Chinese President Xi Jinping joins a group deliberation of deputies from Heilongjiang Province to the annual session of the National People's Congress in Beijing, capital of China, March 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)
President Xi Jinping on Monday called for deeper reform to revitalize China's northeastern industrial base.[Special coverage]
Xi urged lawmakers from Heilongjiang to pursue innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development when participating in deliberations on the government work report at the fourth session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC).
He said that local government and Party officials must abide by the law as they implement reform policies and that they should encourage the public to do likewise.
Capable, honest officials should be rewarded with promotions, the president said.
The meeting also discussed the shift of economic engines, food prices, poverty relief and structural reform in industrial bases.
In a panel discussion with NPC deputies from Fujian Province, Premier Li Keqiang urged authorities of the eastern coastal province to strengthen the green and maritime economy and build a strategic pivot for coastal development.
Li asked the province to speed up a shift in growth by boosting smart manufacturing and the modern service sector and to take more initiative in advancing reform and opening up as well as the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.
Joining deputies from Anhui Province in a group discussion, Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said the new concept of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development should be adopted to guide development and solve thorny problems in the next five years and beyond.
In a panel discussion with Taiwan deputies, Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, said, "We will adhere to the 1992 Consensus, resolutely oppose and contain any forms of 'Taiwan independence' separatist activities, strengthen contacts and exchanges with all political parties and groups in Taiwan that recognize the one-China principle."
Liu Yunshan, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, told NPC deputies from Sichuan Province in their panel discussion, a clear understanding of the "new normal" and working with new development thoughts are essential to ensure the goals for the 13th Five-Year Plan period be met.
Deliberating with NPC deputies from Hebei Province, Wang Qishan, secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said strengthening the CPC leadership is the key to achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
In a panel discussion with deputies from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli said, Guangxi shall accelerate industrial restructuring and upgrading, and do more on poverty alleviation.
