China vows more money for poor

BEIJING, China -- China's premier is pledging to narrow the gap between rich and poor as the National People's Congress opened its 10-day session in Beijing.

In the opening session of China's parliament, Premier Wen Jiabao introduced a new five-year plan to improve education and health care for the rural poor, CNN's Stan Grant reported.

Wen opened the annual session of China's figurehead parliament on Sunday with promises of new social spending for the country's rural poor, and said the economy is expected to slow but should still grow by 8 percent.

Also Sunday, the issue of Iran's nuclear program surfaced in Beijing. China's foreign minister urged Tehran to return to negotiations with the European Union.

The session of the National People's Congress was expected to focus on efforts to ease tensions over the gulf between China's rich and poor by spending more to help the countryside, home to 800 million people, and others left behind by its economic boom.

"Building a 'new socialist countryside' is a major historic task," Wen said in a nationally televised address to 2,927 NPC delegates, according to a report from The Associated Press.

This year, Beijing will spend an extra $5.2 billion on rural schools, hospitals, crop subsidies and other programs, raising spending on those areas by 15 percent, Wen said.

The AP reported that a 15,000-member security force set up around the hall to block protests by laid-off workers, farmers with land disputes or supporters of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.

The AP reported that pedestrians were stopped and questioned, and at least one man was detained. A group of college students who approached a foreigner reporter, apparently hoping to practice their English, were ordered away by a policeman, the AP reported.

The premier promised "fast yet steady" economic development, according to the AP. Wen said growth was expected to fall to 8 percent this year -- down from 9.9 percent last year and below a World Bank projection of 9.2 percent for 2006, the AP reported.

Wen said a key government priority will be increasing domestic consumption, the AP reported. Additionally, the Chinese budget calls for a sharp increase in spending on science.

CNN's Stan Grant also reported that Wen also warned Taiwan's democratically elected leaders against pursuing formal independence -- a step that Beijing has warned could lead to war with the island, which has been split from the mainland since 1949.

Beijing has no official relations with Taipei and reacted angrily this week when Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian abolished an agency dedicated to unifying the island with the mainland.

The government announced Saturday that its military budget this year will rise 14.7 percent to $35.3 billion. Total spending on the 2.5 million-member People's Liberation Army is believed to be as much as several times the reported figure, according to the AP.

The NPC's 10-day annual session is a carefully scripted event for an almost powerless body that routinely endorses policies already decided by communist leaders.