China's parliament starts annual session

The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body, met on Monday to inaugurate its annual session at Beijing's Great Hall of the People. Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a government work report outlining plans to promote social harmony.

Wen told the almost 3,000 NPC delegates that China would improve efforts to save energy, reduce pollution and maintain the country's economic growth. But while Wen noted that China's economy will rise by about 8 percent in the coming year, there was also emphasis on the need to make the economy greener, according to a BBC report.

Wen's report was in support of government calls to focus more on sustainable development rather than to maintain rapid economic growth at any cost. He called for better environmental protection, as China failed to meet its energy efficiency and pollution level targets last year.

"The pattern of economic growth is inefficient. This can be seen most clearly in excessive energy consumption and pollution levels last year," BBC quoted Wen as saying.

The speech, which lasted more than two hours, also called for more social fairness and justice, an acknowledgment that ordinary people weren't reaping the rewards of China's economic expansion.

According to Xinhua, Wen said that "social harmony and stability, as well as a better life are the aspiration of all the people and an important goal for the work of the government."

Wen promised that the government will invest heavily this year to address problems concerning people's daily lives, especially in the rural areas. He also announced a plan to provide a subsistence allowance system for poor rural residents who traditionally had no access to social security coverage.

The government plans to spend 201.9 billion yuan (19.8 billion euros) to improve the social security network, and a 10.1 billion yuan (992,000,000 euros) from the central budget to expand the coverage of a cooperative medicare system to 80 percent of China's rural areas.

Wen also mentioned that China will continue to strengthen its military, one day after the government announced that military spending will increase by almost 18 percent.

The NPC delegates will meet for 12 days. Monday's session was chaired by Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee. The inaugural session was attended by top Party and State leaders such as Hu Jintao, Jia Qinglin, Zeng Qinghong, Huang Ju, Wu Guanzheng, Li Changchun and Luo Gan.