be condemned by the people, he said.
"The counselors and researchers could play an important role in the country's scientific and democratic decision-making process," he said.
The Premier urged them to take more efforts in policy research on major issues regarding China's economic and social progress, while focusing on scientific development and transforming the mode of economic development.
Wen said he hoped the counselors and researchers would study how to solve the problems of unfair income distribution and unbalanced development between urban and rural areas and different regions.
Deepening reforms of the economic and political systems should also be put on the research agenda, Wen said.
Wen suggested that counselors and researchers do more to investigate the situation at the grassroots level and offer factual and valuable advice for the government to solve existing problems and difficulties.
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