BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) --- Minister Xu Guanhua of Science and Technology
said Friday that China must maintain an annual growth rate of 7 percent for 40
years in order to meet the target of building a moderately prosperous society
across the country by 2020.
The time span he mentioned is between the late of 1970s, when China began its
reform and opening up, and 2020, which is the last year that China must fulfill
its goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way.
Addressing the news conference on building an innovation- oriented country on
the sidelines of the ongoing Fourth Session of the Tenth National People's
Congress, (NPC), China's parliament, Xu said "if we can maintain an investment
rate of 40 percent from now on, the contribution rate of science and technology
to GDP growth is slated to hit 60 percent from the current 39 percent.
"Otherwise, it is not possible for us to meet the target of quadrupling the
current per capita GDP by the year 2020."
"Our per capita supply of energy, water and land resources is becoming more
stringent and the problems of resources and environment are becoming
increasingly pressing after all these years of economic development," Xu said.
Only by promoting scientific and technological development can China solve
all these problems, he noted.
According to Xu, Chinese enterprises are under increasing pressure from
international competition as they become more deeply involved in the
globalization process of the world economy.
Xu also cited an example at the news conference to illustrate the importance
of building an innovation-oriented society.
He said Chinese enterprises have to pay high patent fees for some key
technologies. 20 percent of a mobile phone's price, 30 percent of a computer's
price and 40 percent of the price of a program-controlled digital machine tool
have to be ceded to foreign patents' owners.