Fujian's Progress in 2020 and the 13th Five-Year Plan Period and Targets for 2021 and the 14th Five-Year Plan Period

2020 was a most extraordinary year, a year of overcoming the difficulties in solidarity. Facing the sudden onslaught of Covid-19, Fujian has all along put the life and health of people first, and scored a major strategic achievement in controlling the coronavirus. We brought local cases down to zero within 46 days after the first confirmed case was identified. We sent 1,393 health care workers in 12 groups to Wuhan and Yichang, and two medical expert teams to Italy and the Philippines to help with the fight. Our medical testing team pitched in with nucleic acid testing in Hong Kong. All these have contributed to the overall fight against the pandemic.

The year 2020 also witnessed Fujian’s decisive victory in the battle against poverty. 452,000 registered rural people living below the current poverty line were lifted out of poverty. 2,201 registered poor villages and 23 counties designated in the provincial poverty alleviation program eliminated poverty.

To cushion the shock of the pandemic, we took solid steps to ensure sound economic development:

Ÿ   Stabilize the six fronts (employment, finance, foreign trade, inbound investment, domestic investment, and market expectations);

Ÿ   Guarantee the six priorities (jobs, daily living needs, food and energy, industrial and supply chains, the interests of market players, and the smooth functioning of grassroots government); and

Ÿ   Implement the eight initiatives (the initiatives to improve industrial capacity and efficiency, to help hard-hit industries and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, to promote technological upgrading of enterprises, to stabilize industrial and supply chains, to develop new infrastructures and upgrade old ones, to expand consumption, to attract investment, and to ensure the basic livelihoods of people) .

According to preliminary statistics, Fujian’s GDP last year registered 4.3903 trillion yuan, up by 3.3%. Per capita disposable incomes of urban and rural residents reached 47,160 yuan and 20,990 yuan, up by 3.4% and 6.7% respectively. All energy conservation and emissions reduction tasks were completed.

2020 was the concluding year for the implementation of the 13th Five-Year Plan. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Fujian’s GDP passed the 3 trillion yuan and 4 trillion yuan marks successively, and per capita GDP approached 110,000 yuan.

Over the past five years, focusing on building a new Fujian featuring dynamic mechanisms, upgraded industries, better-off lives and beautiful environment, we have:

Ÿ   Deepened reform and opening-up, and unleashed the vitality and potential of development to the fullest;

Ÿ   Pursued industrial transformation and upgrading, and accelerated the establishment of modern industrial systems;

Ÿ   Addressed inadequacies concerning people’s wellbeing and significantly improved their lives; and

Ÿ   Promoted harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and maintained Fujian’s lead in eco-conservation in the nation.

The 14th Five-year Plan period marks the start of China’s new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country. According to the plans laid out in the 10th and 11th Plenary Sessions of the 10th CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, when China realises socialist modernization by 2035, Fujian will deliver high-quality leapfrog development on all fronts.

Aiming for the Long-Range Goals Through 2035, we will strive for higher-quality development. Accelerating the shift of economic growth model and drivers, we will expand our lead in overall size and further strengthen our economy.

We will strive for more efficient development. We will advance reform with the focus on key areas and critical links and open up still wider in more sectors.

We will strive for more equitable development. Following the people-centred approach, we will enhance inclusive programs that help improve livelihood and provide social welfare assistance, promote common prosperity, and deliver a better life to our people.

We will strive for more sustainable development. Guided by Xi Jinping thought on ecological conservation, we will continue to implement the eco-province strategy, chart the course of green development in all respects centring on peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, and put in place a modern environmental governance system so as to create a more appealing ecological environment.

We will strive for more secure development. We will improve and implement the system of responsibility for workplace safety, strengthen bio-safety oversight and risk management, enhance food and drug safety, and improve emergency response system. We will pursue food and energy security strategies, safeguard regional financial stability, and improve the crime prevention and control system.

The projected targets for economic and social development of Fujian in 2021 are set as follows:

Ÿ   GDP growth of around 7.5%;

Ÿ   CPI increase of around 3%;

Ÿ   A registered urban unemployment rate within 5%;

Ÿ   Per capita disposable incomes of urban and rural residents increase by 7% and 8% respectively.

To deliver these goals, we have identified nine priorities as follows:

Ÿ   Vigorously advance scientific and technological innovation to speed up Fujian’s transformation into an innovation-driven economy;

Ÿ   Continuously optimize industrial structure and accelerate the development of modern industrial systems;

Ÿ   Stay focused on the fundamental strategy of expanding domestic demand to continuously stimulate endogenous economic growth;

Ÿ   Pursue further reform and opening-up in all respects and facilitate the concentration of high-quality production factors;

Ÿ   Redress development imbalances and inadequacies and redouble efforts to advance coordinated urban-rural development;

Ÿ   Build Fujian into an eco-province and contribute more to the Beautiful China initiative;

Ÿ   Ensure and improve people’s wellbeing and open up new prospects for social development;

Ÿ   Move faster to build up Fujian’s strength in culture and rally people’s moral strength; and

Ÿ   Create new and better ways to conduct social governance and accelerate the Peaceful Fujian program with higher standards.