The annual meeting of China's parliament opens on Sunday with the government expected to push through steps it hopes will narrow the wealth and development gap between its cities and vast countryside.

Taiwan will also spring into the spotlight after its "president" Chen Shui-bian scrapped a council on unification with the mainland, prompting a strong rebuke from Beijing. 

But it is efforts to build a "new socialist countryside" that may generate the most debate at this National People's Congress (NPC) session and be the focus of a government increasingly concerned about rural stability on issues ranging from corruption to land seizures.

China is worried that stark gaps in income, health care and schooling between rich urban dwellers and the three-quarters of its 1.3 billion people who live in the countryside could lead to further resentment.

The government is to unveil and formalise a raft of measures to better protect farmers from forced land seizures and boost spending on rural health care and schools.

Last year there was a gap of almost $1,000 in average annual income between city dwellers and the 750 million people who live on the land, who earned an average of $400.

According to an Internet survey by the People's Daily Web site (www.people.com.cn), narrowing the wealth gap and cracking down on corruption were two of the most important topics people were paying attention to at this parliamentary session.

This year alone, central and provincial governments will give 103 billion yuan ($12.8 billion) to local governments to make up a revenue shortfall after abolition of agricultural tax in 2005.

China aims to raise spending on education from 2.7 percent to 4 percent of GDP as the world's most populous nation focuses on improving rural schooling to stem a gap with rich coastal areas.

China has nine years of compulsory education, but fees levied by cash-strapped local governments in poor areas put primary education beyond the means of many rural families.

How the NPC responds to Chen Shui-bian's scrapping of Taiwan's "National Unification Council" and 15-year-old unification guidelines will be another focus area.
 
China's most urgent task is to prevent Chen pushing for de jure independence through constitutional amendments, the Communist Party's Central Office for Taiwan Affairs and the cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office said this week in a joint statement.