China's Wen puts emphasis on green growth
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, March 5 (Reuters) - China will redouble its efforts to save energy and cut pollution in 2007 while striving to keep the economy humming following four straight years of double-digit growth, Premier Wen Jiabao will say on Monday. In his annual report to the National People's Congress, China's parliament, Wen reaffirms that Beijing will actively explore ways of investing the country's $1.07 trillion in foreign currency reserves but offers no hints as to how it will do so. The speech, excerpts of which were seen by Reuters, is light on politics and foreign policy. But it underscores that Wen has made narrowing the chasm between the nation's bustling coastal cities and struggling villages a task that will define his administration's legacy. "Protect social equity and justice, and let all the people together enjoy the fruits of reform and development," Wen's report says. The need to shun growth for growth's sake and make China's economy greener and leaner is a recurring theme in the speech. China managed to reduce the amount of energy it used per unit of output by just 1.23 percent last year, well short of its 4 percent goal, and could overtake the United States as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases as early as 2009. The government will keep curbs on investment and credit, which successfully reduced the risk of overheating last year, and will cut its budget deficit this year to just 1.1 percent of gross domestic product from 1.5 percent in 2006, Wen says. Wen promises to spend more to raise lagging incomes in the countryside, which is home to more than 60 percent of the 1.3 billion population, and says China will take a range of measures to reduce its trade surplus, which he admits is too big. But the premier says China, though determined to boost domestic consumption, is not about to abandon the export-driven growth model that has helped it become the world's fourth-largest economy. "Promoting economic development and increasing employment through the expansion of foreign trade is a policy that we must pursue for a long time to come," Wen will say. The government is working on the assumption that GDP will grow by about 8 percent this year, the same target it set last year, when GDP actually rose 10.7 percent.
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