The 2001 national session of China's political consultative
body focuses on offering ideas for the nation's 10th Five-Year
Plan (2001-05), concentrating on issues such as economic policies
and restructuring, the protection of water resources and environmental
protection.
The Fourth Session
of the Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body,
opened on Saturday.
"To help the
formulation and implementation of the plans for national economic
and social development has always been one of the most important
tasks of CPPCC members," said Ye Xuanping, vice-chairman
of the CPPCC National Committee, at the opening ceremony.
The Ninth National
Committee of CPPCC offered more than 100 suggestions for improvements
after studying the draft 10th Five-Year Plan submitted by
the State Development Planning Commission last December.
Most of the proposals
were adopted.
The Committee for
Economic Affairs organized research groups to investigate
10 issues. They produced the "Proposals for Attaching
Importance to Institutional Innovation in the 10th Five-Year
Plan."
They stressed that
institutional innovation should be the driving force behind
both development and economic restructuring and that the separation
of government functions from enterprise management is the
key to the success of economic restructuring.
A total of 3,733
proposals have been submitted by the National Committee of
the CPPCC since last year, about 98 percent of which have
already been handled.
The proposals displayed
a deep concern with the difficulties confronting the country
as it develops, and they put forward lots of constructive
suggestions on key issues like the development of the western
region, how to tackle the challenges the country might face
after entering the World Trade Organization and combating
corruption, according to the report on the proposals delivered
by Wan Guoquan, vice-chairman of CPPCC National Committee.
Focusing on China's
present three great tasks - modernization, the reunification
of the motherland and safeguarding world peace and promoting
common development - Ye said more and more is being required
of the CPPCC. He noted that the CPPCC will make proper use
of its particular strengths to conduct surveys, studies and
inspections concerning issues such as economic restructuring
and agricultural development.
CPPCC members vow
to put forward more valuable proposals on the country's national
economic and social development strategies.
"I will be
proposing the establishment of museums of ethnic minority
customs, especially in ethnic minority areas, to better preserve
their cultures," said Tursun Yunus, a CPPCC member from
the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
For members from
the medical sector, the reform of medical services is of central
importance.
"The reform
of the medical sector should be pushed further so that people
can get better treatment at a lower price," said Guo
Yinglu, director of the Institute of Urology at Peking University,
who added that the prices of some medicines are too high for
normal people to afford.
(China Daily 03/05/2001)
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