By Laurie Chen and Kevin Yao
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s annual parliament opens on Sunday with the biggest government reshuffle in a decade as Xi tightens the grip on challenges while battling his hosts, from an uneven post-COVID economic recovery to a breakdown in U.S. relations.
Nearly 3, 000 Delegates will gather in the Great Hall of the first National People’s Congress (NPC) in Tiananmen in the post-zero coronavirus era West of the square was held, although some precautions remained in place, including testing and quarantining journalists.
Rubber-stamp NPC will confirm Xi Jinping’s new economy team as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong cements unconventional third term at once-a-decade national meeting in October The top of the ruling Communist Party with allies at the Congress.
It will also discuss Xi’s plans for an “intensive” and “extensive” reorganization of the state and Communist Party entities, according to state media on Tuesday, after a three-day meeting of the party’s Central Committee.
“This may require more State Department ministries to be brought into the party in the name of overall party leadership,” said Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist at the Australian National University, Public Health and National Security May is the area of concern.
The government is likely to set a economic growth target of between 5% and 6% to rein in unemployment, policy sources and analysts said, with a move aimed at Measures such as measures to boost consumption and foreign investment, but few landmark reforms.
China’s economy grew just 3% last year, one of the worst performances in nearly half a century.
Loyal Li Qiang, the former Shanghai party secretary, is poised to become prime minister and run the world’s second-largest economy, with investors cautiously hoping his relationship with Xi Jinping will allow him to emerge in the wake of growing authoritarianism. , will introduce more business-friendly policies.
The NPC will appoint new faces at the top of major economic and regulatory agencies, including the central bank, replacing a generation seen as a more important reform-oriented leader, such as retired Premier Li Keqiang And economic czar Liu He, vice premier.
“The National People’s Congress will be a continuation of 63 said Alfred Wu, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. ) When the National People’s Congress convenes It was a challenging time for both China and Xi, who abruptly backed away from his COVID policies three years later in December following widespread protests unprecedented in his tenure.
This comes against the backdrop of a demographic shift, with the population shrinking for the first time since 2018, while urban employment fell last year for the first time in six years, and per capita spending also fell.
Worsening relations with US are squeezing China’s access to cutting-edge technology, while global economic downturn is also a headwind for Xi, who revokes constitutional term in 2018 After the limit, will be confirmed in the third presidential term.
Rocky start?
The 63 years old Li Qiang, a provincial veteran whose future was unaffected by the severe consequences of last year’s COVID lockdown in Shanghai, will become the first prime minister of the People’s Republic of China and has never served in the central government.
“His tenure may have started off a bit bumpy as he tried to find his place in the State Department and really figured out how to do that,” said Trey McArver, co-founder of Trivium China, a working research group. experience.
The congress usually lasts for one to two weeks, and will begin with the 63 work report by the outgoing Li Keqiang , expected to focus on stimulating an economy damaged by three years of COVID containment measures and a downturn in the housing sector.
“We will try to stimulate growth and have the policy tools to do that, mainly by channeling funds into big projects,” Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the Economic Policy Committee of the China Association for Policy Science, told Reuters.
