Premier Li Keqiang said that China has not adopted strong policies to stimulate the economy only in the short-term — as the authorities are focused on the long-term.

He made the comments at an executive meeting of the State Council on Aug 27, in response to speculation that China has adopted strong stimulus policies — such as quantitative easing — to boost the economy in the first half of the year.

“The only thing that could be a stimulus is the reform that we are vigorously pushing forward,” the premier said.

Li also asked the authorities to think long-term when tackling deep-rooted social conflicts, and he urged them to facilitate upgrading the industrial structure.

Li said progress in fields such as energy conservation and environmental protection, ecological environment and service will also benefit people’s livelihood — and not only help to attract investment and boost consumption.

But development in these areas is inadequate, and he called for more efforts.

Li told department representatives at the meeting to focus on the weaker aspects of China’s economic and social development and tap the domestic market potential.

“We tend to attribute a slower economy and declining investment growth to insufficient domestic demand, but the fact is we are far from meeting the requirements of a population of 1.3 billion people,” Li said.

The premier also commended third-party institutions for their role in evaluating the government’s policies, and he said the government should use third-party assessment to promote administrative reform.

In June, the State Council asked third-party institutions to evaluate the implementation of policies by various departments and local governments.

Representatives from four third-party agencies gave their evaluation reports at the meeting, and the premier instructed departments to address problems based on the recommendations.

Li said third-party assessment should be a regular mechanism in government work.

“China covers such a large area, so we need a third party to check and supervise the implementation of the State Council policies in different regions.” he said.

He also suggested that more social institutions should be engaged in the third-party assessment to achieve a more objective, rational and fact-based result.