Reviving a new engine(3)

Aside from financial support, Chen argued tax reduction could also facilitate economic restructuring and foster points of growth.

In fact, the Central Government has kicked off pilot programs to replace the business tax with a value-added tax in some sectors and regions, reducing a tax burden of 120 billion yuan ($19.33 billion).

Since August 1, 2013, the Central Government has further exempted 6 million small and micro-businesses from business tax and value-added tax. At the same time, progress was also made in improving financial support for them.

According to statistics from the People's Bank of China, loans for small and micro-enterprises extended by major financial institutions, small rural financial institutions and foreign-funded banks posted an outstanding amount of 13.21 trillion yuan ($2.13 trillion) at the end of December 2013, up 14.2 percent year on year.

Zeng Peiyan, Vice Chairman of the BFA, believed there are still a plenty of opportunities for China to exploit. "This year will be a year of reforms in the economic sector as well as the fiscal and tax system. When all these measures and policies are completely put in place, China's economy will make further progress."

Key Points of Premier Li Keqiang's Speech at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2014

- Building a community of shared interests, common destiny and shared responsibilities in Asia

Asian countries need to work together to further liberalize trade and facilitate investment, as well as upgrade regional and sub-regional cooperation. While the World Trade Organization should take a leading role in the development of global trade, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership should become important supplements to the multilateral trade mechanism.

Asian countries should facilitate infrastructure construction including railway, highway, aviation and water transport. They should cooperate in the upstream, midstream and downstream of the industrial train, make progress in sci-tech and talent training, and promote growth of the "new economy" sectors, including green energy, environmental protection and the Internet. China is ready to intensify consultations with relevant parties on the preparations for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Asian countries should build consensus, make active efforts and jointly fulfill their due responsibilities to achieve peace and stability in Asia. They should promote security dialogue and consultation, strengthen cooperation on non-traditional security issues, including disaster management, maritime search and rescue, counter-terrorism and combating transnational crimes, and actively explore the establishment of a regional security cooperation framework in Asia.

- Seeking new growth engines for driving the Chinese economy

—Deepening reform

China will further streamline government administration and delegate more power to lower-level governments, introduce a system of listing government powers, consider the adoption of a management model based on a negative list approach, accumulate useful experience through the development of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and spread it to other areas.

China will carry out a new round of opening up at a high level and an important part of this endeavor is to further open up the service sector, including the capital market. It will actively create conditions to establish a Shanghai-Hong Kong stock exchange connectivity mechanism.

—Adjusting economic structure

China will narrow the gap between urban and rural areas and between developed and underdeveloped areas and improve industrial structure. China will implement a new type of people-centered urbanization and invest more in shantytown renovation. The service industry will be promoted and the trial to replace turnover tax with value-added tax will be expanded to more service sectors. China will support the development of green, new-energy, energy-saving industries and phase out outdated capacities.

—Improving people's livelihood

To increase residents' income, China will provide more fiscal and financial support and services for college graduates and the unemployed to find jobs or start businesses. It has expanded tax breaks to more small and micro companies so that they can provide more jobs. The government will continue improving its social security system in order to make people more willing to spend.