Live | We’ll stabilise China’s economy: Premier Li Keqiang sets the tone for the year ahead
Li reiterates Beijing’s determination to boost the slowing economy, pledges continued support for Hong Kong and points out blood ties with Taiwan
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
