China's National People's Congress has placed emphasis on the economy and in the process attempted to cope with resentment both at home and abroad. Although the Communist Party fully intends to crack down brutally on dissent and factors encouraging dissent such as foreign journalists, it is still intellectually honest enough to recognize faults within the system.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao listed some of these problems in his address to the Congress. He noted that China's citizens lack high-quality educational and medical resources and that what exists is unevenly distributed. Prices of housing have skyrocketed; social problems have resulted from illegal land expropriation; the food safety is poor and corruption is rampant. He admits that migrant workers from the countryside are discriminated against in cities and that the public has good reason to gripe about the expensive cars driven by officialdom as they has come to symbolize the corruption as well as the gap between the party and the average citizen.
The five-year plan is targeted at correcting some of these problems. For example, from the current 7 to 8%, affordable housing will grow to 20% of all urban households. Per capita disposable income will rise by 7% and inflation will be kept in check. There will be policies to reduce the tax burden on low and middle income families and increased subsidies for medical care in rural areas.
China is also going to please some of her foreign critics by emphasizing ecological issues in the next five-year plan. Considered one of the world's worst polluters, China now intends to cut energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 16% and 17% respectively. This has already elicited approval from the Austrian ambassador to China, Martin Sajdik, who claimed that these measures were very important "not only for China but also for the whole world."
This new emphasis is attributed to reorientation from growth at any price to growth that takes into account other factors. Part of this is enlightened self-interest. China is a huge importer of energy products and therefore the savings will help the Chinese economy. President Barack Obama has targeted sustainable energy and green technology as America's major growth areas and job suppliers.
Another area of concern to foreigners and particularly to the United States has been the yawning gap in the balance of payments in favor of China. Commerce Minister Chen Deming predicted that China's surplus will shrink in 2011, and domestic consumption will be increasingly called upon to stimulate growth as China relaxes the model of export led growth. Chen claims that China would lower import tariffs on selected goods. In return he asked the Europeans and the United States to allow more high-tech exports to China. The latter request will probably be contingent on working out an agreement to have China display greater respect for intellectual property and patents.