Five-decade development plan plots paths for all facets of national growth
Beijing yesterday released a large-scale blueprint for the country's sustainable development over the next five decades, setting high goals for nearly every aspect of national growth.
'China aims to enter the world's top 10 countries in terms of comprehensive national power by 2050,' according to the plan drawn up over 32 months by the country's leading research institute, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinhua reported.
The ambitious Blueprint for China's Sustainable Development comprises 20 books covering a wide range of topics, including population, natural resources, the environment, economics, society, science and technology, poverty, culture and education, Xinhua said.
Most noticeably, the blueprint predicts the world's most populous country will have eradicated poverty by 2050.
According to previous official reports, by the end of 2005, the rural population living in absolute poverty had been reduced to 23.7 million. However, non-governmental organisations have estimated that more than 80 million mainlanders still live below the government's poverty line of less than 668 yuan a year.
