Chinese President Hu Jintao
has urged local officials to fully implement the "scientific
concept of development" and to protect the fundamental interests of
common people and to build "a harmonious and well-off society," as
he wound up his five-day visit to southwest China's Guizhou
Province.
During the
Spring Festival, China's traditional family reunion holiday,
President Hu, who is also general secretary of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), visited the
mountainous, multinational Guizhou Province in southwest China from
February 7 to February 11 and spent the holiday with local farmers,
workers and fire fighters. He also visited ethnic villages, urban
communities, construction sites and a telecommunications
company.
Hu also heard the work report of the provincial government and the
provincial committee of the CPC during his visit and delivered an
important speech.
Hu said the "scientific concept of development" is important not
only for economically developed areas but for economically backward
areas as well.
He said the central government will continue to push forward the
development of western areas by giving more favorable policies,
intensifying capital input and adjusting industrial
structure.
He urged local officials to strengthen and improve macro-economic
control policies, speed up the readjustment of economic structure,
convert the economic growth mode and stick to the "sustainable
development" strategy.
He told local officials to stabilize and strengthen policies
favorable to the development of agriculture and to intensify their
efforts to promote grain production and increase farmers'
incomes.
Poverty reduction work should also be stepped up, he said. "People
and officials in poor areas should uphold a self-dependent spirit,
reasonably utilize local resources and vigorously develop
industries with local characteristics. At the same time, the
central government will intensify funding for poverty relief, step
up infrastructure construction in poor areas, improve work
conditions for people in poor areas, and solve the problems of food
and clothing for people in poor areas as soon as possible," he
said.
Hu said building a socialist harmonious society is in the
fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the country's
people and is an important strategic task for the government and
the CPC. "Governments at all levels should do their best to
safeguard people's legitimate rights and interests and to maintain
social stability," he said.
President Hu celebrated the eve of the Chinese Lunar Rooster New
Year by sharing tea and snacks with ethnic Miao villagers in
southwestern Guizhou Province. On the eve of last year's Spring
Festival, he visited a northern Chinese village, inspecting fields
and cattle pens and making pork dumplings with farmers.
(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2005)