China plans sweeping economic change, focusing on transforming the economic development model, to boost growth in a sustainable manner.
The transformation is also the key goal of China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), but Chinese and foreign experts said in interviews with Xinhua that it will take at least five years or even much longer before the goal can be achieved.
"The transformation of China's economic development model is an essential and core part of China's multi-decade process of reform, and it is perhaps the most challenging and difficult part," said Robert Kuhn, a renowned expert on China from the United States.
Chinese leaders and economists have said many times that the current growth model is not sustainable due to excessive dependence on exports and investment, and lukewarm domestic consumption and lack of innovations.
Transforming the development model is expected to be one of the focal points of the ongoing annual session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political consultative body, which opens Thursday.
It will also likely be a hot topic for the upcoming annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, which opens Saturday and is expected to vote to approve the 12th Five-Year Program before it ends on March 14.
"China has no choice. The transformation is the only way to continue economic development, improve standards of living for all citizens, and create a sustainable economy in terms of energy utilization and pollution control," said Kuhn, also author of "How China's Leaders Think."
"All of these were serious problems, and they can only be solved in parallel, at the same time, not in series. Trying to solve each problem separately will not work," he told Xinhua in an emailed message.
Although the Chinese government has long recognized the need for economic transformation, it has only been the last several years that concerted efforts have been made, said Kuhn.
"This is only natural because China's economy needed to grow to a certain size to even make the prospect of economic transformation rational. To try to effect the transformation with the economy at low levels would have been counterproductive," Kuhn said.
The transformation is also the key goal of China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), but Chinese and foreign experts said in interviews with Xinhua that it will take at least five years or even much longer before the goal can be achieved.
"The transformation of China's economic development model is an essential and core part of China's multi-decade process of reform, and it is perhaps the most challenging and difficult part," said Robert Kuhn, a renowned expert on China from the United States.
Chinese leaders and economists have said many times that the current growth model is not sustainable due to excessive dependence on exports and investment, and lukewarm domestic consumption and lack of innovations.
Transforming the development model is expected to be one of the focal points of the ongoing annual session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political consultative body, which opens Thursday.
It will also likely be a hot topic for the upcoming annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, which opens Saturday and is expected to vote to approve the 12th Five-Year Program before it ends on March 14.
"China has no choice. The transformation is the only way to continue economic development, improve standards of living for all citizens, and create a sustainable economy in terms of energy utilization and pollution control," said Kuhn, also author of "How China's Leaders Think."
"All of these were serious problems, and they can only be solved in parallel, at the same time, not in series. Trying to solve each problem separately will not work," he told Xinhua in an emailed message.
Although the Chinese government has long recognized the need for economic transformation, it has only been the last several years that concerted efforts have been made, said Kuhn.
"This is only natural because China's economy needed to grow to a certain size to even make the prospect of economic transformation rational. To try to effect the transformation with the economy at low levels would have been counterproductive," Kuhn said.
