Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Monday that China's loosely defined 2021 economic growth rate of over 6 percent is meant to nurture quality growth on the basis of achieving steady economic growth.

Addressing overseas representatives of the China Development Forum 2021 via video link in Beijing, Premier Li said that the growth target is not low, responding to a question about China's growth rate and quality.

He said that on the one hand, the target was set considering that the economy is still in recovery phase. On the other, the goal also needs to be aligned with China's economic performance in the following year and the year after.

China focuses more on guiding expectations rather than actual planning, the Chinese premier said, stressing that while maintaining steady economic growth, China will also strive for more high-quality development.

It will require relatively sufficient employment, continued growth in income, and sustained improvement of the ecological environment to optimize the economic structure and improve labor productivity, he said.

"We need to seek a balance between growth, income, and employment, and we cannot pursue economic growth based on high energy consumption and heavy pollution," Li said.

The Chinese premier pointed out that the employment pressure is still huge as about 14 million people in the urban area will enter the labor market, and the country aims to help no less than 11 million people get employed.