Communist Party of China (CPC) General Secretary and President Jiang Zemin called on all CPC members and the Chinese people to continue to emancipate their minds, seek truth from facts, unite as one and work hard to study and deal with the new situation and problems in the nation's modernization drive.
At the beginning of the new century, China faces excellent opportunities and severe challenges in its development, Jiang said yesterday in Beijing, when he was attending, separately, group discussions of deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) from Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, both in Southwest China.
He termed economic globalization and worldwide technological progress as historic opportunities for China to carry out economic restructuring and accelerate its economic and social development.
Vice-President Hu Jintao yesterday joined NPC deputies from Zhejiang Province in their group discussion of Premier Zhu Rongji's report to the current NPC session and their discussion of the draft outline of China's development plan for the next five years.
Hu said it is urgent to work creatively to improve the various management systems and promote progress in science and technology, as China is about to implement its 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05).
This calls for efforts to remove all obstacles that restrict social productive forces so as to bring the socialist market economic system of the country to perfection, he said.
At the group discussion with NPC deputies from Guizhou Province, Vice-Premier Li Lanqing said priority should be given to the development of science and technology, education and infrastructure facilities and the improvement of the ecological environment to promote comprehensive social and economic progress in the western part of the country.
(Xinhua 03/09/2001)
