Looking ahead: Hopes for 2016

13 Shen Jinke, spokesman for the People's Liberation Army Air Force

I wish all readers of China Daily a happy New Year. I hope more young people will take an interest in the air force, and would like to join during the coming year.

14 Ying Songnian, expert in administrative law and professor at the China University of Political Science and Law

What I am looking forward to in 2016 is details about building government by rule of law. The central leadership has put forward the goal and planned to complete it by the end of 2020, but the urgency for the country is to provide more details or small goals at each stage in the next five years. Otherwise, it will be hard to say we have established a government by rule of law and difficult to convince the public.

15 Dimitri de boer, former team leader of the EU-China Environmental Governance Programme, and consultant for ClientEarth, a European environmental law group

The coming year will be a critical one for pollution control in China. Environmental departments have started to issue red alerts in Beijing, and everyone is now really fed up with the pollution－government, businesses, the public, all of us.

Expect government to become tougher on polluters. Prosecutors can now bring cases against administrative departments, and 2016 will see new regulations allowing provincial-level environmental departments to take over if lower-level authorities fail to carry out their duties.

Last year, the courts ruled in some of the first environmental public interest litigation cases brought by NGOs, and in 2016 we will see many more such cases as environmental NGOs continue to gain the required skills and confidence. In turn, let's hope that all stakeholders appreciate the important and positive role NGOs play in the war on pollution. The emergence of environmental rule of law is one of the most exciting developments today and will be key in achieving China's climate targets.

16 Liu Yongfu, head of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development

This year is the first year of China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), and we will write the guidelines to fight poverty, to fulfill the goal of lifting more than 70 million people out of poverty by 2020. In 2016, we will establish a database to record people who still live in poverty, set up provincial-level financial platforms to raise money and build county-level resource distribution hubs to manage money. We will also improve the evaluation system.

The central government is paying great attention to the poverty alleviation. By 2020, poverty will be eradicated in rural areas, and there will be no more poor counties across the country.