Leadership charts path

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China is to commission a specialized high-level group to design and coordinate the country's "great revolution" of reform and opening-up. The move comes 10 years after the ministry-level economic reform commission was merged with the former State planning commission into the National Development and Reform Commission.

The new Central Reform Leading Group is likely to be an even higher-level body than the former economic reform commission, think-tank researchers said.

The new leading group will probably be positioned at the same level as the Central Finance and Economy Leading Group, said Liu Fuhuan, from the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission.

Part of the new group's duties, apart from economic reform, is to plan and carry out reform on modernizing China's "governance system" and "governance capability".

These two new concepts were raised at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee, a four-day meeting that ended in Beijing on Tuesday.

In a communique that mentioned the word "market" 22 times, Chinese leaders attributed the "decisive role" of the market economy in allocating resources. The communique pledged to speed up the building of China's modern market system, its macroeconomic stewardship and its open economic system.

It also vowed to speed up transition of the economy's growth model and promote innovation to facilitate China's more efficient, more equitable and more sustainable development.

The core issue of the reform, as pointed out in the communique, is to "better handle the relationship between government and the market".

The unprecedented emphasis is expected to bring more market vitality, competition and equal access in otherwise monopolized sectors, analysts said.

Among other initiatives singled out for reform, the Party said it will deepen fiscal and tax reform, establish a unified land market in cities and the countryside, set up a sustainable social security system, and give farmers more property rights -all seen as necessary for putting the world's second-largest economy on a more sustainable footing.

Questions:

1. What is the name of the specialized high-level group established to design and coordinate China’s "great revolution" of reform and opening-up?

2. Where was the group organized?

3. What is the core issue of reform?

Answers:

1. The Central Reform Leading Group.

2. At the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee.

3. To "better handle the relationship between government and the market".

About the broadcaster:

Anne Ruisi is an editor at China Daily online with more than 30 years of experience as a newspaper editor and reporter. She has worked at newspapers in the U.S., including The Birmingham News in Alabama and City Newspaper of Rochester, N.Y.