The people of China have been promised by its government on March 5, 2013, that it will fight deep seated corruption, improve the environment and implement deficit-fueled spending. The government went on to address other quality of life issues, which are brought up time and again by a dissatisfied public.
Premiere Wen Jiabao, in his governments annual policy speech had signaled that the leaders would no longer emphasize growth at all costs and would down shift development to put some priority on social programs. Wen, in his 100-minute speech said, “We must make ensuring and improving people’s well-being the starting point and goal of all the government’s work, give entire priority to it, and strive to strengthen social development”.
The speech by the premiere had opened the national legislature’s annual session in the GreatHall of the People. It also marked his last speech before he retires. The address by Wen might have been given by an outgoing premiere, but it gained approval from the new Xi leadership team.
The speech was also taken as a sign of a changing style of leadership. The language in which Wen’s report was cast was much simpler than the often turbid phrasing of previous years.
