China sets major economic tasks for 2017

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Friday specified major tasks for the economic work in 2017, including further advancing supply-side structural reform.

The country should push forward reforms in key sectors, including state-owned enterprises, fiscal policy, finance and social security, according to a statement released after a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

China will enhance the rule of law, improve its investment environment, unleash consumption potential, further open up its economy and work to proactively attract foreign investment, the statement said.

The meeting was presided over by President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

China's economic growth remained within "a reasonable range" this year, with better quality and higher efficiency, the statement said. But it warned that the economy faces various challenges, including the contradiction between industrial overcapacity and structural upgrades in demand, financial risks in certain areas and economic difficulty in some regions.

In 2017, the country will continue its efforts to stabilize economic growth, promote reform, adjust structure, improve people's livelihoods and guard against risks.

The country aims to yield substantial progress on five major tasks -- cutting excessive industrial capacity, destocking, de-leveraging, lowering corporate costs and improving weak links, it said.

For the year ahead, China should study and establish a long-term mechanism compatible with the conditions in China and market laws, to ensure stable and healthy development of the real estate market.

Guidelines to enhance efforts to safeguard national security were passed at the meeting. The statement said China maintained overall social and political stability, but its national security remained in complicated circumstances.

The statement said China must integrate various resources and use a combination of measures to safeguard national security on all fronts. The country must also hold fast to "a centralized, unified, highly efficient and authoritative national security leadership system," it said.