Incumbent State Council holds final meeting

BEIJING - The incumbent State Council, or the central government, held its final executive meeting on Wednesday, as this administration's term nears its end.

Premier Wen Jiabao presided over the meeting that reiterated policies to tame the hot property market, a major source of public concern in recent years.

The State Council has held a total of 234 executive meetings since it took office on March 19, 2008.

It studied and discussed 611 topics, including how to combat the global financial crisis, improve people's livelihoods, deepen the reform and opening up and strengthen the government's ability to improve itself.

All of these are prominent issues that have emerged amid China's economic and social development over the past five years.

Zhang Liqun, an analyst with the Development Research Center of the State Council, said the country has stood up to all sorts of difficulties and challenges and made great achievements in the past five years.

"The government's work has laid a solid foundation for the country's future reforms and development," Zhang said.

Tackling the global financial crisis is the main theme tying together this government's work in the past five years.

Between 2008 and 2009, when the global economy bottomed out, China also felt the pinch, as a slew of enterprises suspended production, thousands of migrant workers lost employment and all economic indicators dropped sharply.

The State Council held a flurry of intensive meetings during that period. It convened twice on Nov 5, 2008, rolling out a package of 10 stimulus measures aimed at boosting domestic consumption and economic growth.

Economic conditions have been extremely volatile both at home and abroad over the past five years. The State Council decided to hold an executive meeting every quarter to study the changes, in addition to other meetings scheduled when necessary.

The timely responses proved effective. It only took half a year for China to reverse the country's economic downward trend.

During the past five years, China's economy has maintained an average annual growth rate of 9 percent. Meanwhile, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) doubled from 26 trillion yuan ($4.14 trillion) to 52 trillion yuan to become the world's second-largest economy.

Improving people's livelihoods has been at the center of the government's work during the past five years. Executive meetings focused on more than 100 topics, including housing, medical care, education, employment and social security.