2016年CRI New Five-year Plan Draws Attention（在线收听）

Addressing the opening of the annual gathering of the National People's Congress, Premier Li Keqiang has set China's GDP growth target for this year at between 6.5 to 7 percent.

He has also unveiled the draft of the much-anticipated 13th Five Year Plan that outlines China's economic and social development over the coming five years.

While there is still concern around the world about a possible hard landing of the Chinese economy, Park Sung-joon with Incheon National University in South Korea says the target growth rate looks sound.

"China has projected its 2016 growth at between 6.5 percent and 7 percent. It will be and it is a rare growth rate worldwide nowadays. If China aspires to build into a moderately prosperous state, it needs at least a 6-percent growth. So the projection is reasonably achievable."

The draft Five-Year Plan also anticipates average annual growth of above 6.5 percent from 2016 to 2020.

This would be the lowest in over 3-decades.

However, Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese Studies with King's College in the UK, says there is little need to be concerned, provided the changes to the economic growth patterns are managed properly.

"China's development has two quite special situations. One is the speed; the speed is much higher than other countries. The other is the scale; it is on a larger scale. Anything else is same as other countries, but speed and scale are the most important factors. The quicker the speed, the opportunity and ability to control development will become weaker. So, this is a problem: how to control the change. However, at the same time, it needs to change faster."

The new Five-Year plan also puts special emphasis on innovation.

Stephen Perry, chair of a UK business organization – 48 Group Club - says the concept of innovation fits with the current economic growth strategy.

"Innovation suggests transformation and change, and always moving forward. And if leaders can accept that things will always be changing, that there would be no plateaus, no stabilities, things will always be moving into more and more stages of development."

Stephen Roach, with Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, says the global economy will stand to benefit from the changes in the Chinese growth model.

"If China is successful in creating a new middle class, a new consumer-led growth dynamic, that's an enormous new source of global aggregate demand for the world and Asia to benefit from."

The 13th Five-Year plan is being reviewed by lawmakers, and is to be adopted before the annual NPC session wraps up.

For CRI, this is Li Jianhua.