Expansion of trade and investment, and more exchanges will deepen China's strategic partnership with Germany

It is a great pleasure to visit Germany at the start of the new year. Germany is the birthplace of a great many philosophers, scientists and composers. The Chinese people admire the German people for being talented and hard working. "Made in Germany", as a synonym of high quality, state-of-the-art technology and innovation, is popular with Chinese consumers.

The Chinese people have always cherished friendly sentiments toward the German people. During last year's World Expo in Shanghai, the German Pavilion hosted more than 4 million Chinese visitors, and still more toured the pavilion online or on TV. At the conclusion of the Expo, the German Pavilion was given the Golden Award for Theme Development. All these have brought Germany closer to the Chinese people.

I believe it must also be the desire of the German people to know more about China and its people. Over the last 30 years since the beginning of reform and opening-up, China has enjoyed fast economic growth. It is now a major world economy. People's lives in both urban and rural areas have improved significantly. Estimates show that China's economy maintained a high growth in 2010. Of the estimated 10 percent growth last year, over 90 percent was attributable to growth in domestic demand. Despite our achievements, though, we are soberly aware that China's basic national conditions haven't changed. China has a large population, a weak economic foundation and its development is uneven. And it has to face the mounting pressure caused by resource and environmental constraints.

China is still the largest developing country on earth. China's GDP may be one of the world's biggest, but when it is divided by 1.3 billion people, the per capita figure brings China down to somewhere around 100th in the world. Many German friends may have been to the coastal areas and big cities in China. But when they go further, to the vast central and western regions, or simply to villages not far from big cities, they will see places where there is a lack of proper transportation facilities and even drinking water. Out of the 1.3 billion people in China, 700 million are farmers whose per capita income is merely $800-900 a year. And 150 million people in China are still living below the United Nations Millennium Development standard of $1 per day per person.

The task China faces to develop the economy and improve people's lives remains daunting.

Recently, China adopted a blueprint for economic and social development for the coming five years. The guiding principle is to pursue scientific development, to put people first and promote comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development. We need to accelerate the transformation of the economic development pattern to achieve long-term, steady and fast economic growth and extend the benefits of development and reform to all our people.

To meet these goals, we need to boost domestic demand. To do this, we will adjust the structure of income distribution, improve essential public services and build a social safety net. By doing so, we will be able to increase urban and rural income and unleash the potential consumption demand of the more than one billion Chinese people. We need to restructure the economy to encourage technological innovation, green development and the development of human resources as ways to optimize the industrial structure, and promote balanced development between urban and rural areas and among different regions.

As we work to maintain a moderate speed of growth, we will also raise the quality and efficiency of growth. To do this we need to deepen institutional reforms. We will give full play to the fundamental role of the market in resource allocation, and will speed up reforms in corporate, fiscal, taxation, financial, pricing and other key areas.

Our aim is to enhance the internal forces that drive growth, make the Chinese economy more vibrant, and provide an institutional guarantee for China's economic transition and upgrading.

China will continue its efforts to overcome the underlying impact of the international financial crisis amid deepening globalization. At the same time, it will stick to the win-win strategy of opening-up. It will explore new areas of opening-up and raise the level of opening-up. China will only open wider to the world. It will be more conscientious in drawing on the achievements of human civilization and learning from other countries' best practices in development. It will take more concrete steps to enhance international exchanges and cooperation and work with the people of other countries to make our world a harmonious one of lasting peace and common prosperity. China's support of the EU's financial stabilization measures and its help to certain countries in coping with the sovereign debt crisis are conducive to promoting full economic recovery and steady growth.

Throughout the years, China-Germany relations have grown steadily. The two countries have established a strategic partnership. Over the past two years, China and Germany have worked hand-in-hand to tackle the international financial crisis. Both were among the first to achieve an early and strong economic recovery, and both contributed actively to the recovery of the world economy.