Delivered at the 1st Session

of the 14th Provincial People’s Congress of Jiangsu

on January 15, 2023

Xu Kunlin, Governor of Jiangsu Province

Fellow Deputies,

On behalf of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, I now present to you the report on the work of the government for your deliberation, and I invite comments and suggestions on my report from the members of the Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

I. A Review of Our Work in the Past Five Years

The past five years have been truly momentous and extraordinary. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has pursued a strategy of national rejuvenation amid global changes of a magnitude not seen in a century. With a strong sense of mission, tremendous political courage, and superb struggle tactics, the Central Committee has brought together the entire Party, the military, and the Chinese people and led them in effectively responding to grave, intricate international developments and a series of immense risks and challenges, solving a great number of problems that had long gone unsolved, securing many accomplishments that hold major future significance, and achieving impressive advances in the cause of the Party and the country.

Jiangsu bears the deep concern and ardent expectation of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the CPC Central Committee. The General Secretary himself drew a grand blueprint of building a prosperous, beautiful and culturally advanced new Jiangsu as we ushered in the new era and entrusted us with the glorious mission of striving to be a national pacesetter in pursuing reform, innovation and high-quality development, creating new development dynamics and advancing socialist modernization as we embark on a new journey. Over the past five years, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we acted on the guiding principles of the 19th and 20th National Congresses of the CPC, regarded the important speeches of the General Secretary during his inspection tour to Jiangsu as the fundamental guidance for our development, and fulfilled the major political task of carrying forward General Secretary’s important instructions and requirements. Following the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the requirements of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, we upheld the underlying principle of making progress while maintaining stability, acted on the new development philosophy to steer high-quality development, promoted reform and innovation, and struck a balance between Covid-19 response and economic and social development, and between development and security. We have concluded satisfactorily the mission of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, accomplished major tasks laid out for the 13th Five-Year Plan period, made a smooth start in the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and achieved the goals for the work of the government. The provincial GDP rose by about RMB 4 trillion over the past five years at an average annual rate of about 5.5%. Per capita disposable income increased by 42.3% over the past five years. Fundamental changes have taken place in ecological and environmental protection and the strength in culture reached new heights as we advanced solidly on the journey towards building a modernized new Jiangsu that is prosperous, beautiful, and culturally advanced.

1. The quality and efficiency of economic development improved significantly as we continued to take innovation as the primary driver. We highlighted the core position of innovation, stepped up efforts to connect the innovation, industrial and capital chains, and comprehensively upgraded the industrial foundation and modernized industrial chains.

Jiangsu’s regional innovation capability remained top of China for many consecutive years. In 2022, R&D investment accounted for about 3% of the provincial GDP, which was on par with that of a mid-level innovative country or region. The number of invention patents was 50.4 per 10,000 people, and scientific and technological progress contributed to 67% of Jiangsu’s economic growth.

Major headway has been made in building landmark innovation platforms. The construction of the Suzhou Laboratory was approved, the Purple Mountain Laboratory was included in the national strategic science and technology program, and the Taihu Lake Laboratory and Zhongshan Laboratory were inaugurated and put into operation. The National IC Design Automation Innovation Center was approved for construction in Nanjing, and the Sunan National Innovation Park made significant achievements. Jiangsu became the first province where all prefecture-level cities were recognized as national innovation cities.

Breakthroughs in key and core technologies yielded fruitful results. Jiangsu took the initiative to adopt the mechanism of selecting persons-in-charge among competing candidates for tackling difficulties of key projects. 190 general projects in Jiangsu have received the National Science and Technology Award cumulatively, ranking top among all provinces and autonomous regions.

Progress has been made in building a leading province in talent. In 2022, Jiangsu had a labor force of over 14 million people, among which R&D personnel took up 1.088 million and academicians of either the Chinese Academy of Engineering or the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 118. 

The development of a self-supporting modern industrial system picked up pace. In 2022, the high-quality development index of the manufacturing industry registered 89.1, and the added value of the manufacturing industry accounted for over 37% of the GDP, both ranking first in China. 10 industrial clusters, including the IoT, new electric power equipment, engineering machinery and biomedicine, were included in the national catalog of advanced manufacturing clusters, the largest number in China. 186 champion manufacturing companies and 709 “little giant” companies that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products have been fostered, and 274 enterprises have been listed domestically during the past five years.

The digital economy has become a new engine for high-quality development. In 2022, the size of the digital economy exceeded RMB 5 trillion, and the added value of core industries in the digital economy made up 11% of the GDP. Revenues of software and information technology services, the internet and related services grew by 2.17 times and 3.48 times respectively over the past five years. Jiangsu has topped the list in China in terms of the integration between industrialization and IT application for eight consecutive years.

2. The impetus for development has been further strengthened as we continued with our reform and opening up endeavors. We unswervingly advanced reform and opening up and constantly improved institutions and mechanisms for promoting high-quality development.

Breakthroughs have been made in key areas of reform. We steadily promoted market-oriented allocation of factors of production, completed the provincial three-year action plan for institutional reform and SOE reform, and made solid progress in key areas of reform, such as finance, taxation, education, healthcare, and ecological environment.

The business environment continued to improve, with focus on the development of policies, market, administrative services, laws and regulations, and cultural environment, and reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers, and improve regulation and services were pressed on with. A total of 433 items of administrative power have been cancelled or delegated to lower levels over the past five years. The separation of operating permit with business license was implemented throughout the province. Jiangsu has been reputed as the province with the best business environment for four consecutive years with 14.119 million businesses in total by the end of 2022, up by 74.3% compared with that of 2017. Guided by developing Jiangsu into a BRI hub, Jiangsu leveraged its eastward openness, promoted its westward openness and stepped up efforts to create new advantages in opening up.

Foreign trade and investment delivered stable performance with improved quality, where general trade accounting for more than half of the total. Home to 392 World Fortune 500 companies, Jiangsu has attracted USD 127 billion of foreign investment over the past five years. Jiangsu’s imports and exports with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative rose by 11.3% annually on average, accounting for 27.4% of China’s total. The China-Kazakhstan Logistics Base in Lianyungang and the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone have become landmark projects of BRI cooperation. 

The capacity of open carriers has been enhanced. The establishment of China (Jiangsu) Pilot Free Trade Zone was approved, with the development level and institutional innovation outcomes ranking top among the same batch of FTZs in China. National-level comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce have covered all 13 prefecture-level cities. Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) ranked first in the comprehensive evaluation of all national economic development zones for seven consecutive years.

3. Eco-environment indexes have reached the best outcomes since the start of the 21st century thanks to the efforts to prioritize ecological protection and pursue green development. We have ensured stronger ecological conservation and environmental protection across the board, in all regions, and at all times, and achieved tremendous gains in building a beautiful Jiangsu that benefits all. 

The critical battle against pollution has been advanced, and further efforts have been made to keep our skies blue, waters clear, and lands clean to high standards. The annual concentration of PM2.5 dropped by 33.3%, and the proportion of good air quality days and water sections under national monitoring at and above Grade III (excellent) standards in water quality rose by 5.2 and 30.4 percentage points respectively. Grade V water bodies were fully rectified, and black, malodorous water bodies in cities were basically rectified. We ensured drinking water safety and non-occurrence of large-scale algae-induced black bloom of Taihu Lake for 15 consecutive years, and met the target of utilizing 90% of polluted farmland and plots safely.

Protection of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River made solid progress.Steered by the guiding principle of protecting the ecological environment and guarding against over-development along the Yangtze River, we deepened the “4+1” project for pollution control, resolved problems such as heavy and chemical industries along both banks of the Yangtze River, took solid steps to implement the 10-year fishing ban, increased the proportion of ecological river shores to 64.1%, kept the water quality of the Jiangsu section of the mainstream of the Yangtze River at Grade II, thus greatly improving the ecological environment of the Yangtze River.

Efforts have been made to achieve both carbon peaking and carbon neutrality and incorporate these targets into the overall economic and social development plan. Haphazard development of energy-intensive and high-emission projects has been curbed. Energy consumption per unit of GDP and CO2 emissions per unit of GDP are expected to drop by 13.7% and 19% respectively.

Construction of environmental infrastructure was sped up. The number of demonstration areas for eco-conservation, national eco-garden cities, and national forest cities increased to 31, 12 and 9 respectively. Forest coverage and natural wetland protection rate registered 24.06% and 64.3%. The sound ecological environment has become a public good that brings greatest sense of happiness to people in Jiangsu.

4. Balanced development between urban and rural areas characterized by integrated development has been promoted. We implemented major national strategies for regional development, completed the “three zones and three lines” layout (three zones refer to urban zone, agricultural zone, and ecological zone; three lines refer to the boundaries between these three zones, permanent basic cropland red lines, and ecological conservation red lines), promoted complementary development across regions, nurtured synergy among regions at both sides of the Yangtze River, and pushed forward the interconnected development between north and south Jiangsu.

The integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region was promoted to higher standards. Bearing in mind the broader picture of national and regional integrated development, we implemented the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035 and Three-Year Action Plan and took substantive steps in building the demonstration zone for green and integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region.

The overall planning for “1+3” functional zone development (“1” refers to the Yangtze River city cluster, “3” refers to the Jianghuai ecological economic zone, coastal economic belt, and Xuzhou as a key city of the Huaihai Economic Zone) was promoted, the plan for the Nanjing Metropolitan Circle became the first to gain approval from the national authorities, and the plans for developing the coastal areas, Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt and Xuzhou National Sustainable Development Agenda Innovation Demonstration Zone were approved for implementation by the State Council. Capability of the Yangtze River city cluster and Xuzhou as a key city of the Huaihai Economic Zone to drive development was further enhanced. We improved the north-south assistance and cooperation mechanism for development and delivered tangible results in the joint development of industrial parks.

New-type urbanization and integrated urban-rural development have been accelerated. Permanent urban residents account for 74.4% of the population and 10 counties (cities) were included in the national demonstration counties of new-type urbanization.

Major breakthroughs have been made in infrastructure construction. A total of 187,000 5G base stations have been built, covering main urban areas of all cities and counties and key and central towns. Key water conservancy projects such as the new Menghe River and new Gouhe River projects have been completed and put into use. Lianyungang Port’s 300,000-ton waterway has been completed. The Sichuan Baihetan-Jiangsu UHV power transmission line was built and put into operation. The total mileage of comprehensive transportation network registered 187,000 km, with the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Railway, Wufeng Mountain Bridge, Nanjing Jiangxinzhou Bridge across the Yangtze River and the Yanziji Yangtze River Tunnel opened to traffic, and all prefecture-level cities along the Yangtze River connected by bridges and tunnels. Construction of the Xuzhou-Lianyungang, Yancheng-Nantong, Nanjing-Huai’an, Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou, Nantong-Suzhou-Jiaxing-Ningbo High-speed Railways as well as inter-city railways along the southern and northern banks of the Yangtze River have begun. Jiangsu ranks top in China with a total milage of 2,212 km in operation. The basic framework of the provincial railway network has taken shape in Jiangsu.

Huge changes took place in the agricultural industry and rural areas as we made solid progress in 10 key projects for rural vitalization, built 1.39 million ha of high-standard farmland, and ensured the effective supply of agricultural products, including over 35 billion kg of annual grain yield. Living environment in the rural areas was improved. Beautiful pastoral villages at provincial level covered all agriculture-related counties (cities, districts). Jiangsu was among the first to build two-lane class-Ⅳ highways in all administrative villages and extend the urban water supply network to almost all rural areas. The pilot reform of collective property rights was basically completed across the province as the right issuance to, registration of and certificate granting of the rural contracted land, rural residential land, and rural houses were finished.

The work of Jiangsu on collaborations with and one-on-one assistance to provinces in western China continued, as we invested RMB 31.84 billion of financial fund and contributed to the poverty alleviation of 102 national-level poverty-stricken counties ahead of schedule.

5. Solid and effective efforts were made to promote common prosperity and constantly improve people’s wellbeing. We have worked continuously to ensure people’s access to child care, education, employment, medical services, elderly care, housing, and social assistance, and completed the tasks to improve people’s wellbeing to better meet people’s needs for a better life. Efforts were intensified to implement the employment-first policy. Over 1.4 million urban jobs were created annually, accounting for over 1/10 of the national total. Urban-rural income ratio was reduced from 2.28:1 to 2.11:1.

Elderly and child care services were improved. The social security system has been further strengthened as we continued to improve the medical insurance systems at different levels, another big step cutting the out-of-the-pocket medical payments of individuals.

New steps were taken in education reform. The new plan for college entrance examination was adopted, bringing profound changes to the overall architecture of education. Education at all levels and of various types has entered a new stage of development, ensuring smoother access to education for students in Jiangsu.

A total of 4,920 old residential areas have been redeveloped, 1.32 million housing units in run-down urban areas and more than 400,000 dilapidated rural houses have been rebuilt, marking a significant improvement in housing conditions in both urban and rural areas.

Healthcare system was greatly improved. All prefecture-level and county-level cities have been approved as national sanitary cities. Jiangsu’s life expectancy has increased from 76.63 years to 79.7 years.

Cultural programs were further advanced, as manifested by the creation of a substantial number of literary masterpieces and a booming cultural sector. Public cultural facilities have covered all urban and rural areas. The Yangzhou Grand Canal Museum was completed, and the Jiangsu Section of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt has become a national model. Jiangsu ranks first in terms of the number of national model cities of civility.

Efforts to increase strength in sports were strengthened. We have successfully held the 20th Games of Jiangsu Province and the 11th Jiangsu Provincial Games for the Disabled. Jiangsu athletes scored excellent results at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Tokyo Paralympic Games and the 14th National Games of China.

6. Social harmony and stability was secured as a whole through upholding security. We prepared for the worst-case scenario, got our work done in ensuring security while promoting development, and spared no effort to achieve high-quality development while maintaining high-level security.

In the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, we have always put the people and their lives above all else, earnestly acted on the strategies and policies on containing Covid-19 by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, improved prevention and control measures based on time and situation. We have effectively responded to the continuous and repeated impacts of the pandemic and protected the people’s health and safety through the consistent strategies and flexible measures.

Workplace safety was improved. The one-year and three-year special action plan on improving workplace safety was implemented to high standards, resulting in an 86.66% drop in the number of accidents and an 85.67% drop in death toll compared with those of 2017.

Efforts were made to find out and resolve risks in key areas. Our financial eco-system has been continuously improved as we swiftly eliminated high-risk financial institutions and effectively curbed the high incidence of illegal fund-raising. 

Natural disaster prevention capabilities significantly improved, with one after another victories having been secured in flood and drought control. The initiative to build a safer Jiangsu under the rule of law reached a higher level. Important progress was made in the campaigns to combat and root out organized crime, and the crime prevention and control system was improved. Oversight of food and drug safety was strengthened on an on-going basis. Public complaints were properly responded to. A modern public legal service system was basically put in place. The social governance system based on collaboration, participation, and shared benefits was further refined. More than 99% of our people lived with a sense of security.

Over the last five years, we have registered new progress in work related to the elderly, women and children, the youth, people with disabilities, labor unions, the Red Cross, charity, volunteer service, care for the next generation as well as ethnic minorities, religions, audit, statistics, foreign affairs, Taiwan affairs, Hong Kong and Macao affairs, overseas Chinese affairs, advisory work, study of literature and history, the CPC history, archives and local chronicles. New achievements were made in work related to national defense mobilization, support to the army and preferential treatment of the families of servicemen, mutual support between the military and the civilians, ex-servicemen affairs, and civil air defense.

The past five years witnessed a host of major events of milestone significance as we proudly celebrated the centenary of the CPC, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 40th anniversary of the launch of reform and opening up, unleashing the great spirit of our people to forge ahead with enterprise and fortitude. We drew upon experience from the century-long endeavor our Party has dedicated itself to and stayed true to its original aspiration and founding mission in ways of enhancing capabilities in the performance of duty through learning and practice, exercising the administrative power under the rule of law and strengthening the government’s capacity-building. We consciously accepted the oversight of the Provincial People’s Congress, the democratic oversight from the CPPCC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, public oversight and oversight through public opinion. Altogether we handled 2,882 suggestions by deputies of the Provincial People’s Congress and 3,657 proposals by the CPPCC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, submitted 64 drafts of local regulations to the Standing Committee of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Congress for deliberation, completed legality review on 1,166 major documents, and revoked 124 provincial government rules and 690 regulatory documents.

Fellow deputies,

2022 is a year of great importance in the history of the CPC and our country. In the process of embracing the 20th National Congress of the CPC and studying, promoting and acting upon its guiding principles, people across the province fulfilled across the board the requirements of containing the epidemic, stabilizing the economy and keeping development secure, rose up to the huge responsibility of making Jiangsu a pillar of the Chinese economy, and made solid strides in ensuring stability on the six fronts (employment, finance, foreign trade, inbound investment, domestic investment, and market expectations) and maintaining security in the six priority areas (jobs, basic living needs, the operation of market players, food and energy, industrial and supply chains, and the smooth functioning of primary-level government). With these efforts, the provincial GDP topped RMB 12.29 trillion, with an increase of 2.8% and hitting a new trillion mark, and per capita GDP reached RMB 144,000. General public budgetary revenue registered a growth of 1.5% and amounted to RMB 925.89 billion. The economy continued to recover and showed a steady upward momentum. Our main work over the past year was as follows.

First, we went all out to stabilize the fundamentals of the economy. Giving more prominence to the task of ensuring stable growth, we planned ahead and moved proactively to take multiple measures to achieve better economic quality.

We made greater effort in regulating economic operation by putting into effect the monthly analysis and quarterly regulation mechanism. Solid steps were taken to secure energy and goods supply and keep the unimpeded operation of key industrial and supply chains. Operation of the power grid withstood the rigorous test with summer load surpassing 100 million kilowatts 19 days earlier than in 2021 and a total of 86 days around the year seeing the electricity load exceed 100 million kilowatts. We fully implemented the “33 Measures to Stabilize the Economy” and the “19 Policy Measures” unveiled by the State Council, and thought ahead in rolling out a number of policy measures such as the “40 Measures to Ease Burdens on Market Entities and Stabilize Economic Growth” and “22 Measures to Effectively Respond to New Changes and Shocks of the Pandemic and Further Relieve Enterprises of Difficulties”. We stepped up policy support to businesses to provide them with greater relief. The total volume of tax and fee cuts, deferrals and tax refund rose by over RMB 450 billion. The annual new loans hit RMB 2.63 trillion, and the growth rate of inclusive micro and small loans was about two times the average growth rate of various loans.

We concentrated efforts on expanding domestic demand. We tapped into the national policy-based and developmental financial instruments to finance 128 projects with a total fund of RMB 47.05 billion. We issued RMB 176 billion new special bonds, adding effective investment of over RMB 1.1 trillion. A raft of industrial projects with an investment of more than RMB 10 billion each and key infrastructure projects kicked off construction. Investment in 227 major provincial projects exceeded RMB 640 billion and investment in fixed assets registered a growth of 3.8%. We worked consistently to fuel commodity consumption and promote recovery in consumption of consumer services by introducing such policy measures as the “23 Measures to Boost Consumption” and hosting a series of activities aimed at bolstering consumption including the Suxin Consumption Festival and “Charm of Jiangsu” Cultural Tourism Consumption Promotion Season. Total retail sales of social consumer goods grew to RMB 4.28 trillion, the second largest in China.

We ensured foreign trade and investment delivered stable performance with improved quality. Such policy measures to this end as the “12 Measures to Ensure the Stability and Promote Quality of Foreign Trade” were laid out. The ASEAN Plus Three Forum on Industrial Chain and Supply Chain Cooperation and Taihu East Asian Entrepreneurs Forum was successfully held. Foreign trade volume amounted to RMB 5.45 trillion, up by 4.8%. Foreign investment in actual use stood at USD 30.5 billion, up roughly 5.7%, remaining the largest in China.

We intensified effort to enhance industrial competitiveness.We successfully hosted the 2022 National Development Conference on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises that Use Special and Sophisticated Technologies to Produce Novel and Unique Products, to which General Secretary Xi Jinping sent a message of congratulations. We nurtured innovative enterprise clusters and brought the number of high-tech enterprises across the province up to 44,000. Solid measures were adopted to facilitate the integrated and clustered development of national strategic emerging industries. The output value of strategic emerging and high-tech industries accounted for 40.8% and 48.5% of industries above a designated scale respectively. We fast-tracked moves to deliver the “531” industrial chain progressive cultivation project with the ultra-high voltage equipment, crystalline silicon photovoltaic and other five industrial chains reaching the medium and high-end level. There were another 48 national manufacturing industry champion enterprises and 424 national “little giant” enterprises that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products in the province. Four clusters were added to the National Advanced Manufacturing Industry Clusters list, the biggest in China. Credit structure was further improved. Jiangsu’s manufacturing loans achieved double-digit growth for 27 months on end. Another 25 businesses went public on the STAR Market while 14 were listed on China Beijing Equity Exchange, bringing the total number to 96 and 27, respectively.

We remained active in creating new engines driving the growth of digital economy. We implemented the three-year action plan on intelligent upgrading and digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. The year saw 30,000 industrial enterprises above a designated scale kick off upgrading projects and 10,000 complete upgrading tasks. The province was home to an additional nine national demonstrative plants for intelligent manufacturing and 79 model factories of industrial internet.

Second, we worked persistently to ensure and improve public well-being. We beefed up measures that deliver real benefits to the people, win their approval and address their concerns. Per capita disposable income of residents grew by 5% to RMB 49,800. The 50 tasks in 12 categories to improve people’s well-being we set out at the beginning of the year were all fulfilled following high standards.

We redoubled efforts to stabilize employment. We put into effect a number of policy measures with a view to assisting enterprises and stabilizing employment and took targeted measures to ensure that key groups of people, including college graduates, rural migrant workers and demobilized military personnel had better access to employment. More proactive job policies were put into practice to promote employment via different channels and entrepreneurship. With that, another 1.32 million urban jobs were created, and surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5%.

We continuously improved basic public services.We adopted a balanced and coordinated approach to key policies bearing on people’s well-being by implementing the list-based management of expenditures on people’s livelihood. Growth rate of expenditures in key sectors such as education and medical care turned out higher than the overall growth rate of fiscal expenditures. We accelerated steps in fixing the deficiencies in elderly and child care services. The year saw an additional 40,000 pre-school children enjoy childcare services and 36,000 public facilities undergo renovation for the convenience of senior citizens. The “15-minute healthcare service circle” could reach more than 95% of towns and sub-districts.

We stepped up effort to ensure supply of daily necessities. The multi-tiered reserve adjustment and forecast management system was bettered. Important daily necessities were kept in sufficient quantity and at stable prices. CPI was controlled within the projected target, up by 2.2%.

We put more effort in providing assistance to those in need.We launched a wide range of campaigns to support those in straightened circumstances and identify and address problems in the protection of rights and interests of women and children. 641,400 urban and rural residents living on subsistence allowance and 202,000 people in straightened circumstances benefited from the support scheme. We disbursed RMB 378 million in price subsidies, benefiting 4.55 million people in need.

Third, we stayed committed to upholding development security. We maintained a sense of responsibility by keeping alert all the time and took the initiative to build greater capacity in risk prediction, early-warning and prevention, as part of the move to substantively scale up high-standard security guarantee.

We engaged in science-based and accurate Covid-19 prevention and control on a regular basis.We timely improved and adjusted health protocols in light of the evolving situation and swiftly brought under control a few local cluster cases in the province. Our capability to prevent, control and treat major epidemics was enhanced to maximize the protection of people’s lives and health, and minimize the impact of epidemic on economic and social development. Bearing in mind the broader picture of national development, we sent altogether 17,646 medical workers in 21 groups in succession to assist Hainan, Sichuan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Tianjin and other regions in Covid-19 response and mustered every ounce of power to support Shanghai in the battle against the virus, thus contributing Jiangsu’s share to the national fight against Covid-19.

We put out all the stops to ensure workplace safety. The three-year special action plan on improving workplace safety was well underway and the one-hundred-day campaign to advance workplace safety was in full swing. We adopted resolute measures to curb the occurrence of serious and major accidents, resulting in a 33.67% drop in the number of accidents and a 30.32% fall in death toll compared with the previous year, on the basis of the good results achieved in the previous two years.

We made every effort to safeguard grain security. We designated approximately 3.56 million ha of land as permanent basic cropland and built in line with high standards about 266,667 ha of high-yield cropland that ensured stable yields despite drought or excessive rain. Water was leveraged in a science-based way in response to the lasting drought. The annual grain yield hit a record high of 37.69 billion kg.

We pressed ahead with identifying and defusing risks and hidden dangers in key areas.We worked persistently to resolve the outstanding government debts and properly defused risks caused by large-scale enterprises’ debts. We spared no effort to see to it that houses purchased by our people should be delivered on time. We took actions as appropriate to overcome difficulties in addressing major complaints made through letters or visits. With these efforts, we have sustained economic and social stability and fostered an enabling environment for the successful convening of the 20th CPC National Congress.

Fellow deputies,

Looking back at the past five years, we feel all the more the need to cherish the hard-won achievements. The key to our success lies in the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core to steer the whole Party, the science-based guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the direct leadership of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, and the concerted efforts and hard work of people across Jiangsu. On behalf of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, I wish to pay tribute and express sincere gratitude to workers, farmers, intellectuals, and people from all quarters across the province, and to medical workers, police officers, officials responsible for primary-level management, community workers, and volunteers who have contributed greatly to our fight against the pandemic. My thanks also go to deputies of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Congress and members of the CPPCC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, all other political parties, federations of industry and commerce, public figures without party affiliation, civil societies, the People’s Liberation Army stationed in Jiangsu, armed police forces, the militia reserve, firefighters, and to fellow compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, and overseas and international friends who have long shown understanding and support for Jiangsu as we pursue the modernization drive. 

That said, we are also keenly aware of the many challenges and difficulties daunting the economic and social development of Jiangsu, be it the volatile international situation or the Covid-19-induced shocks. The foundation to sustain economic recovery is yet to grow stronger. Three major threats continue to hold back growth, namely, shrinking demand, supply shocks, and diminished expectations. Technological bottlenecks in some key areas need to be cracked without delay. Enterprises in certain sectors, especially the micro, small and medium-sized ones, are confronted with many difficulties. Greater efforts are called for to take the coordinated development between urban and rural areas to a higher level. Rural areas still lag far behind in terms of infrastructure and public services. There is much room for improvement in sectors related to people’s well-being as our people face a lot of difficulties in areas such as employment, education, medical services, elderly care, childcare, and housing. The task to prevent and mitigate major risks remains arduous. It’s imperative for the government to further modernize the system and capacity for governance and fix the malpractice of pointless formalities and bureaucratism through continuous efforts. We have already put in place a series of measures to deal with these problems, and we must redouble our efforts to see them fully resolved. In the process of conquering one difficulty after another, we will open up new vistas for the development of Jiangsu.

II. Objectives and Main Tasks for the Next Five Years

The 20th CPC National Congress has called upon us to strive in unity to build a modern socialist country in all respects and advance national rejuvenation on all fronts. Jiangsu has a big part to play in the national overall development as it enjoys multiple advantages including the synergy brought by several national strategic programs on top of its solid industrial foundation, rich research and education resources, a sound business climate and a huge market. Jiangsu is thus well-positioned and obligated to take responsibility as a pillar of the Chinese economy and press ahead as a front-runner on the new journey. We shall bear in mind the national rejuvenation strategy within the wider context of the once-in-a-century changes taking place in the world and be mindful of the greater national interests. It’s important we harness the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress to achieve unity in thinking, will, and action. We will mull and plan Jiangsu’s modernization drive within the wider strategic context of the cause of our Party and country and follow closely the steps of General Secretary Xi Jinping to move forward on the new journey and in the new era. We will endeavor to let the pictures of Chinese modernization unfold in every perceptible way in the land of Jiangsu.

The next five years will be crucial for getting our efforts to promote the new practice of the Chinese path to modernization to a good start. To meet the general requirements for government work in this period, we shall:

-Follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era;

-Implement fully the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress;

-Conscientiously implement the important instructions and requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the work of Jiangsu, as well as the decisions and plans by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council;

-Carry forward the great founding spirit of the Party;

-Never forget our original aspiration and founding mission, always stay modest, prudent, and hard-working, and have the courage and ability to carry on our fight; remain confident in our history, exhibit greater historical initiative, and write an even more magnificent chapter for socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era;

-Uphold the underlying principle of making progress while maintaining stability;

-Fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts；

-Actively engage in the national effort to create a new development paradigm;

-Focus on promoting high-quality development;

-Remain committed to deepening reform and opening still wider;

-Score solid progress in promoting common prosperity;

-Comprehensively enhance the level of development security;

-Endeavor to promote the new Jiangsu practice of the Chinese path to modernization in the next leg of the journey;

-Better fulfill responsibilities for the new mission and open up a new chapter with solid steps and substantive outcomes.

With a focus on the principles of the 20th CPC National Congress and in line with the overall plans laid out in the 14th Jiangsu Provincial Congress of the CPC and the 3rd Plenary Session of the 14thCPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, we set the main objectives and tasks for the economic and social development in the coming five years as follows:

1. We will double down on boosting high-quality development and reach a higher level in contributing to the national endeavor to create a new development paradigm. Pursuing high-quality development as our overarching task, we will make sure that our implementation of the strategy to expand domestic demand is integrated with our efforts to deepen supply-side structural reform. We will move faster to build a modernized economy and effectively upgrade and appropriately expand the economic output.

First, we will put into full effect major national reform initiatives, intensify reform in priority areas and encourage creation among the public. We will attach importance to greater system integration and synergy efficiency as we plan and push forward a host of important reform measures that are of ripple effect. We will work consistently to improve the business environment, boost market confidence and inject fresh impetus into development.

Second, we will work faster to modernize the industrial system. We will advance new industrialization, expedite the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and develop strategic emerging industries. In this process, we will foster internationally-competitive self-owned brands and strive to get a head start in growing the digital economy, as part of the effort to build Jiangsu into a bellwether in the integration between digital economy and real economy with salient strength in manufacturing and product quality while continuously consolidating and expanding the leading edges of the real economy.

Third, efforts will be made to develop a regional economic layout and a territorial space system that promote high-quality development. We will advance the national initiative of Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta by following the instruction “encouraging the eastern region to modernize more quickly” included in the Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC. We will further implement the overall planning for “1+3” functional zone development (“1” refers to the Yangtze River city cluster, “3” refers to the Jianghuai ecological economic zone, coastal economic belt, and Xuzhou as a key city of the Huaihai Economic Zone), make holistic efforts to promote the development of a modernized infrastructure system, and facilitate the formation of a development landscape with South Jiangsu setting the pace, Central Jiangsu rising, and North Jiangsu catching up and surpassing.

Fourth, we will actively boost high-standard opening up, amplify the interplay between domestic and international markets and resources, promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, steadily expand institutional opening-up with regard to rules, regulations, management and standards, continuously improve the quality and level of trade and investment cooperation, thus building Jiangsu into a magnet for global high-end factors of production.

Fifth, we will further advance agricultural development, improve manpower, material, and financial resources to firmly vitalize rural areas in industry, human resources, culture, ecology and organizations, and accelerate the development of a land of abundance in a new era with advanced agriculture, beautiful villages, and prosperous rural people.

2. We will develop a strong workforce for the modernization drive and achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology. We will continue to strengthen the roles of education, science and technology, and human resources as foundational and strategic pillars for modernization, open up new areas and new arenas in development and consistently foster new growth drivers and new strengths.

First, we will continue to give high priority to the development of education. We will follow the fundamental mission of fostering virtue through education, accelerate the development of a high-quality educational system, deepen comprehensive educational reform, promote integration between vocational education and general education, between industry and education, and between science and education, and build a province of learning where lifelong learning is pursued by all, thus advancing development through high-quality education.

Second, we must regard science and technology as our primary productive force. Efforts will be made to implement the innovation-driven development strategy, improve systems for scientific and technological innovation, promote institutional reforms in science and technology, and create more national-level platforms and carriers. We will concentrate resources on original and pioneering scientific and technological research to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, create an open and globally competitive innovation ecosystem, and make Jiangsu a cradle of more innovation achievements.

Third, we will continue to rely on talent to pioneer and to propel development, adopt more proactive, open, and effective policies on talent, and comprehensively promote the reform on institutions and systems of nurturing human resources. We will give full play to the strength of top-notch talent such as famous academicians, nurture more first-class innovators, attract the brightest minds from all over through various channels to foster the strategic reserve of human resources, and actively set an example for modernized talent development.

3. We will work to promote common prosperity and more effectively improve people’s wellbeing. We will act on a people-centered philosophy of development, strive to improve people’s living standards in pursuing high-quality development, and ensure a more lasting sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security for our people.

First, we will deepen the reforms of the income distribution system, ensure more pay for more work and encourage people to achieve prosperity through hard work. We will promote equality of opportunity, increase the income of low-income earners, and expand the size of the middle-income group.

Second, we will implement the employment-first strategy, and improve related mechanisms to promote high-quality and full employment.

Third, we will continue to improve the social security system, expand the coverage of social security for low-income earners, and put our heart and soul into solving the most pressing difficulties of great concern to the people.

Fourth, we will promote the overall development of Healthy Jiangsu Initiative, implement a proactive population development strategy, and pursue a proactive national strategy in response to population aging. We will expand the availability of quality medical resources and ensure they are better distributed among regions, so as to provide all-round healthcare services covering the full life span of our people.

4. We will promote green and low-carbon development and improve ecological conservation and environmental quality in line with higher standards. We will follow General Secretary Xi Jinping’s thought on ecological civilization, act on the idea that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and build a beautiful Jiangsu with firm steps.

First, we will accelerate the transition to a model of green development, steadily advance both carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, adjust and improve the industrial structure, the energy mix, and the composition of the transportation sector through well-planned and phased ways in line with the principle of building the new before discarding the old.We will implement a comprehensive conservation strategy, vigorously develop green and low-carbon industries, encourage green consumption, and promote green and low-carbon ways of production and life.

Second, we will make further efforts to keep our skies blue, waters clear, and lands clean. We will lay more emphasis on comprehensive, systematic management and control at the source, take resolute actions to prevent and stop violations of environmental laws and regulations, upgrade environmental infrastructure, and seek continuous improvement in ecological and environmental quality.

Third, we will make holistic efforts to protect nature and the environment, ensure strict protection of the Yangtze River, take solid steps to implement the 10-year fishing ban, make greater efforts to build Happiness Lakes and Rivers, roll out greening programs in a well-planned way, strengthen protection and restoration of coastal wetlands and marine ecosystems, and enhance diversity, stability, and sustainability in our ecosystems.

Fourth, we will further modernize the environmental governance system, promote concerted efforts to cut carbon emissions, reduce pollution, expand green development, pursue economic growth, and ensure the positive interplay of high-level protection and high-quality development, setting Jiangsu as an example in the pursuit of the Beautiful China Initiative.

5. We will increase our strength in culture and continue to meet the intellectual and cultural needs of the people. We will draw on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to forge inner strength and inspire our people, accelerate the building of cultural confidence and strength, and consolidate a common intellectual foundation for people across the whole province to strive in unity.

First, we will earnestly uphold the core socialist values, put resources related to the Party’s heritage to great use, enhance commitment to patriotism, collectivism, and socialism, conduct extensive public awareness activities, work faster to develop philosophy and the social sciences, and better rally the people’s support and pool their strength.

Second, we will improve civility throughout society, continue the civic morality campaign, establish clusters of cities with high civility at the regional and national level, work to further strengthen the thinking and morality as well as the knowledge of science and culture of people in Jiangsu.

Third, we will develop cultural programs and the cultural sector, encourage people-centered cultural creation and production of more outstanding socialist works with Jiangsu characteristics that are welcomed by the people and inspire the people. We will implement a cultural digitization strategy, improve the modern systems for cultural industries and markets, strengthen the brand reach of Charm of Jiangsu in cultural tourism as powerful advertisement for Jiangsu to be better known and embraced by people at home and abroad.

6. We will improve development and security and uphold social stability and harmony, resolutely pursue a holistic approach to national security, and stay committed to building a safe Jiangsu. With this new security architecture, we will be able to better safeguard the new paradigm of development.

First, we will build up security capacity, improve intrinsic safety, control and defuse risks and hidden dangers in key areas, and ensure that no systemic risks arise.

Second, we will improve public safety governance, and follow the principles of putting safety first and placing emphasis on prevention. We will work faster to establish an overall safety and emergency response framework. Workplace safety risk controls will be strengthened, and safety supervision in key sectors and areas will be bolstered. We will tighten supervision over food and drug safety and improve the systems for protecting information network and data security. Emergency rescue capacity will be strengthened, and we will enhance our major infrastructure for urban transportation, public administration, disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief, and drive a shift in public safety governance toward a model of prevention.

Third, we will improve the social governance system, apply and further develop the “Fengqiao model” for promoting community-level governance in the new era, improve the mechanisms for appropriately preventing and addressing disputes between members of the public, enhance governance systems for urban and rural communities, enhance our work in handling public complaints and maintain open and regular channels for learning about people’s concerns, handling their claims, and protecting their rights and interests. This will foster a community of social governance in which everyone fulfills their responsibilities and shares the benefits.

Building a modern socialist country in all respects is a great and arduous endeavor. Our future is bright, but we still have a long way to go. We must always focus on the central task of the CPC and the goal of building a modernized new Jiangsu, maintain firm confidence and pool our strength, and make pragmatic efforts to advance China’s modernization drive through new Jiangsu practices.

We will continue to uphold and strengthen the CPC’s overall leadership and see that Party leadership is exercised in all fields and every aspect of the endeavors of the Party and the country. We will fully understand the decisive significance of the Party’s will which has established Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and defined the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and act on the overall goal and requirements brought forward in the 20th National Congress of the CPC. We must strive in unity like a piece of steel under the great banner of the CPC, advance together and act on the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the decisions and plans by the CPC Central Committee, ensuring that Jiangsu’s modernization follows the right direction.

The immutable goal of our work is to meet the people’s aspirations for a better life. Bringing benefits to the people is the top indicator of our job performance and we must ensure and improve the people’s wellbeing in the course of pursuing development and encourage everyone to work hard together to promote common prosperity. We should also work tirelessly to ensure that development is for the people and by the people and that its fruits are shared by the people, so as to bring the benefits of Jiangsu’s modernization to the people of Jiangsu.

We must, first and foremost, pursue high-quality development. We must fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, continue reforms to develop the socialist market economy, promote high-standard opening up, accelerate efforts to support the fostering of a new paradigm of development in our country, continue to build solid material and technological foundations for the modernization drive, and strive to be a national pacesetter in advancing socialist modernization.

We must intensify efforts to advance reform as our fundamental drive, carry forward the pioneering spirit, work actively and prudently to promote the positive interplay of reform and development and the compound drive of scientific and technological innovation and institutional innovation, so as to empower Jiangsu’s modernization drive through in-depth reforms and stronger innovation efforts.

We must make coordinated efforts and adopt holistic approaches for our work, apply systematic thinking, uphold fundamental principles and break new ground, and implement the major requirements of achieve better balance on six fronts (better balance between epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, between the effective improvement of economic quality and rational growth of quantity, between supply-side structural reform and expansion of domestic demand, between economic policies and other policies, between domestic and international circulation, and between the present and the long-term development). By doing so, we can develop a well-conceived approach to planning and advancing the endeavors of the Party and the country on all fronts in a forward-looking and holistic manner, actively respond to unstable and uncertain factors, and facilitate Jiangsu’s modernization drive with steady and sustainable growth.

Fellow deputies,

A vision is based on a simple principle: success can be realized only through action. Problems will be solved only through solid efforts, and dreams will be realized only through action. Let us always keep in mind that empty talk will do nothing for our country and only solid work will make it flourish. It is imperative that we integrate our courage and ability to carry on our fight into our unity and efforts, and meet obstacles and difficulties head on. We must further implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC by keeping the high morale and working hard with perseverance. We will make firm efforts to advance Jiangsu’s modernization drive through a Chinese path to modernization, living up to the expectations of the General Secretary and our people.

III. Priorities for 2023

This year marks the start of implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC. We must pursue progress while ensuring stability and better coordinate both epidemic response and economic and social development, seek development and safeguard security, prioritize efforts in stabilizing growth, employment and prices, strive to pioneer the overall recovery of economy, and demonstrate Jiangsu’s efforts in fulfilling responsibilities as a pacesetter, pillar and contributor.

It is expected that we will fulfill the following tasks in economic and social development in 2023:

-GDP will grow by around 5%;

-General public budgetary revenue will increase by around 5.5%;

-CPI will rise by around 3%;

-Per capita disposable income will increase in tandem with the economic growth;

-Another 1.2 million urban jobs will be created;

-The surveyed urban unemployment rate will be kept at around 5%;

-We will stabilize and raise the efficiency of foreign trade and actual utilization of foreign capital;

-Energy consumption per unit of GDP will decrease by around 4.5%;

-Total grain production will be kept at a stable level.

We will work towards tangible gains by giving priority to the following 10 aspects.

1. We will expand effective demand, work to see that consumption plays the fundamental role and that investment plays the key role, so as to provide strong support to economic recovery.

First, we will revitalize the consumption market, prioritize the recovery and expansion of consumption, and continue to amplify consumption brands such as the Suxin Consumption Festival that is held throughout the year and Charm of Jiangsu culture and tourism season. Efforts will be made to revive accommodation and catering sectors, business, retail and others. We will support high consumption in new energy vehicle and home appliance, and foster new consumption hotspots such as elderly and child care, healthcare, and fitness and leisure services. We will improve supportive policies such as consumer loans, creating a pro-consumption environment. Nanjing, Suzhou, and Xuzhou will be supported in building themselves into global consumption hubs with a faster pace, and efforts will be made to improve the accumulative effect of the three major commercial circles that center on Nanjing, Suzhou and Wuxi and Changzhou, and Xuzhou. Commercial systems at the county level will be improved and we will work faster to connect e-commerce systems with express delivery services in counties, townships, and villages, promote the integration of online and on-site consumption, and introduce new consumption modes to rural areas. We will act on the principle that houses are for living in, not for speculation, and accelerate our efforts to study and formulate medium and long-term plans to address root causes. Efforts will be made to meet people’s rigid and upgraded demand for housing, properly address housing problems for new urban residents and young people, and accelerate the recovery of the housing market.

Second, we will expand effective investment. Efforts will be made to increase investment in the manufacturing sector, continue to shore up weak links in investment in transportation, energy, water conservancy, environmental protection, and people’s wellbeing. We will improve our strategic layout in new infrastructure construction such as 5G, artificial intelligence and big data, and actively upgrade urban pipelines, including those for gas and water supply as well as sewage. The development of 220 major provincial-level projects and 102 major projects included in the 14th Five-Year Plan will be given priority to, and we will strive to bring more concrete results. We will give full play to the leveraging role of government investment, encourage private capital to participate in major projects to strengthen weaknesses, and deepen our cooperation with central state-owned enterprises, leading private enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises, so as to attract more quality projects.

Third, greater support will be weighted towards market entities. New national and provincial policies will be fully implemented to benefit businesses. More targeted policies and measures will be launched to address difficulties for distressed industries, SMEs and self-employed businesses. We will promptly formulate and implement incremental policies to bail out businesses in difficulty, so as to stimulate the vitality of market entities and encourage them to make more contributions to Jiangsu’s development.

2. We will work faster to modernize the industrial system. Efforts will be made to ensure development and security, improve the resilience and security level of industrial chains and supply chains with special emphasis on fostering clusters of emerging industries and upgrading links in the industrial chains, and create new advantages in industrial competition.

First, we will continue to improve the capacity level of advanced manufacturing clusters. Plans for improving the international competitiveness of key advanced manufacturing clusters will be formulated and implemented, and we will launch a group of projects to re-engineer industrial foundation, strive to make breakthroughs in key technologies and equipment, and renovate traditional industries. Action plan on upgrading links in industrial chains will be implemented and we will build 10 national-level advanced manufacturing clusters and 16 provincial-level advanced manufacturing clusters to high standards. We will work to upgrade industrial clusters such as new electric power and new energy equipment, biomedicine, and marine engineering equipment into world-class advanced manufacturing clusters. The development of strategic emerging industries such as biotech, new energy, new materials, and high-end equipment manufacturing will be integrated in an orderly manner with priority on key industries, creating new pillars for a modernized industrial system.

Second, we will accelerate the formation of the new service sector. Efforts will be made to implement the 331 Program (cultivate and form 300 provincial-level demonstration zones for high-quality development of modern service industry, 300 leading enterprises for high-quality development of modern service industry and 100 typical enterprises that integrate advanced manufacturing industry and modern service industry), and accelerate the development of the producer service sectors such as R&D, design, consulting, patent, exhibition and life service sectors such as healthcare, elderly and child care. We will amplify the in-depth integration of advanced manufacturing industry and modern service industry, promote positive interplay between science and technology, industry, and finance, so as to better meet the demands brought by the upgrading of industrial chains and consumption. Nanjing will be supported in conducting comprehensive trials for further opening up the services sector, and Taizhou will be supported in developing high-quality big health industry.   

    Third, intelligent and digital upgrading will be expedited. We will carry forward the action plan that spurs activities in core sectors of the digital economy, boost growth in emerging digital industries of Big Data, AI, cloud computing, the internet and blockchain, and proactively develop future-oriented industries, such as the third-generation semi-conductors and metaverse, with the purpose of surpassing the RMB 5.5 trillion mark in the total output of the digital economy. We will offer digitalization diagnosis to SMEs free of charge, use new internet technologies to holistically upgrade traditional sectors, and foster more state-level intelligent plants, leading digital enterprises, and pilot projects of the industrial internet. We will build Nanjing National Pioneering Zone for AI Innovation and Application, Wuxi National Pioneering Zone for Internet of Vehicles, Suzhou National Next-Generation AI Innovative Development Pilot Area, and National Pioneering Zone for Blockchain Development, while preparing for the successful launch of the World IoT Expo and the World Intelligent Manufacturing Conference in 2023.  

    Fourth, companies that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products will be given stronger support. Through a three-year action plan, we aim to increase the number of national “little giant” companies that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products to more than 300 and that of champion manufacturing enterprises with specific know-how to more than 30, as part of the move to unleash the immense power from these SMEs by seizing major opportunities of the development of the industrial chain.

    Fifth, financial support will be boosted, and supply of energy and electricity will be guaranteed. We will deepen the supply-side structural reform in finance, improve financial services, and guide financial institutions to bolster support to small-and-micro enterprises, innovations in science and technology, and green development. We will take active steps to push forward the installation of large-scale coal-fired power units under the national green transition program in the province, improve coal storage capacity both in vicinity and in distance, and promote the building of offshore and riverside LNG terminals. We will vigorously develop the renewable energy, encourage the construction of integrated energy bases outside of Jiangsu to meet peak electricity demands in summer and winter seasons, as part of the move to ensure safe and stable functioning of the industrial and supply chains.

3. We will build Jiangsu into a higher-quality center of research, education, and human resources. Committed to building self-reliance and strength in science and technology, we will advance education, research, and human resources in a coordinated way and increase the quality and returns of the technological innovation supply, as part of the move to explore new horizons of regional innovation.

    First, solid efforts will be made to build Jiangsu into an education center. We will work to see that education plays a fundamental role in providing strategic support, promote quality and balanced development of compulsory education in both urban and rural areas, beef up efforts to build flagship senior high schools, intensify progress in implementing the Pilot Program for secondary vocational schools and the Excellence Program for higher vocational schools, and start a new phase of Double First-Class Initiative and bolster high-quality development of universities. With these efforts, we aim to develop education that meets the people’s expectations.

    Second, the building of scientific and technological innovation platforms will be intensified. We will make every effort to build the Suzhou Laboratory, and support the Purple Mountain Laboratory, Taihu Laboratory, and Zhongshan Biological Breeding Laboratory to carry out more strategic tasks. We will work to see more technological and manufacturing innovation centers be recognized as national carriers.    Efforts will be made to upgrade the Sunan National Innovation Park. We will support Nanjing in building a state-level regional scientific and technological innovation center. We will implement the three-year action plan to deepen the institutional reform in science and technology by continuing efforts to build Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute into a testing field for the reform and promote the integrated development model of “innovation + industries + products”.

    Third, we will strive to make breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields. Steps will be taken to expedite the R&D and application of new energy, AI, bio-manufacturing, low carbon, and quantum computing, among other cutting-edge technologies. We will support top scientists in leading major basic research programs at the forefront of advanced technologies. Responding to demands of national strategies and industrial development, we will dedicate ourselves to campaigns for building stronger innovation capacity in integrated circuits and achieving breakthroughs in technologies relating to the digital economy, and coordinate progress in 80 programs for key technological research and development and 80 programs for commercializing major scientific and technological results, so that we can realize self-support in key fields and crucial links.

    Fourth, the principal role of businesses in innovation will be continually strengthened. Attempts will be made to increase support for 160 pioneering innovation-driven enterprises, encourage key enterprises to spearhead the formation of innovation consortia, provide incentives to boost innovation such as tax benefits for business investment in basic research and pre-tax deduction for scientific and technological innovation expenditures, and establish more high-tech business clusters with sound quality.

    Fifth, steps to build Jiangsu into a talent magnet will be accelerated. Underscoring the plans for attracting urgently needed talent in key fields and for talent grooming for a stronger industrial chain, we will leverage the role of talent consortia, establish “Ning Su” talent attraction platforms to high standards, build youth growth-enabling cities, and establish provincial-level talent attraction areas for distinctive industries of Jiangsu. Steps will be taken to ramp up global talent attraction programs and facilitate foreign nationals to work in Jiangsu. In so doing, the passion for innovation and business start-up will be stimulated.

4. We will take solid actions to modernize agriculture and the rural areas. By giving priority to modernizing agriculture and the rural areas, we will implement rural vitalization strategy on all fronts to ensure the quality and returns of agriculture, prosperity of farmers, and desirability of the countryside to live and work in.

    First, grain security will be enhanced. Taking grain security as a political responsibility, we will implement the strictest possible system for the protection of farmland. Another 80,000 ha of high-standard farmland will be added, and 138,000 ha of farmland will be upgraded. We will sustain the total grain sown area above 5,400,000 ha. We will improve the system of fallowing and crop rotation, decrease the use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides while increasing yield, and roll out a package of measures to invigorate the seed industry, boost high-quality grain projects, and improve the grain purchasing and storage capacity, as part of the move to further reinforce the foundations for grain security. To ensure effective supply of important agricultural sideline products, we will leverage various approaches to boosting the amount of land used to grow soybeans and oilseeds, quicken steps to launch 53,333.3 ha of vegetable production bases to ensure uninterrupted supply of vegetables, and work to stabilize breeding sow stock at 1.2 million heads.

    Second, countryside businesses will produce quality products and gain more benefits. As revitalizing businesses is central to rural vitalization, we will regard increasing farmers’ income as the pivot in our work related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. To that end, we will build up the value chain across the whole agricultural sector, enhance new industries and business modes such as leisure agriculture, nurture four provincial important industrial sectors that surpass the RMB 100 billion mark each in terms of output, namely, grain and oil, livestock and poultry, aquatic products, and fruit and vegetables, incubate bellwether businesses that generate more than RMB 10 billion in annual sales. We will complete the cold-chain logistics network that covers all major agricultural production areas across the province, nurture fine agricultural brands of Jiangsu, and establish national demonstration zones for agricultural modernization to bring Jiangsu’s agricultural modernization to new heights.  

    Third, efforts to build a beautiful and harmonious countryside that is desirable to live and work in will be made to high standards. Programs for dynamically updating township and village development plans will be accelerated, and the compilation of a pragmatic all-in-one village plan will be advanced in an orderly manner. As part of the move to improve interconnectivity and upgrading of infrastructure between urban and rural areas, we will implement the 15,000-km road safety and life protection project across the countryside, renovate 600 unsafe bridges, upgrade 1,200 km of water supply pipe network, and work to have another 15 counties meet the standard for urban-rural integrated bus services. As efforts to improve living environment in rural areas continue, we will focus on building demonstrative beautiful villages with sound ecology and livability, through approaches to advancing the Toilet Revolution, household wastewater and garbage treatment, renewing the outlook of villages, and carrying out greening projects in a coordinated way, improving houses for 100,000 rural households, adding another 130 beautiful pastoral villages at provincial level, and building 200 “green villages”. With these, we will afford farmers happy homes to enjoy modern lifestyle.

5. We will further promote coordinated regional development. As we intensify efforts to implement major regional strategies and strategies for coordinated regional development, we will work to address unbalanced and inadequate development.

    First, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta will be pursued to higher standards. As we proactively provide services and support Shanghai in playing the leading role, we will intensify efforts to build the Industrial Innovation Belt along the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway, the G60 Innovation Corridor, and the Taihu Lake Innovation Circle, expedite the building of the Nanjing-Hangzhou Ecological Economic Belt, encourage coastal ports to integrate with the Yangtze River Delta World-Class Port Cluster, and endorse coordinated development of the Taihu Lake Ecological and Cultural Tourism Circle. We will work together to carry out the Satisfactory Consumption in the Yangtze River Delta Region initiative and take reform measures in the joint building of the demonstration zone for green and integrated Yangtze River Delta development. We will accelerate the building of Yancheng Yangtze River Delta Integration Industrial Development Base, and intensify cooperation with border areas of neighboring provinces, with the purpose of making landmark advances.

    Second, the “1+3” functional zone development will be pushed forward to higher standards. We will quicken the Nanjing-Zhenjiang-Yangzhou, Wuxi-Changzhou-Taizhou and Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong integration, bolster development of the Yangtze River city cluster, and fuel the rise of the central axis of Jiangsu. We will endorse Xuzhou to evolve into a key city of the Huaihai Economic Zone, accelerate the building of the Jianghuai Ecological Economic Zone, turn the old course of the Yellow River into a green corridor benefiting the people, and support Suqian in building a demonstration zone for the integrated reform of new industrialization, IT application, urbanization, and agricultural modernization. We will carry out the next stage of the plan to develop coastal areas, bolster the maritime economy, and advance the development of Lianyungang National Demonstration Zone for Regional Cooperation in Eastern, Central, and Western China, as part of the move to stimulate activities on the land while unleashing potential of the ocean. We will strengthen the division of labor and collaboration in the entire industrial chain, further promote Jiangsu South-North Assistance Network and Jiangsu south-north joint industrial parks. We will make solid progress in the work on collaborations with and one-on-one assistance to provinces in western China.

    Third, new urbanization initiatives will see rapid progress. We will renovate old residential communities in urban areas and carry out urban renewal projects in a coordinated way, improve the carrying capacity of county seats, and work faster to grant permanent urban residency to eligible people who move from rural to urban areas, and build national pilot zones for integrated urban-rural development in the contiguous areas of Nanjing, Wuxi, and Changzhou to high standards.

Fourth, major infrastructure projects of transportation and water conservancy will be bolstered. We will make headway in building high-quality demonstration areas for modern transportation as part of the move to improve the modern comprehensive transport system. We will quicken construction of the Jiangsu section of the high-speed railway along the northern bank of the Yangtze River, the inter-city railways along the southern bank of the Yangtze River, the Nanjing-Huai’an Inter-city Railway, the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou Railway, and the Nantong-Suzhou-Jiaxing-Ningbo High-speed Railway. Construction will begin for the Weifang-Suqian Railway, cross-Yangtze River tunnel of the Shangyuanmen Railway, the north-south connecting line of the Jiangyin-Jingjiang Yangtze River Tunnel, and the expansion and upgrading project of the Wuxi-Yixing Expressway. Further preparations will be made for the construction of the Yancheng-Taizhou-Wuxi-Changzhou-Yixing Railway, and the Changzhou-Taizhou Railway. As we continue to improve the capacity for cargo service airports, we will support the revamping and expansion project of airports in close proximity to Shanghai, such as the Sunan Shuofang International Airport and the Huai’an Airport, accelerate the relocation of the Nanjing Tushan Airport, and establish the Nanjing Airport-based International Open Hub. Efforts will be made to improve the inland waterway transport network, and construction will begin for Phase II of the Suqian-Lianyungang Waterway. We will build a modern waterway network that integrates the urban and rural areas and expedite the implementation of Phase II of the Huaihe Sea Waterway and Phase II of the Suqian-Lianyungang Waterway, so as to promote strong support to coordinated regional development with distinctive Jiangsu water transport strengths.

6. We will beef up efforts to promote reform and opening up. Priority will be given to promoting signature and pioneering reform and higher-standard opening up, as a way of motivating people to pursue development endeavors.

First, reform in the following key fields will be deepened:

-Steps will be taken to advance building digital government, strengthen digital governance capacity, and expedite the building of digital government services network, so that more services will be made available online. We will make improvements to online platforms that facilitate the public and businesses, and consolidate gains secured in the reforms to streamline administration and delegate power, lower costs, and strengthen areas of weakness, so as to truly make it easier for market entities to innovate and start businesses in Jiangsu.

-We will deepen reforms in fiscal systems below the provincial level.

-We will actively participate in the 5th National Economic Census.

-We will deepen reforms to ensure production factors are allocated by the market and take solid steps to build market systems to high standards, so as to better serve a unified national market.

-We will proactively adjust and improve the layout and structure of the state-owned sector, and deepen reform to introduce mixed ownership in SOEs, so as to strengthen their principal functions and core competitive edge.

-We will work unswervingly both to consolidate and develop the public sector and to encourage, support and guide development of the non-public sector. We will treat private businesses as equals of the SOEs in implementation of institutions and law, protect the lawful rights and interests of private businesses and their owners, and build a cordial and clean relationship between government and business. We will nurture a group of model counties (county-level cities, districts) for high-quality growth of the private sector and benchmark private enterprises. In so doing, the private sector will be strengthened.

-We will foster a world-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized. We will intensify the implementation of the “1+5+13” policy system to improve the business environment, and refine the systems underpinning the market economy, such as those for property and intellectual property rights protection, market access, fair competition, and social credit ranking. We will standardize the benchmark of administrative discretion, take stronger action against monopolies and unfair competition, and expand and improve the institutionalized communication channel between government and businesses, foster a new, cordial and clean relationship between government and business, and help entrepreneurs to develop their businesses free from undue concerns, and to devote themselves to investment and creating start-ups.

 Second, opening up will be pursued to higher standards. We will stabilize foreign trade and improve its structure, support businesses in foreign trade in participating in domestic and international exhibitions, explore diversified modes of export, and foster new industries and business modes of foreign trade. We will step up efforts to develop services and digital trade, move faster to build cross-border e-commerce pilot zones, and take solid steps to develop pilot projects of integrating domestic and foreign trade. We will leverage the role of national demonstration zones for import promotion and capitalize on the spillover effect of the CIIE to increase imports of advanced technologies, key equipment, energy, and resources. Greater effort will be made to stabilize and expand inbound foreign investment. We will ensure national treatment for all foreign-invested enterprises, facilitate travels of businesspersons to the greatest extent possible, continue with the three-year action plan to encourage foreign-invested enterprises to plough back in Jiangsu, and guide foreign capital to participate in reinforcing, adding value to, and upgrading weak links in the industrial chains. We will put into effect the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and take quicker actions to build carriers such as the China-Kazakhstan Logistics Base in Lianyungang and the SCO (Lianyungang) International Logistics Park. We will support Xuzhou and Lianyungang in jointly building the landmark project of the Belt and Road New Eurasian Land-Sea Multi-Modal Transport Channel and improve the international exchange mechanisms with countries along the China-Europe Railway Express routes. We will take solid actions to expand the institution-based openness according to high-standard trade agreements. We will carry out strategies to boost Jiangsu Pilot Free Trade Zone, build Nanjing Jiangbei New Area to high standards, and support Suzhou Industrial Park in experimenting on open-ended innovation and in evolving into a world-class high-tech park and a cluster of multinational headquarters. We will bolster coordinated development of Taiwan-invested economy between Huai’an and Kunshan, move faster to develop international parks such as China-ROK (Yancheng) Industrial Park and China-Israel Changzhou Innovation Park, as we pursue transformation and upgrading and innovative development among all development zones. We will work to guarantee success in this year’s Cross-Strait Entrepreneurs Summit, Taihu Forum for East Asian Entrepreneurs, and China-Europe Railway Express Cooperation Forum, as part of the move to attract more high-end resources and production factors.

7. We will work to enhance ecological conservation. Focusing on addressing issues revealed by the central environmental inspection, we must hold on to the fundamental requirements of making the environment better, not worse.

    First, steps to achievecarbonpeaking and carbon neutrality will be taken according to plans and in different phases. We will carry out pilot programs to coordinate carbon and pollution reduction, and improve mechanisms to control the total amount and intensity of carbon emissions by curbing the total amount and intensity of energy consumption. We will establish systems for dynamic monitoring of the environment by regions and impose caps on pollutants discharge in industrial parks at or above the provincial level. A new round of clean production review will be rolled out in key industrial sectors. We will commit ourselves to renewable energy such as wind and photovoltaic power and clean energy such as hydrogen and nuclear power. Construction of 500 kV cross-Yangtze River channels will be accelerated. We will plan and establish networks to guarantee supply and absorption of electricity generated from renewable energy sources and encourage enterprises to participate in green power certificates trading. We will promote green and low-carbon buildings to lower carbon emissions in the field of urban-rural development. We will support Yancheng in building an innovation park for green and low-carbon development and Xuzhou in building a national innovation park for SDGs.

    Second, protection of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River will remain unchanged. We will bolster efforts to promote the “4+1” project for pollution control and consolidate and expand the outcomes scored in shoreline improvement and ecological protection and restoration. We will continue enforcing the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River and monitoring and evaluating the aquatic environments of the Yangtze River.

    Third, solid gains will be made in the battle against pollution. PM2.5 and ozone will be controlled in a better-coordinated way, and we will control VOCs in a clustered and targeted manner. We will expand ultra-low emission upgrading in key industries, and work towards fast elimination of heavy pollution days. We will boost the development of Beautiful Bays and strengthen control of nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants as well as new pollutants in major rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. We will carry out a new round of water environment treatment in the Taihu Lake basin. We will work for greater gains in urban sewage treatment and consolidate outcomes in the treatment of black, malodorous water bodies. We will carry out the third provincial survey of soils, establish a whole-process risk prevention system against soil pollution, and advocate waste-free cities across the province.

Fourth, protection and restoration of the ecosystem will be strengthened. We will advance the development of buffer zones for ecological safety, Eco-Island pilot zones and demonstrative areas for ecological restoration, implement a negative list of behaviors against the protection and restoration of ecosystems, move faster to make regulations on biodiversity protection, and work to promote the national protection and restoration projects for mountain, water, forest, farmland, lake, and grassland ecosystems.

Fifth, we will enhance capacity for ecological governance. We will strengthen cooperation with other provinces taking part in the pilot project for ecological governance modernization launched by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, roll out better fiscal, taxation and financial policies to facilitate green development, standardize the market-based trading mechanism for pollution discharge and carbon emission rights, improve mechanisms enabling compensation for ecological protection, compensation for environmental damages and value realization of ecological products, and make the sound ecological environment more valuable. We will continue to press ahead with environmental infrastructure development including sewage treatment as well as treatment and utilization of hazardous waste and scale up the development of “green island” projects.

8. We will strengthen the development of cultural programs and the cultural sector. Committed to building a pioneering province in cultural prosperity in China, Jiangsu will increase its supply of cultural products and services for the public, who will be enjoying a richer intellectual and cultural life with higher quality.

 First, we will create Jiangsu cultural hallmarks in the new era. We will continue to advance the development of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, the Grand Canal National Cultural Park, and the Yangtze River National Cultural Park, work out a plan to develop and protect the Jiangsu Section of the Yangtze River National Cultural Park, and work to make cultural events in Jiangsu more influential, including the World Canal Cities Forum and the Grand Canal Cultural Tourism Expo. We will protect and make better use of the revolution-related and cultural relics as well as cultural heritage and improve the system of protecting and carrying on the historical and cultural legacy in both urban and rural areas. We will move faster to advance the source-tracing project for Jiangsu’s local cultures and programs for combing through, researching on and advertising Jiangsu’s cultural context, so that amazing Chinese stories that took place in Jiangsu can be told in a more engaging way. We will further develop the center for implementation of advanced culture, improve the quality and efficiency of creating culturally advanced model cities, and work to facilitate the birth of China’s first paradigm cities with advanced culture.

Second, we will deliver better cultural services for the public. Our endeavor to benefit people with cultural services including teaming up 1,000 community-level cultural corps, creating 1,000 most beautiful public cultural spaces in urban and rural areas, and making cultural performances more accessible for rural residents will be delivered in new ways. Meanwhile, we will continue to encourage everyone to read more, advancing the development of a Jiangsu of Avid Readers. We will step up the integrated development with media, improve the efficiency of public cultural services delivery through better development and utilization of the primary-level public cultural spaces, and work to make access to cultural life smarter and easier for both urban and rural residents. We will make greater effort to improve the quality of literary and art works, host cultural events such as the Zijin Culture and Arts Festival and Kunshan Opera and Acrobatics Gala, and cultivate a group of renowned masters who pursue both professional excellence and moral integrity to build a stronger talent team underpinning Jiangsu’s artistic and literary strength.

Third, we will modernize the cultural sector at a faster pace. To ensure that major cultural projects play a leading role, we will develop cultural industrial bases and industrial clusters for distinctive cultures. We will expand outbound cultural trade and cultivate new business models and ways of consumption in the cultural sector.

Fourth, we will promote deeply integrated development of culture and tourism. Cultural development can help shape the future of tourism, and vice versa. Acting in this spirit, we will explore new ways to build small and mobile theaters and implement culture-tourism integration by combining resources of rural, intangible cultural heritage, revolution-themed and all-for-one tourism. We will work to enliven cultural relics and heritage under effective protection, take quicker steps to build world-class significant tourist resorts, and present the unique charm of Jiangsu to tourists.

9. We will continue to meet people’s basic needs and raise their living standards. Guided by the people-centered development philosophy, we will see to it that a greater share of the public finance will be earmarked to improve people’s well-being and develop communities and work all-out with resources available to ensure a better life for the people.

First, we will step up effort to increase the wealth of the people. We will roll out guidelines on promoting common prosperity and bring to the next level our endeavor that has helped people shake off poverty and become better off. We will work to enlarge the middle-income group, implement the 10-year double income plan for farmers, raise the bar of the minimum salary when the right time comes, and support regions in south Jiangsu in building demonstrative zones for common prosperity.

Second, we will take a host of measures to stabilize employment and create jobs. We will work out a new set of policy measures to stabilize and expand employment by easing corporate burdens, improve the public service system for employment, and render greater efforts to help young people, college graduates in particular, seek jobs. We will increase employment for key groups including rural migrant workers, ex-service personnel and urban and rural residents who face difficulties in finding jobs. We will make the employment impact evaluation mechanism up and running, encourage people to seek jobs through various channels, develop new forms of employment, and leverage policies to create more job opportunities. By doing so, the employment fundamentals will be stabilized.

Third, we will strengthen elderly and child care services. We will speed up improving the elderly health service system, bring about a fine brand of “enjoying the elderly services in Jiangsu”, and promote the integrated development between medical and health care with old-age services to better cater for the mounting health needs of the aged. We will deliver better infant and child care services, set up a coordinated mechanism for caring for kids’ growth in Jiangsu, improve the inclusive daycare system, and encourage the opening of private-funded daycare facilities to live up to people’s expectation of sound childcare services.

Fourth, we will make greater effort to build a healthy Jiangsu. Reform measures to improve the disease prevention and control system will be implemented with a focus on major diseases prevention and control. We will implement a special action plan to build high-standard hospitals and move faster to develop state medical centers and national and provincial-level regional health centers. We will work to ensure that quality medical resources will be increased and delegated to lower-level medical facilities to achieve regional balance in medical resource distribution, so as to build greater capacity of county-level hospitals and community-level medical facilities. We will improve the tiered diagnosis and treatment system, standardize the development of close medical alliances (for major and difficult diseases) and the county-level medical communities (for common and chronic diseases), and make sure that people seek their first medical consultancy mostly at community-level medical facilities. Greater efforts will be made to develop specialized medical facilities such as pediatric, infectious, and mental diseases departments, render better management on major, severe, and chronic diseases, and encourage new applications of the TCM. We will improve the policy system to support childbirth and rearing to address the low birth rate and aging. We will launch fitness-for-all activities and get ready for taking part in the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Fifth, we will expedite improving the social security system. We will work to include more people in quality and effective social insurance schemes, develop a multi-tiered old-age insurance system with multiple sources of funding, and promote the provincial-level unified management of basic medical insurance, unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance. We will improve the insurance and medical aid system for major diseases, raise the efficiency of settling medical expenses where they are incurred, promote the coverage of commercial medial insurances, and work to set up an insurance system for people in need of long-term medical care. We will improve the multi-tiered and categorized social assistance system, render greater assistance to special needy groups, and speed up improving the social security and service system for the disabled. We will redevelop urban run-down areas, build government-subsidized houses for rent at a faster pace, explore to develop a long-term rental housing market, and develop houses with joint property rights based on local reality. We will ensure the supply of major daily necessities with proper prices, and make sure that social assistance and security will increase in tandem with rising prices, so as to meet the essential needs of the people.

This year, we have listed 55 tasks in 13 categories to substantially improve people’s well-being. These project-based tasks will be checked for progress as scheduled, so that our on-going efforts will turn into more tangible benefits for our people.

10. We will adopt an active yet prudent approach to risks and challenges. Focusing on key areas and crucial links prone to high occurrence of risks, we will build stronger capacity of tackling major risks and ensure safety and security for development.

First, latent risks in key areas will be fully vetted and defused. We will carry out vetting to forestall risks in the real estate and construction sectors, large enterprises, and government debts, addressing root causes and symptoms of both short-term and long-term risks. We will prevent different risks from breaking out together and make sure that no regional or systemic risks arise.

Second, we will work relentlessly to ensure workplace safety. Special campaigns on workplace safety will be carried out to rid of hidden dangers in key areas and venues, and major and severe accidents will be forestalled and contained to the maximum extent. We will take solid steps to prevent, reduce and respond to disasters, in a bid to secure people’s life and wealth.

Third, we will work all-out to safeguard social security and stability. Initiatives of building a safe Jiangsu under the rule of law will be further implemented. We will improve the grid-based community governance with precise services empowered by information technology and step up efforts to overcome conundrums in addressing major complaints made through visits or letters. We will strengthen the building of a modern public legal service system, and work to prevent and dissolve social conflicts. We will act on the “four most stringent requirements” to ensure food safety, so that people will feel assured at each bite. We will intensify the overall crime prevention and control and keep up combating organized crimes and mafia-like gangs. Greater efforts will be made to implement comprehensive governance over cyber security, and all-media communication system will be improved to create a clean cyber space. We will take rigorous measures to fight against violations of law and crimes of all kinds. We will adopt a modernized approach to ethnic and religious affairs, and work to ensure social harmony and stability.

In the coming year, we will, as we do all the time, support development of national defense and military strength, and provide greater policy support to front-line armed forces. We will improve our national defense mobilization capacity and the development of our reserve forces, promote mutual support between the military and the civilians, and deliver better services for the demobilized. We will strengthen civil air defense, advance the integrated development of military and civil sectors, and cement and enhance the unity between military, government, and the people.

Our effort to prevent and control Covid-19 has entered a new phase by now. Guided by the important instructions by General Secretary Xi Jinping on Covid response, we will follow through the improved Covid response measures made by the CPC Central Committee and implement the significant decision of balancing virus containment with economic and social development. As Covid-19 is now treated as a Category B disease (in the same category with HIV and bird flu), we will better leverage the science-based, targeted, and efficient approach to containing the virus in an appropriate and orderly manner, pivoting on securing health and prevention of severe cases. We will step up the monitoring, study, and prediction of the epidemic, increase supply of drugs and test kits, treat severe cases, contain the virus in rural areas, intensify medical assistance to the needy and special groups, and focus on medical treatment of the aged and those with underlying diseases. We will effectively curb epidemic resurgence, ensure a smooth transition period and social stability, and fully safeguard the life and health of our people.

IV. Fully Advancing Government Self-improvement

Fellow deputies,

Government self-improvement is more needed than ever as Jiangsu is embarking on the new journey to advance Chinese modernization, and our government ought to adapt to, meet the needs of and answer the call of the changing times. We shall act with courage to engage in reform and innovation and press ahead with a stronger sense of responsibility. We shall follow through the requirements by the CPC Central Committee, advance with the times, and live up to people’s expectations in our thinking, capacity, and action, and earnestly perform the duty and mission bestowed by the CPC and our people.

We will cultivate greater political commitment. We will unswervingly practice the Party’s will which has established Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and defined the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, uphold General Secretary Xi Jinping’s core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and uphold the Central Committee’s authority and its centralized, unified leadership. We will constantly improve the ability to judge, understand political issues and follow political requirements, and closely follow the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in thinking, stance, and action.

We shall never forget our original aspiration and founding mission, always stay modest, prudent, and hard-working, and have the courage and ability to carry on our fight; remain confident in our history, exhibit greater historical initiative, and write an even more magnificent chapter for socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. We must remember: upholding the Party’s overall leadership is the path we must take to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics; building socialism with Chinese characteristics is the path we must take to realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; striving in unity is the path the Chinese people must take to create great historic achievements; implementing the new development philosophy is the path China must take to grow stronger in the new era; and exercising full and rigorous self-governance is the path the Party must take to maintain its vigor and pass new tests on the road ahead. We must remain clear-eyed and sober-minded with a firm stance whenever being questioned on upholding socialism, socialist path, orientation, and other fundamental principles. We will apply rigid political disciplines and rules, fully implement the decisions and plans by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council as well as requirements of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, and make sure that all government work is subject to the overall, systemic, and holistic leadership of the CPC.

We will work to build a service-oriented government. Our political stance remains firm that the country is the people, and the people are the country. All our administrative bodies are responsible to serve the people and are supervised by the people. We will work to improve the government accountability system, continue to separate government affairs with businesses, the financial market, the public service, and social affairs, further streamline administration and delegate powers, make new ways to regulate, strengthen public trust in government and improve government service delivery. We will upgrade government services on all fronts, move faster to improve the coordinated, five-tiered government affairs service system at the provincial, city, county, township and village levels with higher efficiency, and continue to raise the standard and facilitation of normalized services for government affairs.

We will build a government based on the rule of law. We will make good use of the rule of law to guide and standardize the shift of government functions, and apply the power list, responsibility list and negative list management on all fronts. We welcome the oversight by the Provincial People’s Congress and its Standing Committee as required by law, the democratic oversight by the CPPCC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, and the oversight by the CPC discipline inspection and supervision committee, the general public, and the public opinion. The oversight by auditing and statistic authorities will be strengthened.

We will continue to reform the comprehensive administrative law enforcement system, standardize the comprehensive law enforcement at the primary level, and intensify law enforcement in key areas closely related to people’s interests. We will work to improve the procedure of administrative law enforcement, making it effective and people-centered. We will see to it that major decisions of the provincial government will not be finalized before reporting to the Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress, and procedures that require public participation, expert evaluation, risk assessment, legality review and panel discussion must be completed, so as to ensure that any decision is made in a science-based, democratic, and lawful manner.

We will build a learning government. We will equip ourselves with the world view and methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and combine theoretical learning with regular training programs on the CPC history in the long run. It is essential that we fully understand and apply what we have learnt in practice and keep making progress by reviewing. We will take quicker steps to gain new knowledge and information, hone skills to promote high-quality development, better serve the people and defuse risks, and work hard to become specialized personnel to advance the Chinese modernization.

We will uphold the fighting spirit and hone skills to fight against all odds. We will strive to become a disciplined government with strong political commitment and fighting spirit, expertise in specific fields and a great sense of responsibility, who dares to face challenges squarely and is able to perform duty under pressure. We will excel in doing routine work, dare to challenge the difficult tasks at crucial moments, and even make sacrifice in times of calamity, bearing major responsibility with a “broad and iron shoulder”.

We will work to build a clean government. We will render greater resolve and courage to improve Party conduct and combat corruption in the government, keep up the effort with resilience and perseverance, and make government assume the major role in exercising rigorous governance over the Party. We will keep a tight rein on and supervise the exercise of power, fix the institutional loopholes that allow rent-seeking behaviors, focus on fighting against corruption in areas where power, capital and resources are concentrated, and “swat the flies” around our people.     

We stand ready to engage in this lasting hard battle against corruption in the spirit of self-revolution and will ensure that power bestowed by the Party and the people is always used for creating a better life for the people. We shall abide by regulations on upholding honesty and self-discipline, hold disciplines in respect and in awe, and know well which line cannot be crossed. We shall apply strict disciplines to ourselves, remain accountable, and adopt a stringent approach to corruption-related issues within one’s purview. We will stay committed to serving the people with an honest heart and strive to build a clean Jiangsu that lives up to people’s expectations.

We will improve government officials’ conduct. We will, as always, adopt a rigorous approach to upholding discipline and correcting misconduct. The guidelines of the eight-point decision on improving work conduct and its implementation rules as well as the implementation measures of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee are regarded as iron rules that cannot be breached. On-going efforts will be made to defeat pointless formalities, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, with focus on the first two. We will apply science-based and targeted measures to address problems in work such as making redundant and excessive requirements, lack of vigilance, power abuse, lack of responsibility and nonfeasance.We will carry on the spirit of arduous struggle, practice frugality, and save government spending to raise people’s living standards. Our discipline will include “tightening the belt” of government, so that financial resources available will flow to key areas.

We will carry out investigations and surveys, honor the reality and the actual needs of the people, and adopt a pragmatic approach to bringing tangible benefits to people. We will prioritize implementation and take prompt actions to turn decisions and plans into practice. We will create an enabling environment to incentivize government officials who are willing to serve as responsible doers and present a new outlook with high morale in the new journey.

Fellow deputies,

Only unity can ensure victory, and only hard work will lead to success. Let us rally more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the essence of the 20th CPC National Congress. We will strive to become a national pacesetter in pursuing reform, innovation, and high-quality development, creating new development dynamics and advancing socialist modernization, and take solid steps to press ahead with enterprise and fortitude. We will contribute Jiangsu’s share to promoting Chinese modernization, and open a new page in building a modernized new Jiangsu that is prosperous, beautiful, and culturally advanced.