CHINA'S modernisation process is difficult and challenging, top legislator Qiao Shi admitted yesterday.
The country was plagued with problems caused by weak development foundation, uneven regional growth, a low per-capita gross national product, and a huge rural population with 65 million people living below the poverty line.
It would take a long time for China to achieve its modernisation goals, Mr Qiao said in a candid report on China's development to 200 officials and businessmen in Canada yesterday.
'Many difficulties and challenges will present themselves in our way ahead,' Mr Qiao told a lunch hosted by the Canada-China Business Council in Toronto.
He also admitted China was under 'tremendous pressure' for both quantity and quality of agricultural products.
The chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee said China would improve its agriculture by stepping up measures such as maintaining stable commodity grain bases, improving water conservation projects and developing farming-related industries.
