BEIJING (March 06 2004): Prime Minister Wen Jiabao pledged to help the country’s millions of impoverished farmers and cool blistering economic growth amid fears of social unrest as China’s annual parliament session opened Friday.

In his 90-minute address at the Great Hall of the People, Wen said investment in the rural economy would be boosted and announced tax cuts for hundreds of millions of rural workers to narrow a widening rich-poor gap.

"Solving problems facing agriculture, rural areas and farmers is a top priority in all our work," he said at the opening of the National People’s Congress (NPC) parliament.

"Once again, China’s agriculture is in a crucial period of its develoment."

With China’s development drive rapidly swallowing up farmland, Wen said strict controls would be placed on illegal acquisitions in a bid to retain the ability to feed the country’s 1.3 billion people.

As China has raced into the modern age, a glaring lack of economic opportunities among its 900 million peasants has become increasingly evident, raising fears of social unrest and turmoil.

Government corruption and power abuse at the local level have been cited as major reasons hampering rural development and Wen vowed the fight against graft would be stepped up.

Meanwhile, Wen indicated the government wants to cool the pace of the country’s economic growth, as concerns deepen that the economy is overheating.

He forecast seven per cent growth in 2004, compared to 9.1 per cent last year.

"In setting strategy for this year’s economic growth, of around seven per cent, the central government has taken into consideration both the need for continuity in marco-control and the relationship between the pace of economic growth and ... supply and demand," said Wen, who was appointed a year ago. In his work report to the some 5,000 delegates and advisors to the congress, he stressed it was important to stymie the scale of fixed asset investment, in a veiled criticism of his predecessors.

"One important task for macro-control this year is to appropriately control the scale of investment of fixed assets and firmly halt haphazard investment and low-level, redundant construction in some industries and regions," he said.

The News International, Pakistan