New | Saying 'finance' 146 times: what Chinese premier Li Keqiang's choice of words say about his priorities
A Shanghai newspaper mines Premier Li Keqiang's State Council meetings to paint a picture of the central government's key policy directions
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang may be sceptical about the accuracy of the country's statistics, but figures do tell a lot about him.
The , a leading economic daily based in Shanghai, went back through the records of the 100 or so State Council meetings that Li has chaired since he became the Communist-ruled country's seventh premier 21/2 years ago and found that "finance" was the most frequently used word in those gatherings.
The report said the numbers gave an indication of the policy priorities of the central government and its premier, who once reportedly declared that most of China's official statistics were unreliable.
In a private meeting with the US Ambassador to China Clark Randt in 2007, the then Liaoning Communist Party secretary said that all Chinese statistics, especially those on gross domestic product, were "man-made" and therefore unreliable and "for reference only", according to the United States' diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
The report yesterday said that since March 2013, 19 of Li's State Council meetings had focused on reform, 17 on people's livelihood, 14 on streamlining government, 11 on public service, and 10 on business start-ups and innovation.
The word "finance" gained the most mentions, coming up 146 times in the cabinet meetings, followed by 140 references to "employment", 125 to the phrase "people's livelihood", and 115 to "fiscal management".
Analysts said "finance" and "reform" had become catchwords for Li's cabinet, reflecting the government's pledge to advance ambitious reforms to overhaul the country's financial system and state-owned enterprises, the last remnants of the Stalinist command economy.
Li is the best-educated government leader since the founding of the People's Republic, holding a doctoral degree in economics. Analysts said even though the premier was in the shadow of strongman President and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, Li had proved himself a capable leader in managing the world's second-largest economy at a critical point.
As the head of government, his main responsibility is economics and management.
Hong Hao, managing director and head of research at investment bank Bocom International, said that during his reign, Li made it his priority to cut the government's power to intervene in the markets and to reduce the number of investments needing state approval.
The report quoted experts as saying Li had given top priority to streamlining government, adding that the topic had been raised at all the New Year State Council executive meetings in the past three years.
