Premier Li pledges to make the Chinese market a fair one
March 20, 2018 Category NPC '& CPPCC sessions, Weekly
Following the closing session of the 16-day National People’s Congress session on March 20, Premier Li Keqiang – flanked by his four Vice Premiers – answered 15 questions of domestic and foreign journalists at a press conference.
Premier Li reconfirmed that China will open its economy more and more to the world, including specific sectors such as finance, care for the elderly and education. Import duties on cancer drugs will be cut to zero. Protection of intellectual property rights will be strengthened and the requirement of technology transfer in manufacturing joint ventures will be scrapped. He added that China needs to continue to make its market a fair one and give Chinese consumers greater choice. He also promised to streamline government procedures for businesses and cut the time needed to register a business in half. Local and state taxes needed to be merged. The Premier said China has always respected property rights and “contracts are not useless bits of paper”. The rights of home owners will be expanded.
He said that a trade war between China and the U.S. is not in either side’s interest, adding that the word ‘war’ was incompatible with trade. “We should act rationally, instead of being led by emotions.” China hopes to see balanced trade because “otherwise, it’s not sustainable”. He said China will open up domestic services, and U.S. firms can “grab the opportunity”. However, he called on the U.S. to relax restrictions on hi-tech exports, one of the causes of the bilateral trade deficit. Talking about avoiding financial risks, the Premier referred to the recent crackdown on tycoons, saying the economy faced some risk in the same way “that a big tree invites winds”, but he insisted there is enough capital in the banking system. The country has cut its budgeted fiscal deficit because revenues proved stronger than expected and the small deficit-to-GDP ratio means China won’t change its policy stance. The absolute amount of fiscal spending this year will still be larger than last year. The insurance and banking regulators had been merged to tackle loopholes in the system, he added.
China has the world’s largest social security system, but Premier Li acknowledged that some rural families are still reluctant to visit a doctor because of the high cost involved. He said the government wants to raise subsidies for basic health insurance, particularly for serious illnesses. He also said there had been problems paying pensions. The country now has 241 million people aged 60 or above, around 17.3% of the total population. Pension reform would continue.
Answering a question on the development of the internet, Premier Li said that the government’s Internet Plus scheme is an important economic driver and a major platform for the country’s sharing economy. The Internet Plus policy has been criticized in some quarters for creating excessive risk, but Li defended the policy by saying the government is working to link education, health and government services. He hoped that overseas listed internet firms would return to China.
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