China unveils broad economic blueprint

China's ruling Communist Party on Wednesday outlined a vague economic blueprint aimed at rebalancing an economy which has promoted 25 years of miraculous growth but engendered a massive wealth gap.
The details, carried by the official Xinhua news agency Wednesday, come a week after the party's annual plenary session adopted the 11th five-year plan for economic and social development.
It said that China must bring about more balanced and efficient growth and calls for major efforts to raise rural incomes, boost employment and create a more effective social security system.
While reiterating the goal of doubling 2000 gross domestic product per capita of 855 US dollars by 2010, China must "fully carry out the scientific concept of development, co-ordinating regional development and making China an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly society".
Gross domestic product per capita is currently around 1,000 dollars.
The world's most populous country aims to reduce its profligate energy consumption per unit of production by about 20 percent from current levels that is four times that in the United States.
It also vowed to intensify pollution controls, while promoting the development of the information, biotechnology, hi-tech materials, recyclable energy and aerospace sectors, the report said.
New technologies should be widely adopted to develop recognisable name brands with proprietary intellectual property rights, it said.
Meanwhile, a social security system suited to the nation's economic development level should be established, a goal regulators are still struggling with since the breakdown of the state's cradle-to-grave model.
Income distribution which has created a yawning wealth divide between rich and poor must be adjusted, it stated without saying how.
The document also formally endorses ongoing efforts to build a strategic oil reserve, a scheme that has repeatedly been delayed.
The National People's Congress, China's rubber stamp legislature, will review the draft of the five-year plan at its annual session next March.