Chinese premier forecasts steady growth
Updated
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has addressed the annual session of the National People's Congress - China's parliament.
And the premier's main message to delegates was that China's economy is still in good hands, even at a time of crisis. Wen Jiabao told them that growth could be kept at eight per cent and inflation under 4 per cent. And in a further note of optimism, the premier said that his government is ready for official peace talks with Taiwan.
Presenter: Stephen McDonell
Speakers: Wen Jiabao, Chinese premier; Professor Joseph Cheng, Hong Kong University
(Sound of music at Chinese Parliament)
STEPHEN MCDONELL: The music might've been rousing at China's annual session of Parliament but the mood was one of uncertainty.
China's economic model over the last decade had appeared unstoppable but that was before the world economic crisis.
Today nearly 3,000 delegates to the National People's Congress heard Premier Wen Jiabao try and reassure them that this was not the time to panic because all will be well with China's economy.
WEN JIABAO (translated): Neither the fundamentals of China's economic and social development, nor its positive long term trend, has changed. We are fully confident that we will overcome difficulties and challenges, and we have the conditions and ability to do so.
STEPHEN MCDONELL: Premier Wen then outlined the strategy to make up for a massive collapse in export revenue by using China's 1.3-billion people.
WEN JIABAO (translated): We must boost domestic demand to sustain economic growth. We need to steadfastly take reversing the downward trend in economic growth as the primary goal of macro control, and make boosting domestic demand a long term strategic principle and a basic point of departure for stimulating economic growth.
STEPHEN MCDONELL: Hong Kong University's Professor Joseph Cheng says this Congress is being held at a time of great pressure on China's leaders and that this could lead to both good and bad outcomes.
JOSEPH CHENG: Chinese leaders certainly feel insecure. Chinese leaders certainly believe that the top priority is to tackle the economic problem. There are a lot of difficulties generated by unemployment, generated by the unprecedented uncertainty about the future.
We expect that there will be a continual tightening of the political control while the Government will do much more to help the underprivileged groups to improve social services and to spend a lot of money to build a rudimentary social security net.
STEPHEN MCDONELL: The Great Hall of the People has a room for each one of the 34 regional delegations, and also one for the People's Liberation Army.
Over the next eight days China's top leaders will travel around these rooms, and behind closed doors speak quite frankly about the threat posed by millions of unemployed students and rural workers.
The message from Premier Wen and the rest of the Politburo Standing Committee will be to trust them because the country is still in good hands.
But today's opening was all out in the open. And, as if to highlight his positive tone, Premier Wen even spoke of helping Beijing's old enemy Taiwan to join international organisations and have genuine peace talks.
But we've heard sentiments like that before from China's leaders.
