President Hu Jintao yesterday said the Chinese mainland's economy grew by 10.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, but expressed concern about the rapid growth.

"The mainland economy maintained good developmental momentum with our gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter rising by 10.2 percent," Hu told Lien Chan, former chairman of Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang (KMT).

The mainland's economy expanded by 9.9 percent in 2005 and the government has set a growth target of 8 percent for this year.

"Frankly speaking, we do not hope to pursue excessively rapid growth; we are paying more attention to the efficiency and quality of development," the president said.

"We are paying more attention to the transformation of the mode of growth, resource conservation, environmental protection and more importantly, the improvement of the lives of the people."

(China Daily April 18, 2006)