THREE CRITICAL BATTLES
Li stressed increasing support for the "three critical battles" against risk, poverty and pollution.
A moderately prosperous society cannot arise with volatile financial markets, people locked in poverty, or polluted skies, mountains and rivers. The work to address these challenges have been called the "three critical battles" by the Party authority.
Among the targets announced Monday, the government aims to reduce the rural poverty population by over 10 million, reduce air pollutants in key areas, while working to forestall and defuse local government debt risk.
Xu Rui, an NPC deputy from Ruijin, Jiangxi Province, said that his city, a revolutionary base, had entered a crucial period to eliminating extreme poverty.
In villages after villages, people walked out of poverty as they were helped to grow better fruits, vegetables and tea, to reinvent their home-towns into tourist sites, or simply move to much more hospitable regions.
Zuo Xiangyun, another NPC deputy from Jiangxi, said his fellow villagers were among those who benefited.
"Tourists to my village increased from 100,000 in 2016 to nearly 220,000 last year," Zuo said. "As more tourists come, so do our income."
OPENING WIDER
This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the country's reform and opening-up policy, which injected vitality into the economy, sustaining it for four decades of steady, rapid growth.
Premier Li said China would be bolder in reform and opening up, calling it a "game-changing" move in making China what it is today.
He went on to say the government would better protect intellectual property and open wider to foreign investors, from the general manufacturing sector to telecommunications, medical services, education, elderly care and new energy vehicles.
The market opens wider as the country's middle-income group -- numbering around 400 million -- grow the appetite for high-quality imported goods.
To meet that demand, Li said, China will host the first China International Import Expo this year and lower import tariffs on products ranging from automobiles to daily consumer goods.
The premier said setting ambitious goals but taking little action would not be tolerated.
He said solid new achievements could be made "only by doing," and the future would be shaped by good solid work.
In his speech, he repeated the call for the people to "do the work."
"We must give our work everything we've got," the premier said. "The people's government does not let the people down."
NPC deputy Zhang Xiong, a professor at Tongji University, said the work report sent a strong message that China is firm and confident marching toward the goal of a great modern socialist country.
MORE TO FOLLOW
On Monday, the national legislature started deliberating a draft amendment to China's Constitution, the first such move in 14 years.
Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is expected to be enshrined in the fundamental law.
Mo Jiangping, a law professor with Southwest University of Political Science and Law, said China was at a critical stage to realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation and the constitutional revision would ensure better legal guarantees.
The national legislature will deliberate an institutional reform plan of the State Council.
Also to be deliberated is the draft supervision law, which, upon adoption, will give rise to a nationwide anti-corruption network consisting of supervisory commissions at the national, provincial, city and county levels to supervise all who exercise public power.
"This session is a watershed," said Zheng Changzhong, a political science professor at Fudan University. "Plans are now being made at state organs to work toward the goal set by the Party."
"We should do our jobs well as deputies, mobilize the public, implement the spirit of the Party congress and turn the wonderful vision into reality," said Li Shufu, an NPC deputy and chairman of Chinese auto company Geely, which became the largest single shareholder of German carmaker Daimler AG in February.
