China will not set target to double GDP from 2021: party official

[BEIJING] China will no longer set a target to double gross domestic product (GDP) from 2021, a senior Communist Party official said on Thursday, as top leaders look to high-quality growth in the long term.

The government will not solely pursue economic growth and will emphasise the quality of its growth, Yang Weimin, vice-minister of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, told a news conference.

China aims to double GDP and per capita income by 2020 from 2010 levels, and growth is on track to hit those goals.

In the opening speech of a key twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress this week, President Xi Jinping said China would deepen economic and financial reforms and further open its markets to foreign investors as it looks to move from high-speed to high-quality growth.

Mr Xi set bold long-term goals for China's development, envisioning it as a "basically" modernised socialist country by 2035, and a modern socialist "strong power" with leading influence on the world stage by 2050.

REUTERS