We have been making innovations in urban and rural primary level governance. The system for handling public complaints has been improved. The coverage of legal aid has been expanded. We have promoted reform and improvements in workplace safety, and seen a continued drop in both the total number of accidents and the number of serious and major accidents. We have reformed and improved food and drug regulation and strengthened risk control over all related processes. We have strengthened work on preventing, reducing, and providing relief for disasters, including earthquakes and serious flooding, and built stronger emergency response mechanisms employing a division of responsibilities between levels and close coordination. With this we have minimized the damage and loss inflicted by disasters to the greatest possible extent. China's national security is better safeguarded. We have improved the crime prevention and control system, worked in accordance with law to hit back against all types of crime and illegal behavior, and effectively safeguarded public security.

We have implemented the Party Central Committee's decisions on exercising full and strict Party self-governance and done more to improve Party conduct, build a clean government, and fight corruption. We have taken extensive action in raising awareness of and putting into practice the Party's mass line, in the Three Stricts and Three Earnests(The Three Stricts and Three Earnests refers to the need to be strict with oneself in practicing self-cultivation, using power, and exercising self-discipline; and to be earnest in one's thinking, work, and behavior.) campaign, and in the drive to see that Party members develop a good understanding of the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and General Secretary Xi Jinping's major policy addresses and live up to Party standards. We have worked hard to ensure compliance with the Central Committee's eight-point decision on improving conduct and staying engaged with the people and worked nonstop to address the practice of formalities for formalities' sake, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance. We have strictly enforced the three-point State Council decision on curbing government spending.

We have enforced strict controls over the construction of new government buildings and over the total number of people on the government payroll; and spending on official overseas visits, official vehicles, and official hospitality has been significantly reduced. We have strengthened government supervision and auditing-based oversight. We have taken strong steps to investigate, prosecute, and address violations of laws and regulations and severely punished those who have committed corruption. The anti-corruption campaign has built into a crushing tide, a tide with stronger and growing momentum.

Fellow Deputies,

Over the past five years, we have made new improvements in work related to ethnic groups, religion, and overseas Chinese nationals. We have supported faster development in areas with large ethnic minority populations, and have seen efforts to promote ethnic unity and progress truly paying off. We have actively guided religions in adapting to socialist society. Overseas Chinese nationals, Chinese nationals who have returned from overseas, and the relatives of overseas Chinese nationals who reside in China have made their own unique contributions to the country's modernization.

Over the past five years, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, we have embarked on a new stage in strengthening and energizing the armed forces. We have developed a military strategy for new conditions; convened the Gutian military political work meeting; and taken extensive steps to see that the armed forces are built on political loyalty, strengthened through reform and technology, and run in accordance with law. As a result, our people's armed forces have achieved a remodeling of their political ecosystem, of the way they are organized, of the structure of their forces, and of their conduct and image.

We have undertaken major missions involving the protection of maritime rights, countering terrorism and maintaining stability, disaster rescue and relief, international peacekeeping, escort services in the Gulf of Aden, and humanitarian rescue. With the cooperation of all those involved, we have basically completed the task of reducing the armed forces by 300,000 troops. Military equipment has been significantly modernized, and we have deepened military-civilian integration. The people's armed forces, full of new drive, have taken solid strides toward building themselves into a powerful military with Chinese characteristics.

Over the past five years, fresh progress has been made in work related to Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. The practice of "one country, two systems" has been consistently enriched and developed; the authority of China's Constitution and the basic laws of the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions has been further raised in these two regions. Exchanges and cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao have been steadily enhanced; the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has been completed, and Hong Kong and Macao have thrived and remained stable. We have upheld the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, strengthened cross-Strait economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation, and held a historic meeting between the leaders of the two sides. We have resolutely opposed and deterred separatist forces advocating Taiwan independence, firmly safeguarding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Over the past five years, we have pursued distinctively Chinese major country diplomacy on all fronts. We successfully hosted the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the 22nd APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, the G20 Hangzhou Summit, the BRICS Xiamen Summit, and other major diplomatic events at home.President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders have visited many countries and attended major events including United Nations summits, Climate Change Conferences, World Economic Forum meetings, and the East Asian Leaders Meetings on Cooperation. China's diplomatic agenda has been further advanced on every front. China has called for building a community with a shared future for mankind and has contributed more Chinese ideas to the reform of the global governance system. Notable achievements have been made in our country's economic diplomacy and people-to-people and cultural exchanges. We have been resolute in upholding China's sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. As a responsible major country, China has played a constructive role in addressing international and regional hotspot issues, thus making significant new contributions to global peace and development.

Fellow Deputies,

Looking back at the past five years, we have encountered a great many interwoven problems and a stream of risks and challenges. Both at home and abroad, there have been many new developments, developments that we have not faced since reform and opening-up began. The achievements we have made in China's reform and development have certainly not come easily. We owe them to the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, to the sound guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and to the concerted efforts of the Party, the military, and the people of all our nation's ethnic groups. On behalf of the State Council, I wish to express sincere thanks to the people of all our ethnic groups, and to all other political parties, people's organizations, and public figures from all sectors of society. I express our sincere appreciation to our fellow countrymen and women in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, in Taiwan, and overseas. I also wish to express our sincere thanks to the governments of other countries, international organizations, and friends from all over the world who have shown understanding and support for China in its endeavor to modernize.

As the Chinese saying goes, when all is calm, forget not danger; when all is well, be awake to woes. We are keenly aware that China is still in the primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long time to come, that it remains the largest developing country in the world, and that it faces a number of acute problems caused by unbalanced and inadequate development that so far have remained unsolved. The internal forces powering economic growth are not yet sufficient, China's ability to innovate needs to be stronger, and the quality and performance of development need to be improved. Some enterprises, particularly small and medium ones, are finding it tough going. Growth in private investment is weak; some regions still face considerable downward economic pressure, and risks and potential dangers in the financial and other sectors are not to be ignored.

Poverty alleviation remains a formidable task; agriculture is not based on a strong foundation. The disparities in development between rural and urban areas, between regions, and in income distribution remain substantial. Serious and major workplace accidents happen all too often. People still have a lot of complaints about air quality, environmental sanitation, food and drug safety, housing, education, healthcare, employment, and elderly care. The transformation of government functions has not yet reached where it should be. In government work there are places where we fall short. Some reform measures and policies have not been fully implemented. Some officials are weak on awareness that they are there to serve and must uphold the rule of law, and some lack commitment to their work and willingness to bear the weight of responsibility. Bureaucratism and the practice of formalities for formalities' sake exist to varying degrees. There are many complaints from the people and the business sector about the difficulty of accessing government services and the excessive array of charges. In some sectors misconduct and corruption are still a common problem. With a deep sense of responsibility to our country and people, with courage in the face of adversity, and with determination that won't be broken, we must give our work everything we've got, to make sure that the people's government does not let the people down.