Social welfare priority for China’s five-year plan, says Communist Party mouthpiece
Improving social welfare should be the main focus of the five-year plan discussed this week by senior government leaders in China, according to a commentary by the Communist Party’s official newspaper.
Creating jobs, raising people’s incomes and food safety were also priorities, the People’s Daily said.
The party on Thursday endorsed a guideline for the 13th five-year plan, a blueprint for the country’s socio-economic development from next year to 2020, as it wrapped up the fifth plenum of the 18th party congress.
Xi Jinping, the party's general secretary, delivered an instruction on the guideline.
The commentary in the Daily said the welfare of the people should be prioritised and problems in employment, income, social welfare and food safety should be solved.
“Improving the people’s welfare and promoting the overall development of the people should be the starting point and end point of all developments,” the article quoted an earlier Politburo meeting as saying.
Efforts to improve people’s livelihood would be strengthened, despite the uncertainties of the country’s economic situation and resistance from some to reform, the commentary added.
Downward pressure had increased on the economy and growth of government revenue has slowed over the past four years, but indicators of people’s livelihood have nevertheless increased, the Communist Party mouthpiece said.
It cited pension and medical reforms carried out during the last five years and said Chinese people had earned more and their burdens had been lessened as welfare improved.
Government targets were also highlighted in another mainland news outlet.
“More than 70 million people below the poverty line in China will be lifted out of poverty in the next five years,” the online news service Thepaper.cn quoted Xi as saying in a speech earlier this month on tackling global poverty.
Chi Fulin, an adviser working on the five-year plan, told the Economic Daily that economic reform was a key priority.
“The next five-year plan needs to crack the hard bone of structural reform with more resolution,” Chi was quoted as saying.
The key was more support for the service sector, which now makes up 49 per cent of GDP output, Chi said, but it trails significantly behind developed countries.
The education, medical and health sectors should also be opened up to private business, he said.