Live | We’ll stabilise China’s economy: Premier Li Keqiang sets the tone for the year ahead

Welcome to scmp.com’s full coverage of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s message at the annual post-National People’s Congress press conference that took place at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday morning.

SOCIAL SECURITY

12.56pm On the call by the public and business to cut their contributions to the social security fund – namely insurances for medical, unemployment, work safety, maternity and pension, and housing funds – Li said the social security fund balance allowed room for adjustment and that the central government would let each province decide given that “the situation in each locality is different from another”. “Each province can find a period and suitable manner to cut business and individual contribution to the social security fund to ease business burden and increase residents’ cash in the pocket,” he said.

AGRICULTURE

12.46pm Describing agriculture as “always a disadvantaged sector” in the Chinese economy, Li pledged that investment in agriculture and support for farmers would not decrease. He noted that low productivity had left domestic prices of major grains such as rice, wheat and corn much higher than the global market. “The key is to better balance urbanisation and modernisation of agriculture, to let more farmers go to urban areas and stay if they’re qualified,” he said, adding that this would provide more space for large-scale agricultural operations and improve farmers’ income.

JAPAN & SOUTH KOREA

12.35pm: Although there had been some improvement, Sino-Japanese ties were still fragile, Li said. Both sides should adhere to agreement over historical issues, he said. The premier talked about Google’s AlphaGo computer programme that beat South Korea’s world Go champion. Li said the popularity of the game showed the cultural similarity among Chinese, Japanese and Korean people. Google’s machine was also a human creation, he noted. China, Japan and South Korea could work together on technology to improve the well-being of their people. “We can join hands to jointly explore the big world market,” he said.

GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY

12.30pm: Li said he welcomed the public – including the media – to supervise government work. Ministers were ordered to speak to the press before the opening of China’s annual parliamentary meetings, the “two sessions”, the premier said. “I told them, you can’t keep silent and take a quick leave when reporters don’t ask questions … [And when they do,] you should give straightforward answers to the questions.” Li said the government should be more proactive in responding to public concerns and let people know the things it was working on. He also pledged to make government information more accessible for the public, especially budgets and matters relating to income and expenses.

PUBLIC MEDICAL INSURANCE

12.23pm: Li pledged to, in two years, have the public medical insurance foot hospital in-patient service bills that are incurred in places other than the patient’s household registration province. He also pledged to ease the burden of the elderly who might leave their hometowns to help raise their grandchildren. Presently, residents can have their hospital bills covered by public medical insurance in the municipal city of their household registration. Beijing wants the insurance expanded to cover bills incurred within the province. “It’s of paramount importance to the family,” said Li, referring to elderly people who were forced to return to their hometowns for in-patient treatment because of the present policy. “Real-time public medical insurance settlement is a reasonable demand and it should not hurt residents.”

TAIWAN

12.18pm: The premier added that the government had issued a document guaranteeing that preferential policies given to Taiwanese businessmen on mainland China would be maintained. Both sides’ development would benefit people in the Taiwan Strait, Li said. Beijing would introduce more such policies, but the precondition was the Taiwan government had to recognise the “one China” principle and that Taiwan was an inalienable part of China, the premier said. ““We want to soothe their fears [about policy changes]” Li said. “Why do we want to give so many preferential policies to Taiwan businesses? It’s because we are all members of one family ... I believe further development of the bilateral economic relation will benefit people on both sides and improve their lives.”

12.16pm: On Beijing’s relations with Taiwan after the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen won the election, Li said anything could be discussed as long as both sides adhered to the principle of “One China”. “As long as Taiwan adheres to the foundation of the 1992 Consensus and recognise Taiwan and the mainland belong to the same China, anything can be discussed,” Li said. “I remain optimistic about the prospect of cross-straits relations; blood ties cannot be severed.”

GROWTH

12.06pm: Li noted that the new economy not only referred to information technology companies, e-commerce and other emerging industries, but also basic sectors such as family farms and high-end manufacturing. To combine new growth drivers with traditional ones would help restructure the Chinese economy in a more efficient way, the premier said. He said while workers from overcapacity industries were being laid off, the new economy was providing new jobs for these people. Reiterating his support for entrepreneurship and innovation, he said: “A nation’s progress in civilisation lies in the involvement of the people.”

RUSSIA

12.03pm: On limited China investment in Russia, Li said China had a comprehensive relationship with Russia, with Xi and Putin meeting frequently. “We are not only good in political relations, and our economic ties are showing signs of warming up. Sino-Russian relations won’t be affected by changes in the international environment,” Li said. “China has no burden or pressure” in developing ties with Russia, and it would continue to push ahead twith its ties. Li cited growth in volume in China’s oil imports from Russia as prrof that Sino-Russia economic ties were warming up.

CULTURAL PRESERVATION

12.02pm: On why preserving cultural relics was such a burning matter given “China is so big, facing so many problems and the government is so busy”, Li said it was to advance cultural development and help achieve balanced social and economic development. “There are many problems in the economic domain such as cheating, swindling in the market and selling fake goods. One may also find that causes for such problems stem at a cultural level,” the premier said. “To develop a culture will help us develop moral strength in developing the market economy with moral principles. We should not only try to accumulate wealth but also meet the country’s cultural needs and win the respect of other countries with culture and civilisation.”

HONG KONG

12noon: On Hong Kong, Li did not touch on the chief executive election scheduled next year, but he said the city had to make its own efforts for its development and that it could also take advantage of the mainland’s economic development. “Hong Kong’s economic growth of 2.4 per cent last year was not low,” Li said said. “The central government will give full support to any proposals from the SAR government that help maintain Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability and contribute to the well-being of the people of Hong Kong. I have confidence in a bright future for Hong Kong.”

11.58am: Asked about Hong Kong’s future and the Mong Kok riot earlier this year, Li said the central government would continue to uphold the “one country, two systems” principle and that he believed the Hong Kong government and public were able to handle the city’s “complex issues”.