12.46pm Describing agriculture as “always a disadvantaged sector” in the Chinese economy, Li pledged that investment in agriculture and support for farmers would not decrease. He noted that low productivity had left domestic prices of major grains such as rice, wheat and corn much higher than the global market. “The key is to better balance urbanisation and modernisation of agriculture, to let more farmers go to urban areas and stay if they’re qualified,” he said, adding that this would provide more space for large-scale agricultural operations and improve farmers’ income.

JAPAN & SOUTH KOREA

12.35pm: Although there had been some improvement, Sino-Japanese ties were still fragile, Li said. Both sides should adhere to agreement over historical issues, he said. The premier talked about Google’s AlphaGo computer programme that beat South Korea’s world Go champion. Li said the popularity of the game showed the cultural similarity among Chinese, Japanese and Korean people. Google’s machine was also a human creation, he noted. China, Japan and South Korea could work together on technology to improve the well-being of their people. “We can join hands to jointly explore the big world market,” he said.

GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY

12.30pm: Li said he welcomed the public – including the media – to supervise government work. Ministers were ordered to speak to the press before the opening of China’s annual parliamentary meetings, the “two sessions”, the premier said. “I told them, you can’t keep silent and take a quick leave when reporters don’t ask questions … [And when they do,] you should give straightforward answers to the questions.” Li said the government should be more proactive in responding to public concerns and let people know the things it was working on. He also pledged to make government information more accessible for the public, especially budgets and matters relating to income and expenses.

PUBLIC MEDICAL INSURANCE

12.23pm: Li pledged to, in two years, have the public medical insurance foot hospital in-patient service bills that are incurred in places other than the patient’s household registration province. He also pledged to ease the burden of the elderly who might leave their hometowns to help raise their grandchildren. Presently, residents can have their hospital bills covered by public medical insurance in the municipal city of their household registration. Beijing wants the insurance expanded to cover bills incurred within the province. “It’s of paramount importance to the family,” said Li, referring to elderly people who were forced to return to their hometowns for in-patient treatment because of the present policy. “Real-time public medical insurance settlement is a reasonable demand and it should not hurt residents.”

TAIWAN

12.18pm: The premier added that the government had issued a document guaranteeing that preferential policies given to Taiwanese businessmen on mainland China would be maintained. Both sides’ development would benefit people in the Taiwan Strait, Li said. Beijing would introduce more such policies, but the precondition was the Taiwan government had to recognise the “one China” principle and that Taiwan was an inalienable part of China, the premier said. ““We want to soothe their fears [about policy changes]” Li said. “Why do we want to give so many preferential policies to Taiwan businesses? It’s because we are all members of one family ... I believe further development of the bilateral economic relation will benefit people on both sides and improve their lives.”

12.16pm: On Beijing’s relations with Taiwan after the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen won the election, Li said anything could be discussed as long as both sides adhered to the principle of “One China”. “As long as Taiwan adheres to the foundation of the 1992 Consensus and recognise Taiwan and the mainland belong to the same China, anything can be discussed,” Li said. “I remain optimistic about the prospect of cross-straits relations; blood ties cannot be severed.”

GROWTH

12.06pm: Li noted that the new economy not only referred to information technology companies, e-commerce and other emerging industries, but also basic sectors such as family farms and high-end manufacturing. To combine new growth drivers with traditional ones would help restructure the Chinese economy in a more efficient way, the premier said. He said while workers from overcapacity industries were being laid off, the new economy was providing new jobs for these people. Reiterating his support for entrepreneurship and innovation, he said: “A nation’s progress in civilisation lies in the involvement of the people.”

RUSSIA

12.03pm: On limited China investment in Russia, Li said China had a comprehensive relationship with Russia, with Xi and Putin meeting frequently. “We are not only good in political relations, and our economic ties are showing signs of warming up. Sino-Russian relations won’t be affected by changes in the international environment,” Li said. “China has no burden or pressure” in developing ties with Russia, and it would continue to push ahead twith its ties. Li cited growth in volume in China’s oil imports from Russia as prrof that Sino-Russia economic ties were warming up.

CULTURAL PRESERVATION

12.02pm: On why preserving cultural relics was such a burning matter given “China is so big, facing so many problems and the government is so busy”, Li said it was to advance cultural development and help achieve balanced social and economic development. “There are many problems in the economic domain such as cheating, swindling in the market and selling fake goods. One may also find that causes for such problems stem at a cultural level,” the premier said. “To develop a culture will help us develop moral strength in developing the market economy with moral principles. We should not only try to accumulate wealth but also meet the country’s cultural needs and win the respect of other countries with culture and civilisation.”

HONG KONG

12noon: On Hong Kong, Li did not touch on the chief executive election scheduled next year, but he said the city had to make its own efforts for its development and that it could also take advantage of the mainland’s economic development. “Hong Kong’s economic growth of 2.4 per cent last year was not low,” Li said said. “The central government will give full support to any proposals from the SAR government that help maintain Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability and contribute to the well-being of the people of Hong Kong. I have confidence in a bright future for Hong Kong.”

11.58am: Asked about Hong Kong’s future and the Mong Kok riot earlier this year, Li said the central government would continue to uphold the “one country, two systems” principle and that he believed the Hong Kong government and public were able to handle the city’s “complex issues”.

DIPLOMATIC TIES

11.57am: “China will remain committed to the path of peaceful development and will not waiver in its resolve to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity. And it is not in conflict. We hope that all countries from within this region and without will work together to uphold the regional stability, not the opposite. It is in the interest of all.”

11.55am: “China is pursuing modernisation, and development remains our first priority,” Li said. “We need a stable neighbourhood and a peaceful regional and international environment. China’s development is a staunch force for upholding global peace, and this is also in the interests of China’s neighbours”

11.48am: Li said China believed in harmonious coexistence with its neighbours. “We need to have a stable regional environment and maintain a friendly neighbourhood. It requires the joint effort of all countries in the region,” he said “Disputes between neighbours are natural, as long as we treat each other with sincerity and settle our differences through diplomatic means. As for countries outside the region, such as the United States, they have never left the Asia-Pacific. All countries can work together to enhance our cooperation and properly manage our differences.”

BUSINESSES & BUREAUCRACY

11.43am: The premier said simplified business registration procedures adopted so far had led to great enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and that 30,000 new companies are born each day. He vowed to half the length of such procedures in the coming year. “However, streamlining administration doesn’t mean there should be no supervision. The supervision to ensure fair competition must be retained,” he said.

11.41am: Li pledged to further streamline administration, improve government efficiency and generate businesses’ enthusiasm. He said some representatives complained about complicated procedures during a panel discussion a few days ago. “Different standards from various government departments confused them. They restricted development of industries and stifle public passion,” he said.

11.39am: A People’s Daily reporter who just raised a question on bureaucracy was spotted reciting from his notebook, with the question written down word for word. He was well prepared indeed!

ECONOMY & REFORMS

11.31am: Li said China’s pension fund still has a surplus of 340 billion yuan from last year. The accumulative surplus is now 3.4 trillion yuan, which is on top of a 1.6 trillion yuan reserve of national social security funds. “We could also use state-owned assets to replenish the pension fund,” Li said. “The elderly people will surely be supported. This is not an empty promise.”

11.24am: China and the United States were presently engaged in bilateral investment treaty (BIT) negotiations, Li said. The BIT negotiation should proceed on the basis of seeking mutual benefits. As for the differences between the two countries, there were up to 100 various dialogues between China and the US, Li said. “As long as the two sides act in good faith and properly manage their differences, I believe our common interests can be further expanded,” he said. “As our cooperation expands, the number of differences may naturally rise, but the percentage of differences in the overall China-US relationship will only come down.”

11.22am: Li admitted that some provinces facing problems providing full coverage of pension payments. But he said the payment gap was only a regional and temporal problem. “In China, it’s the provincial government’s responsibility to raise the pension fund and take charge of its allocation. If certain provinces do face difficulties in payment, we will use the central capital to replenish the social security fund and ensure pension can be said,” he said.

11.21am: “We will press ahead to reduce capacity, but we must ensure that the rice bowls of workers are still there, or we must give them new rice bowls,” Li said. The central government had already set aside 100 billion yuan to help laid-off workers, and it was ready to boost the fund if necessary, he added.

11.19am: On reform, Li said China would unswervingly push ahead with it and that there was no contradiction between reform and development. While China would go on with its economic restructuring and the cutting of overcapacity, it would also try to avoid massive lay-offs.

11.16am: China is now the United States’ top trading partner with two-way trade between the countries reaching US$560 billion, Li said. This showed that the common interests between the two countries far outweighed their differences, he said.

11.12am: Li promised China would gradually give US investors wider access. He described the US presidential election as lively, saying that its outcome would not affect Sino-US relations. “The US election is lively and has caught the attention of many. No matter who get into the White House, the underlying trend will not changed ...China-US relations have always been moving forward. I believe that is the underlying trend,” he said.

11.03am: Earlier, when a Reuters reporter asked a question about the Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect, Li did not respond. He later went back to it, apologising to the reporter, who had asked the question in Chinese. “Your Chinese is excellent but my Chinese hearing is not too good. My Chinese has a heavy accent,” Li said.

11.03am: “We are in close communication with the Hong Kong government and will try to launch the Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect programme this year,” Li said. “Currently, the relevant authorities on mainland China and in Hong Kong are in intensive consultation.” He added that the stock connect would benefit both parties.

11.02am: China has the policy reserves to handle headwinds from the global economic slowdown, Li says. “China’s economy will still face small and short-term swings, but if growth falls out a reasonable range, we have innovative macro tools to maintain stability of growth,” Li said.

10.56am: Li said China was presently streamlining government and tax cuts on the supply-side. New dynamism was emerging in the Chinese economy and its power was stronger than expected. Although China’s growth was slowing, it has still managed to ensure full employment. Its services sector expanded 8.1 per cent in the first two months. China’s traditional industrial sector still had huge room to improve along with its urbanisation and industrialisation, he said.

10.54am: “We are full of confidence in the long-term good prospects of the Chinese economy,” Li said. “As long as we stick to reform and opening up, China’s economy will not see a hard landing.” Li added that Chinese people were full of creativity, but that the government was still “managing affairs that the government should not be managing”.

10.50am: Responding to a question on concerns about China’s growth and the probability of it falling below 6.5 per cent, Li said: “It’s impossible for me to side with you [and agree] that China is unable to meet the decided target.” The Chinese economy was abound with difficulties and also hope, Li said, but hope was bigger than the difficulties the economy was facing.

10.45am: Li said China took measures last year to manage abnormal volatility in the stock market, and that the measures had achieved their desired effects. China needed to improve its financial regulatory system. It had to ensure full coverage of its financial system, as there were many innovative financial products and the country could not afford to leave any area uncovered. “In short, we have to open our eyes wide [to financial risks],” Li said.

10.43am: Li said he cares about financial institutions as non-performing loans ratio is rising in China’s banking system. But China has the ability to manage the risks as capital adequacy ratio is high and provisions for bad accounts are enough. Li said it’s an old problem that Chinese corporate debt ratio is high. However, China has a high saving ratio. “No matter how volatile the market is, we are determined to develop a multi-lateral market.” Li also said that China will seek to gradually lower corporate debt ratio by ways such as “debt-to-equity” swaps.

10.40am: Li said required reserve ratio (RRR) and interest rate cuts were not quantitative easing measures. The top priority of the financial sector is to support the development of real economy. “Last year we took a series of steps including cutting interests rates and bank RRR. These are not quantitative easing measures we took care to ensure there would be appropriate money supply,” he said.

IT BEGINS...

10.27am: LED screens could provide better image quality of Li Keqiang’s gestures. Organisers say they have re-arranged seats in the central hall, in the hope to accommodate more reporters. The Beijing News reported that the number of the seats have been increased by about 200 to 950. Organisers say they have also expanded wifi capacity in the hall, improving connection speed.

10.17am: Premier Li Keqiang is about to meet the press, but reporters arrived hours earlier hoping to get good seats so that they might get a chance to pose him some of their pressing questions. Those who are hoping to pose for selfies at the annual event, however, might find it a bit harder to get a pro-one as selfie-sticks are banned in the press conference room. Some reporters from overseas media outlets complained that staffers are taking up too many seats. LED screens are for the first time installed in the central hall inside the Great Hall of People, the press venue.