The 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC)
began its 5th plenary session in Beijing on Saturday.
The meeting, scheduled to last till Tuesday, will mainly discuss
suggestions on the country's 11th Five-Year Guidelines(2006-2010)
for national economic and social development.
The CPC Central Committee has widely solicited opinions and
suggestions from the public on the designing of the five-year
Guidelines. Judging from the policy measures adopted by the CPC
Central Committee over the past few years, the basic tune of the
next five-year Guidelines has been set on the implementation of a
scientific view of development, putting people first and
sustainable development in a coordinated and comprehensive way.
Focus on income gap
Experts say that priorities in the new Guidelines would be given
to economic development, building a harmonious society, regional
economic development, government self-improvement, political
civilization, among others.
The four-day event is being billed as a crucial moment as China
tries to produce a harmonious society and tries to narrow the gap
between the rich and the poor, the city and the countryside, Tang
Min, chief economist of the Asian Development Bank's China Office
was quoted by Xinhua as saying on Friday.
"Various signs have shown that the upcoming fifth plenary
session of the 16th CPC Central Committee will chiefly touch upon
the solution to the problem," Tang said.
While maintaining rapid economic growth, China is concerned
about balanced development and social fairness and equality to
avoid the growing income gap between the rich and the poor,
analysts say.
In the next five years, the central government might adjust the
national system of income distribution and the fiscal expenditure
structure to help the poor, Lu Zhongyuan, a researcher at the
Development Research Centre of the State Council told Xinhua.
More economic input will go into agriculture to give support and
protection for farmers and expenditure in the agricultural sector
will increase more than in any other sector, Lu predicted.
The average income of the rich was 2.5 times that of the poor in
1995, while in 2003 that number had grown to 3.23, said Hu Angang,
an economic professor at the Beijing-based Tsinghua University, in
a research report.
(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2005)