Innovation tops Hu Jintao's economic agenda

BEIJING -- Hu Jintao underscored the task of enhancing China's capacity of independent innovation and making it an innovative country in a political report to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Monday morning.

"This (innovation) is the core of our national development strategy and a crucial link in enhancing the overall national strength," said Hu while delivering the on behalf of the 16th CPC Central Committee.

Hu pledged to increase spending on independent innovation and make breakthroughs in key technologies vital to economic and social development, saying China will speed up forming a national innovation system and support basic research, research in frontier technology and technological research for public welfare.

He said the country will step up efforts to establish a market-oriented system for technological innovation, in which enterprises play the leading role, and encourage formation of internationally competitive conglomerates.

China will "support domestic enterprises in carrying out international operations of R&D, production and marketing, and accelerate the growth of Chinese multinational corporations and Chinese brand names in the world market," he said.

Hu also vowed to deepen reform of the system for managing science and technology, implement the strategy for intellectual property rights, and make the best use of international resources of science and technology.

Other major measures listed by Hu to achieve economic development include accelerating transformation of the mode of economic development and promoting upgrading of the industrial structure, balancing urban and rural development and pushing forward the building of a new socialist countryside, improving energy, resources, ecological and environmental conservation and enhance China's capacity for sustainable development.

Hu stressed that China will uphold and improve the basic economic system in which public ownership is dominant and different economic sectors develop side by side, unwaveringly consolidate and develop the public sector of the economy, unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector, ensure equal protection of property rights, and create a new situation in which all economic sectors compete on an equal footing and reinforce each other.

China "will deepen the reform of monopoly industries by introducing competition, and strengthen government regulation and public oversight of them," and accelerate the formation of a modern market system that is unified and open and that allows orderly competition, develop markets for factors of production, improve the pricing mechanism for factors of production and resources to reflect changes in market supply and demand, resource scarcities and environmental costs, according to Hu.

Hu also set forth the tasks of promoting balanced development among regions and improving the pattern of land development, deepening fiscal, taxation and financial restructuring and improving macroeconomic regulation, and expanding opening up in scope and depth.