The President of China - Hu Jintao, announced Sunday that the economy grew faster than expected - 10.2 percent in the first quarter of 2006 compared with one year earlier, but said the government was concerned about overly rapid growth. Chinese leaders have warned repeatedly that rapid growth could spark inflation or leave the country littered with unneeded factories and luxury apartments, causing problems for banks that financed them. "We do not seek high-speed economic growth," Hu Jintao said during a meeting with a former Taiwan opposition leader in Beijing.
The Premier Wen Jiabao and other members of the State Council, or Cabinet, on Friday called for the policy changes after examining data on money supply and investment in buildings, factories and other fixed assets.
China plans to reduce its GDP from an annual average of 9.5 percent in the past 25 years to 7.5 percent in the next five years from 2006 to 2010 by improving economic quality and making domestic consumption the major driving force for economic growth.
Hu Jintao announced first quarter growth figures during a meeting with former head of Taiwan's Nationalist Party Lien Chan carried live on state-run television. China issued new rules allowing mainland tourists to visit Taiwan, continuing Beijing's efforts to court the disputed island with economic overtures, but it was unclear when any Chinese tourism to the island would start.
China announced possible aviation, agriculture and finance concessions to Taiwan at an economic forum in Beijing attended by Chinese Communist officials and Taiwanese opposition politicians. However Taiwan must accept it belongs to "one China" as the precondition for talks, Hu Jintao told Lien Chan, the former chairman of Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party, who led the delegation of business leaders and party officials to the two-day forum. Chinese President Hu Jintao says new talks with rival Taiwan should begin as soon as possible to maintain peace in the region.