Corrupt officials will be punished

The premier pledged to punish all corrupt officials.

"No matter what field is involved, no matter who is involved, no matter how high ranking he is, severe punishment will be handed out," vowed the premier.

He vowed to push forward the reform of the political structure, reducing the over concentration of powers and enhancing the supervision of the government by the people.

The premier also called for enhanced education of government officials and leaders. "We should let every official and leader know that the water can carry the boat, but it can also overturn it," said Wen.

Rights from the people

Premier Wen Jiabao emphasized that all rights come from the people.

The premier started his conference by talking about questions posted by netizens on the Internet. He said he paid high attention to netizens' suggestions and concerns about social problems, such as the children's health care.

The premier replied a primary student's letter Thursday with calligraphy and encouraged the student to study hard and grow healthily, Wen told reporters.

Wen also said that "We must understand one truth that all the government's rights are given by the people, we should rely on the people, work for people and try to be good servants."

Wen said China must adhere to its three-decade-old policy of reform and opening-up in order to develop itself into a prosperous, democratic, civilized, harmonious and modernized nation.

"We must hold a belief unswervingly: we are surly able to develop China into a prosperous, democratic, civilized, harmonious and modernized nation, as long as we emancipate our mind, keep abreast with the times, and seek truth; as long as we keep reforming and opening up; as long as we adhere to peaceful development, scientific development and harmonious development," he said.

"The current government has worked for four years, which told us that we must be aware of a truth: all power is given by the people, everything belongs to the people, everything should be for the people, everything must rely on people and everything owes to the people," he said.

"The staff members of the government don't have any power except working as good public servants for its people," the premier said.

Education equality

The Chinese government will continue to promote education equality and address the social concerns of vulnerable groups, especially the farmers, said Premier Wen.

Wen said that the aim of reform and construction is to meet people's material and cultural requirements. People's welfare involves the clothing, food, living and transportation. Currently, the most important thing is to promote the education equality.

"We will actively implement the employment policy, narrow the income gap, and establish the social welfare system that benefits both the urban and rural residents," Wen said.

Wen said the government has carried out many measures to solve the social welfare issues, with the focus on providing the institutional support, such as abolishing agricultural tax and strengthening the nine-year compulsory education. The priorities should aim to address the concerns of the vulnerable groups, especially the farmers.

Minimum subsistence allowance

China is going to legislate on minimum subsistence allowance to improve the living conditions of the needy, Premier Wen Jiabao said.

He said that China is considering establishing a plan on urban and rural medicare reform which will also eventually be complete with system guarantees.

China has already legislated on the elimination of agricultural tax and agricultural specialty property tax as well as the free nine-year compulsory education.

"Once system guarantee is in place, things will not change easily. Neither will they change with government and leadership," he said.

Wen said that the ultimate goal of China's reform and construction was to satisfy the people's increasing material and cultural demand. To reach the goal, China must address the issue of the people's well-being, which includes clothing, food, housing and transporting.

"The most imminent one is to secure the equal opportunity of the general public to education," he said.

Wen said that the government would look to the disadvantaged group, especially farmers, to solve the problems concerning people 's livelihood.

"The speed of a fleet is not determined by the ship which travels the fastest, but the one that travels the slowest. If we improve the living conditions of those in difficulty, we improve the well-being of the whole society," he said.

To ensure all the people can live a happy life, "the key is to secure their democratic rights and to promote equality and justice, " the Premier said.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily March 16, 2007)