Delegates discussing national affairs
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-09 16:57

The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top advisory body, are currently holding their annual sessions in Beijing. The following are excerpts from speeches by NPC deputies and CPPCC members on current issues.

Li Yining (CPPCC member): Efforts should be taken to push forward non-State sectors.

The government should shift its role from a manager to a service provider to create a favourable environment for non-State enterprises.

The reform should begin from structural streamlining to eliminating the pursuit of interests by different departments. The State Council should strengthen its leadership and co-ordination of departments.

Regulations and policies issued in the past to curb development of the non-State economy should be cleared up. And construction of online administrative services should be sped up. Different documents should be released on the Internet simultaneously.

More financing channels for medium- and small-sized enterprises should be developed. As well, medium and small-sized banks should be encouraged to provide services for non-State enterprises.

The current banking system could also be catalogued. Some small-sized financial institutions should offer more services.

The growth of the enterprise market needs to be improved for creating a platform for the financing of medium- and small-sized enterprises.

Investment enterprises for non-State enterprises should be set up, through support from the government and pooling non-State capital.

Tax systems for domestic enterprises and joint ventures should be unified. The depreciable life of fixed assets should be shortened, and rates of depreciation should be raised. Enterprises with mature conditions should be encouraged to upgrade equipment and make innovations in technology.

The protection of privately owned assets should be strengthened.

Ma Qizhi (NPC deputy): The Government's report is giving great attention to issues involving farmers, agriculture and rural areas, which shows that the government has attached significant importance to it.

It is a hard task to increase the incomes of China's rural people and bridge the gap between rural and urban areas. Food safety is another eminent problem. The structure of agriculture also requires adjustment. Effective measures are needed to change the current plight.

First, we should implement a food development strategy, which means giving priority to domestic production and having imports of grain products as supplemental. Initiatives in agriculture should be protected to improve the overall capacity of grain production and ensure food safety.

Second, urbanization is an effective way to develop rural China. Non-agricultural industries should be developed to provide employment for surplus rural labourers.

Third, the central government should provide farmers with more assurance by issuing direct subsidies.

Fourth, the market mechanism should be employed to allocate labour resources in the country as a whole. A better environment should be provided for rural labourers working and living in urban areas.

The government should keep its promises in helping migrant workers receive their defaulted pay within three years. Training of rural labourers will also promote the development of rural China.

Guo Shuqing (CPPCC member): The observation that the undervaluation of the renminbi hurts employment in the United States is far from the truth.

The average per capita salary for workers with Chinese manufacturers is only 3 per cent of that in the United States. Even if the value of the renminbi doubled, the ratio would still only be 6 per cent, which is still marginal.

According to our research, people may have overestimated the effects of exchange rates for renminbi upon the economy and employment.

Although many countries have pointed their fingers at the exchange rate, they are actually benefiting from it.

US exports to China rose by 24 per cent in 2003, while exports from the European Union and Japan to China have both grown by more than 37 per cent during the same time.

Some countries have stopped criticizing China after they realized the fact that their economies are not being hampered by the value of the yuan.

Judging from China's own trade, the exchange rate has not caused much change.

Theoretically, the relatively low exchange rates of a country's currency can boost exports and contain imports. But the fact in China is that the import growth was 5.3 percentage points higher than that of exports, and trade surpluses are down 15.9 per cent.

The influence of the exchange rate on trade has been balanced by many other factors. And there is a strong interdependence between exports and imports.

The current exchange rate system, formed in 1994, matches the reality of China very well and it should be stuck to for now.

Further perfection of this system should be carried out based on Chinese economic development, its situation and international balance.

Close