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FACTBOX-Main issues at China's annual session of parliament
02 Mar 2008 03:08:21 GMT
 Source: Reuters
BEIJING, March 2 (Reuters) - China's parliament, or National People's Congress, opens its annual session on Wednesday. Following are some issues expected to be discussed during the meeting:

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ECONOMY

Markets will be looking for signs of any new policies to tackle a spike in inflation to 11-year highs. Another nagging short-term worry is the weakness of the stock market, which is down 29 percent from October's highs. Ways to cut the cost of trading stocks are likely to be discussed.

Initiatives to boost the vast rural economy also will be scrutinised.

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MILITARY BUDGET

China is expected once again to approve double-digit percentage growth in its defence budget. In 2007, its military budget was set at $45 billion, a 17.8 percent increase over the previous year.

Washington has repeatedly criticised China's military ambitions as opaque and many analysts say the official budget does not reflect actual spending.

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LEADERSHIP

The meeting will endorse a series of changes to government posts, following a reshuffle of Communist Party positions at the Party's five-yearly Congress last October.

Xi Jinping, who catapulted into the Party's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, is tipped to succeed Zeng Qinghong as vice-president.

A team of new vice-premiers will also be named. Among them, former Beijing mayor Wang Qishan is likely to be named vice premier in charge of financial affairs, a powerful cabinet post.

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RURAL POVERTY

The income gap between city dwellers and rural residents is still widening despite five years of efforts to lessen the divide and share the benefits of China's breakneck growth more broadly.

Measures to narrow the gap, which is feared to fuel social unrest in the world's most populous country, have become a perennial feature of the parliament session under President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

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ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM

Parliament is expected to approve the creation of four "super-ministries" for energy, industry, transport and the environment to steer key sectors, reduce bureaucratic overlap and streamline decisions.

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OLYMPICS

Beijing is scrambling to clean up its air and have everything from transport links to security measures in place by the Aug. 8, 2008, opening of the Summer Olympics. China also is seeking to deflect a wave of criticism from abroad on its human rights record. (Compiled by Lindsay Beck, Editing by Brian Rhoads and Sonya Hepinstall)


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