China growth target ‘will not be easy’ to make: new premier
Li Qiang warns of ‘many new challenges’ facing the economy to achieve GDP of ‘about 5 per cent’.
China’s new Premier warned on Monday that the country’s 5 per cent growth target for this year would not be “easy” to achieve, as its rubber-stamp parliament wrapped up over a week of meetings.
The government set the economic growth target of “around 5 per cent” last week, one of the lowest in decades as China emerged from strict zero-Covid rules that dragged on its GDP.
And Li Qiang – one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s most trusted allies, confirmed as Premier over the weekend – admitted that goal would be hard to attain. “I’m afraid that reaching our growth target of around 5 per cent will be no easy task, and will require that we redouble our efforts,” Mr Li said at a press conference in Beijing held to mark the closing of the National People’s Congress.
China posted just 3 per cent growth last year, missing its stated target of around 5.5 per cent by a wide margin as the economy strained under the impact of strict Covid policies and a property crisis.
Mr Li, who replaced Li Keqiang, said on Monday that the modest figure “has been determined after a comprehensive consideration of various factors”.
He warned of “many new challenges” to growth, but added that most people “don’t fix their sights every day” on the country’s economic indicators. Instead, he said, they care more about “specific issues close to them” such as housing, employment, income, education and health.
China’s housing market, which along with construction accounts for more than a quarter of GDP, remains in a slump, having been dealt a hefty blow since Beijing started cracking down on excessive borrowing and rampant speculation in 2020.
Mr Li also hit out at the US, with relations at lows not seen in decades as the powers grapple over trade, technology and security. “Encirclement and suppression are not advantageous for anyone,” Mr Li said. “China and the United States should co-operate, and must co-operate. When China and the US work together, there is much we can achieve.”
Mr Li’s comments cap more than a week of high-level meetings in Beijing. Mr Xi, addressing the closing session of China’s congress in his first address since being handed a third term – and further cementing his position as China’s most powerful leader in generations – emphasised the need to strengthen national security. He thanked the thousands of delegates at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People for giving him a third term, vowing to “take the needs of the country as my mission, and the interests of the people as my yardstick”.
“Security is the bedrock of development, while stability is a prerequisite for prosperity,” Mr Xi said. “We must fully promote the modernisation of national defence and the armed forces, and build the people’s armed forces into a Great Wall of steel that effectively safeguards national sovereignty, security and development interests.”
He also called for consolidated stability in once-restive Hong Kong and unification with the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China considers its territory.
“The trust of the people is the greatest driving force pushing me forward, and also a heavy responsibility on my shoulders,” he said.
“The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process.”
On other appointments, General Li Shangfu, who was sanctioned by the US government in 2018 for buying Russian weapons, was named Defence Minister.
The congress also confirmed key allies of Mr Xi to its cabinet, including top aide Ding Xuexiang and He Lifeng, a long-time colleague of Mr Xi. They were both elected to vice-premier positions.
Mr Ding and Mr He received almost all votes from more than 2900 members of the congress, with former mayor of Tianjin Zhang Guoqing as well as former Shaanxi province party secretary Liu Guozhong also selected as vice-premiers.
On Sunday, the cabinet surprisingly retained its country’s central bank chief, Yi Gang, against expectations that retirement-age Yi would step down.
Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Finance Minister Liu Kun were also retained.
AFP
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