China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), Monday approved the government work report delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao.
  
A resolution ratified by the NPC session said the NPC is "satisfied" with the work of the government last year and agrees to the government's planning on economic and social development as well as other work of the government.
  
Prior to the ratification, the State Council, or the cabinet, made 21 modifications, including eight major ones, to the report according to proposals of NPC deputies.
  
In his government work report to the NPC, the premier said China will gear down its high-octane economy to a level lower than the stunning 9.5 percent registered in 2004, targeting an 8-percent growth rate of gross domestic product this year.
  
The government promised to allocate 10.9 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) on reemployment this year, 2.6 billion yuan (US$313 million) more than last year.
  
China will exempt the agricultural tax for farmers throughout the country in 2006, two years ahead of schedule. The government will spend 3 billion yuan (US$361 million) on "safety technologies upgrading" at state-owned coal mines to "truly make coal mining safer," according to the report.
  
China proposed a 12.6-percent increase in the defense budget for 2005, and pledged to complete the task of trimming 200,000 military ranks this year.
  
The NPC session also approved the reports on the central and local budgets and on the government plan for economic and social development, along with the reports on the work of the NPC Standing Committee, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
  
The annual session, which opened on March 5, is scheduled to wrap up later Monday, and Premier Wen will meet the press after the session.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2005)