Further promotion of social justice

Wen said the government will continue to work hard to promote social justice during his last year in office.

Income disparity and judicial injustice have incurred many complaints from the people, Wen told reporters. "We must continue to press ahead with various jobs to promote the social equity and justice."

Wen said the government will formulate an overall plan for the reform of income distribution system, and introduce a regulation on the expropriation and compensation of collectively owned rural land so as to ensure the farmers' property rights to the land they have contracted.

On education, Wen said the government has arranged the budget of raising government expenditure on education to 4 percent of China's gross domestic product (GDP).

"We must make every effort to meet this target and ensure that every piece of this spending will be wisely used," Wen said.

"We are determined to accomplish these tasks rather than pass on the problems to the next government," Wen said.

He said the government has done a lot of work over the past nine years for the social equity and justice. On the legal front, the government has incorporated the requirement on respecting and safeguarding human rights into the Chinese Constitution, the premier said.

The government has also formulated the Property Law to protect the legal property rights of the people, amended the Election Law to ensure equal rights of election of urban and rural residents, and abolished the regulations that restrict the freedom of mobility of rural residents into the cities. China's urbanization rate has surpassed 50 percent thanks to the abandoning of the restrictions, according to Wen.

In rural areas, the government has abolished the agricultural taxes so as to ease the burdens on Chinese farmers, Wen said. Also, the government has provided nine-year free compulsory education, and offered free vocational education and subsidy and scholarship for high school students in rural areas, the premier said.

The government also put in place a social security system that includes old-age pension, unemployment insurance and health care program, Wen said.

The health care program has already covered 1.3 billion people, Wen said. "All these measures are an institutional step of our society toward social justice," Wen said.