Full Text: Report on the Work of the Government(9)

-- In the western region, we will launch a number of major projects involving multipurpose transportation systems, energy, water conservancy, the environment, and living standards;

-- In the old industrial bases of the northeast and other parts of China, we will implement policies and measures designed to ensure their full revitalization;

-- In the central region, we will speed up the development of integrated transportation hubs and networks;

-- We will support the eastern region in taking the lead in development;

-- We will increase support to old revolutionary base areas, areas with concentrations of ethnic minorities, border areas, and areas with relatively high incidences of poverty; and

-- We will improve differentiated policies for promoting the development of different regions.

We will integrate the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road with the development and opening up of related regions. We will promote development of the new Eurasian Continental Bridge as well as major coastal and border ports which serve as hubs for the Belt or the Road.

We will step up coordinated development for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and ensure that the region takes the lead in making substantive breakthroughs in areas such as integrated transportation, ecological conservation, environmental protection, and industry upgrading and relocation.

We will press ahead with the development of the Yangtze Economic Belt, working step by step to launch major projects including upgrading the area' s major waterways and building docks and quays along the Yangtze River to create an integrated, multidimensional transport corridor. Industrial relocation demonstration zones will be built along the belt to guide the orderly relocation of industries from the east to the west. We will accelerate the transformation and upgrading of resource-depleted cities. We will step up efforts to develop major development zones in the central and western regions and ensure cooperation is deepened in the pan-Pearl River Delta and other regions.

China is a major maritime country. We need to draw up and implement a strategic maritime plan, develop the marine economy, protect the marine environment, strengthen marine science and technology, improve coordinated maritime management, strengthen our law enforcement and defense capabilities at sea, resolutely safeguard China' s maritime rights and interests, properly handle maritime disputes, actively expand bilateral and multilateral maritime cooperation, and move closer to achieving the goal of building China into a maritime power.

We will move forward in industrial structural upgrading, aiming at a medium-high level.

Manufacturing is traditionally a strong industry for China. We will implement the "Made in China 2025" strategy; seek innovation-driven development; apply smart technologies; strengthen foundations; pursue green development; and redouble our efforts to upgrade China from a manufacturer of quantity to one of quality.

We will provide subsidies and accelerate equipment depreciation to push forward the technological upgrading of traditional industries. We will ensure the development of some industries while restricting the growth of others, cut overcapacity, support business acquisitions and restructuring, and let market competition determine which businesses survive. We will promote the extensive application of information technologies in industrialization, develop and utilize networking, digitalization, and smart technologies, and work to develop certain key areas first and make breakthroughs in these areas.

Emerging industries and new types of businesses are areas of intense competition. We will launch major projects to develop high-end equipment, information networks, integrated circuits, new energy, new materials, biomedicines, aero engines, and gas turbines, helping a number of emerging industries to become leading ones. We will develop the "Internet Plus" action plan to integrate the mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data, and the Internet of Things with modern manufacturing, to encourage the healthy development of e-commerce, industrial networks, and Internet banking, and to guide Internet-based companies to increase their presence in the international market. In addition to the 40 billion yuan government fund already in place for investment in China' s emerging industries, more funds need to be raised for promoting business development and innovation.

The service sector can provide an enormous amount of employment opportunities and has vast potential for development. We will deepen the reform and opening up of the service sector, and implement fiscal, tax, land, and pricing policies to support its development. We will ensure that paid vacations are enforced, and channel great energy into developing tourism, health, elderly care, innovative design, and other better-living and production-related services. We will also deepen logistics reform, strengthen the building of modern logistics facilities such as large-scale wholesale, storage, and cold chain facilities for agricultural produce, and work hard to achieve major reductions in logistics costs.

We will use institutional innovation to drive scientific and technological innovation.

It is people who make innovations and create things. We will speed up the reform to manage the use and commoditization of and the distribution of profit from scientific and technological advances of public institutions and extend the coverage of policies which allow for incentive mechanisms for innovation based on shares and dividends. Legislation on the commercialization of research and development deliverables and on-the-job inventions should be improved so that inventors can enjoy a share of the returns on their inventions.

We will formulate policies for encouraging the flow of researchers and engineers, reform the systems for assessing their achievements, for appraising them for the conferral of professional titles, and for granting national awards, and reform research institutions according to their functions. We will work to attract high-caliber foreign professionals and bring in other expertise from overseas.

We will fully implement the action plan for carrying out the national strategy on intellectual property rights, combat infringements in accordance with the law, and ensure inventions and creative work are thoroughly protected to keep innovation thriving.

Enterprises play a leading role in technological innovation. We will implement and improve preferential policies, such as extra tax deductions for research and development costs and policies that support new- and high-technology enterprises, so as to encourage enterprises to increase their spending on innovation. We will encourage enterprise involvement in implementing major science and technology projects and building research platforms, and promote collaborative innovation by bringing together enterprises, academia, and research institutes, with enterprises playing the leading role.

We will work hard to develop the right environment for creativity, establishing more national innovation demonstration zones, ensuring the smooth functioning of new- and high-technology national development zones, and enabling them to play a leading role in boosting innovation. Medium, small, and micro businesses can accomplish great things. We need to give them a leg up to get them going. With these efforts, China' s grassroots innovation can sprout up and grow strong, bringing flowers of creation to every field.

To make innovation deliver, effective allocation of science and technology resources is crucial. We need to reform the management of science and technology plans funded by the central government to establish an open and unified national science and technology management platform. With the focus on supporting basic research, research in cutting-edge technologies, and key technologies that have a broad application, the government will encourage original innovation and move faster to launch major national science and technology projects. We will enable open access to the country' s major science and research infrastructure facilities as well as large-scale or costly research equipment. By giving free rein to the talent and ingenuity of the Chinese people, we will welcome in a new high tide of popular innovation.