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10.2 p.c. GDP growth in 1st quarter: Hu Jintao

President seeks efficiency and quality

BEIJING: China scored a 10.2 per cent growth in its gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year, said Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, here on Sunday.

The country also achieved a 25 per cent growth in import and exports in the three months, said Mr. Hu at a meeting with Lien Chan, honorary chairman of the Taiwan-based Kuomintang Party.

The rapid economic growth and the big market have created favourable conditions for further economic and trade cooperation across the Straits, along with opportunities for Taiwan compatriots to give full play to the talent in China, he said.

``Frankly speaking, we do not want to pursue excessively rapid economic growth. What we are seeking is efficiency and quality of development, the change in the economic growth mode, resources conservation, environmental protection and improvement of people's livelihood,'' Mr. Hu said.

This is the second meeting between Mr. Hu and Mr. Lien. They met in Beijing a year ago when Mr. Lien, then chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) Party, had an ``ice-breaking'' journey to China. It was also the first meeting between the top leaders of the CPC and KMT in 60 years.

To curb the excessive economic growth, the State Council, or China's Cabinet, held an executive meeting on Friday, deciding to strengthen regulation of economic performance by adjusting and upgrading redundant production capacity, curbing new production capacity, improving efficiency of energy and raw material consumption and coordinating demand for and supply of energy and raw materials.

Lien's call

China and Taiwan should reinforce efforts to promoting peace and opening-up across the Taiwan Strait, Mr. Lien said. Both sides should endeavour towards unity, peace and opening-up, as ``the cross-strait relations are now in a seesaw struggle between peace and opening-up on one side and conflicts and closure on the other,'' he said. — Xinhua

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