China's top leaders have decided that reining in a red-hot economy on the verge of overheating will be a priority in 2008, a year that they say is crucial to meeting the 2006-2010 targets of saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The targets will help China prevent its economy from overheating and achieve sustained development, said Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

"It is like shooting two hawks with one arrow," said Xie, who is heading China's delegation to this month's global climate change meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali.

The just-concluded Central Economic Work Conference that gathered China's top economic planners together, highlighted the need to save energy and reduce emissions, saying it is a key to "scientific development", a phrase that refers to efficient and sustained growth.

For the first time in history, China's decision makers allowed such a growth pattern to take precedence over the speed of development.

"At present, the core of the problem is not the speed, but the quality and pattern of growth," said Cai Zhizhou, a statistics expert at Beijing University.