China has set a target of 5% GDP growth in 2023, its outgoing premier has said in a speech to the ruling party’s rubber-stamp parliament – a goal that is at the lower end of analysts’ expectations and follows a 2022 figure that came in far below target. The “work report” speech on Sunday also touched on foreign affairs and re-emphasised the Chinese Communist party’s (CCP’s) aim to annex Taiwan. Budget papers confirmed another consecutive rise in defence spending of 7.2%, slightly up on last year’s rise of 7.1%. Li…
Day: March 4, 2023
China Sets Year’s Economic Growth Target ‘Around 5%’
BEIJING — China’s government announced plans to promote a consumer-led revival of the nation’s struggling economy as its legislature opened a session Sunday that will tighten President Xi Jinping’s control over business and society. Premier Li Keqiang, the top economic official, set this year’s official growth target “around 5%” following the end of anti-virus controls that kept millions of people at home and triggered protests. Growth last year fell to 3%, the second-weakest level since at least the 1970s. “We should give priority to the recovery and expansion of consumption,”…
China’s Economy Will Expand About 5 percent, A Cautious Target
China’s government said it expected the country’s economy to grow “around 5 percent” this year, a goal that may be attainable as activity rebounds quickly but will still require considerable public borrowing and spending on roads, rail lines and other infrastructure. Li Keqiang, who will finish his decade as the country’s premier in the coming days, announced the target on Sunday at the opening of the annual session of the National People’s Congress. “This year, it is essential to prioritize economic stability and pursue progress while ensuring stability,” Mr. Li…
Two sessions 2023: China’s leadership in transition at the National People’s Congress
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), opens its annual meeting on Sunday. The NPC meeting is part of the “two sessions” and is an important window into the central government’s policies on areas from the economy and trade, to diplomacy and science and technology. The gathering this year caps a twice-a-decade leadership transition in which President Xi Jinping is expected to begin his third term. Premier Li…
North Korea Says UN Should Demand South Korea-US End Military Drills
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korea’s foreign ministry on Sunday called on the United Nations to demand an immediate halt to combined military drills by the United States and South Korea, saying they were raising tensions that threaten to spiral out of control. The drills and rhetoric from the allies are “irresponsibly raising the level of confrontation,” Kim Son Gyong, vice foreign minister for international organizations, said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA. The U.S. and South Korea will conduct more than 10 days of large-scale military…
Biden to Tighten Rules on US Investment in China
WILMINGTON, Delaware — The Biden administration is close to tightening rules on some overseas investments by U.S. companies to limit China’s ability to acquire technologies that could improve its military prowess, according to a U.S. official familiar with the deliberations. The soon-to-be-issued executive order from President Joe Biden will limit American investment in advanced technologies that have national security applications — such as next-generation military capabilities that could help China improve the speed and accuracy of military decision making, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment and…
Illegal trade of pangolins and their parts widespread online in Laos
Wildlife traders say that the illegal trade of pangolins remains strong – including on the Internet – despite their listing as a critically endangered species by Laos and even though the government has ordered a crackdown on the trade of endangered wildlife. The armadillo-like anteaters, also known as scaly anteaters because of their protective scales, are about the size of a house cat or small dog, and are a threat to no one except to ants and termites, which they lap up with a long, sticky tongue. Many citizens in…
Global Impact: what’s expected from China’s ‘two sessions’?
Advertisement There are also hopes that regulatory actions will be normalised, after a wide range of industries, including the technology and real estate sectors, paid a heavy price over the last three years. The two sessions will also see a new line-up of ministerial jobs, with the minister of finance, governor of the central bank, director of the National Development and Reform Commission and the minister of commerce all set to change. There will also be new faces on the diplomatic and defence fronts. 04:30 The ‘two sessions’ – China’s…
Two Sessions: China looks at reforms to deepen Xi Jinping control
It was a break from decades-long tradition, as no other party leader besides Communist China’s first leader, Mao Zedong, will have served for this long. In the 2018 NPC meeting, lawmakers had approved the removal of term limits on the presidency, effectively allowing Mr Xi to remain leader for life. BBC
China steps up African economic, trade ties to compete with US’ ‘game changing’ moves
Beijing began investing in Africa in the 1970s, and after stepping up activity in the 2000s, over the past decade brought much of the continent under its Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese entities made direct investments of US$43.39 billion in Africa as of 2020, according to a London School of Economics and Political Science report published last year. Advertisement The US government said it has helped close more than 800 two-way trade and investment deals in 47 African countries as of last year, with an estimated value of more than…