Highlights of Premier Li's news conference

Premier Li Keqiang answers questions of reporters at a news conference for the first session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing on March 20, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

11 million new jobs in 2018

Premier Li Keqiang pledged to generate a minimum of 11 million new jobs this year and stressed the importance of ensuring employment for China's 280 million migrant workers who are working in cities.

The premier said at a news conference Tuesday employment is of "paramount importance" for each and every family and urged governments at all levels to put employment high on their agenda.

"Our minimum target is 11 million new urban jobs, and we will work for more than 13 million in actual practice. We have been able to do that in the past several years and there is no reason for us to fail to hit that mark this year," he said.

According to the premier, China has generated more than 60 million new urban jobs in the last five years. In this year's government work report, China incorporated the surveyed urban unemployed rate as a target for the first time, so it will better reflect the employment situation in both urban and rural areas, he said.

"This is the government putting pressure on itself," Li said.

Li noted China has some 280 million rural migrant workers in cities, who have contributed greatly to China's urbanization process by building skyscrapers and roads.

China will see some three to four million migrant workers coming to work in cities this year, he said.

"It is an important part of government work to provide job opportunities for these people," Li added.

According to the premier, this year will see a record high 8.2 million college graduates and another five million graduates from secondary vocational schools. There will also be some one million demobilized military personnel and workers affected in the cutting of overcapacity.

"We must work hard to ensure there will be good jobs for these people," he said, adding the central government will try to eliminate "zero employment" families and explore new channels for creating jobs.

China, US should be rational on trade

Premier Li Keqiang spoke on China-US trade issues on Tuesday and said it is hoped both sides act rationally instead of being led by emotions, and avoid waging a trade war.

Li made the remarks at a news conference held after the conclusion of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing on Tuesday.
He noted that much talk was heard recently about a possible trade war between China and the United States.

China believes that a trade war does no good to both sides, and no one will emerge as a winner from a trade war, Li said.

If one does have to use the term "war", it would be going against the rules of doing trade, because trade is realized through negotiation, consultation and dialogue, Li said. 

Last year, China-US trade exceeded $580 billion, and Li said the two countries have been doing trade to this end on the basis of business rules and market principles; otherwise, it would have not been possible to have such a big volume of two-way trade.

Speaking on the US trade deficit against China, Li said a large trade deficit – not just with the US - is not something that we want to see, and what we want to see is an overall trade balance; otherwise, this kind of trade would not be sustainable. 

Li referred to what he had listed earlier at the news conference about China's further steps for opening-up, such as those regarding services, manufacturing and products, and he said this will bring opportunities for the US businesses too.

Washington, at the same time, is urged to ease its restrictions concerning exporting high-tech goods or high value-added commodities to China, Li said.

China will further fully protect intellectual property rights, and it is hoped the US will not miss this important tool for balancing China-US trade; otherwise, it will miss a good opportunity for making more money, Li added.

Responding to the question on China's remarkable foreign exchange reserves, Li said China makes diversified investments of its foreign exchange reserves on the basis of market principles, and China will remain a responsible long-term investor.

China and the US have a relationship that is between the world's largest developing and developed countries. Their economies are highly complementary, and a stable China-US relationship is in the interest of both countries and the whole world, Li said.

China confident it can forestall risk

China is capable of preventing systemic financial risks given the country's sound and stable economic growth, Premier Li Keqiang said Tuesday.

The capital adequacy ratio and provision coverage ratio of the Chinese banking sector are higher than required by international standards, Li said. Banks must also put aside reserves worth about 15 percent of total deposits, meaning the banking sector has more than 20 trillion yuan ($3.16 trillion) as reserves, according to Li.

The premier made the remarks at a news conference after the closing meeting of the annual session of the 13th National People's Congress.

Li said China has achieved double-digit growth of fiscal revenue in the first two months of this year and the government is confident it will achieve its main economic development targets.

The government will continue to lower its fiscal deficit ratio, but this does not mean any change in the country's proactive fiscal policy stance, Li said.

Meanwhile, China will continue to crack down on illegal fundraising to protect the interests of investors. The merger of the country's banking and insurance regulators is aimed at preventing activities that evade regulation, he added.

Strong China-Russia relationship in everyone's interest

As neighbors, a stable and amicable relationship between China and Russia is in the interest of both countries as well as the world, Premier Li Keqiang said.

Li made the remarks at a press conference after the conclusion of the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress on Tuesday.

China-Russia trade relations have experienced a "saddle-shaped" change in previous years, due to phenomena like the change in the global trade situation and a drop in global commodity prices, Li said.

Trade relations between China and Russia reversed last year, he said, adding bilateral trade increased more than 20 percent, still with great potential.
The bilateral trade scale between China and Russia stands at about $80 billion, and the two countries could continue to innovate, tapping into potential and bumping it up to $100 billion, he said.

China opposes attempts for 'Taiwan independence'

China will not tolerate the attempt of any external force to use Taiwan as a card to cause difficulties for cross-Straits relations, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang warned on Tuesday.

Li made the remarks at a news conference after the closing meeting of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress.

Li noted that the mainland and Taiwan belong to "one and the same China" and must not tolerate any attempt for "Taiwan independence".

Beijing is ready to have dialogues and consultation with all political parties and groups in Taiwan who adhere to the one-China principle to discuss all issues that concern people on both sides and work for peaceful development of cross-Straits relations to eventually achieve China's peaceful reunification, Li said.

"We believe that represents the fundamental interests of our nation," he said.

Li said the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations has served the well-being of people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, and China vows to continue to pursue the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations.

"We have always been working to ensure that our compatriots from Taiwan will be able to enjoy the same treatment as mainlanders do when they come to work, live or study on the mainland, because we are members of the same family," Li said.

Beijing has recently issued 31 measures to promote cross-Straits economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation. Taiwan people will gradually be granted equal status with residents of the Chinese mainland with regard to entrepreneurship, employment, education and living.