Tag: Li Keqiang

Xi Jinping Picks Team to Work Under Him for the Next Five Years

Chin@Strategy

China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, was confirmed to a norm-breaking third term as state president on Friday, further formalizing his position as China’s most dominant leader in decades. The announcement was no surprise: Mr. Xi oversaw the abolition of presidential term limits in 2018, and in October he secured a third term as head of the Chinese Communist Party, the position from which his real authority derives. Now, as the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp legislature concludes in the coming days, many of his loyalists are being elevated to the…

After China’s Winter of Discontent, Xi Jinping Sets Sights on Growth and Power

Chin@Strategy

Xi Jinping is on the political march again. After a turbulent year that ended in faltering growth, widespread protests, and a surge of deaths after China abruptly abandoned Covid controls, China’s top leader is poised to secure even more power at the annual gathering of the national legislature that opened on Sunday. At the start of the National People’s Congress, the Chinese government laid out a post-Covid agenda centered on reviving the economy with a 5 percent growth target, raising spending on military, education and social needs, and augmenting Mr.…

China sets modest economic targets as it seeks to bounce back from Covid woes

Chin@Strategy

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…

China’s Economy Will Expand About 5 percent, A Cautious Target

Chin@Strategy

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…

The Chinese Dream, Denied

Chin@Strategy

The narrow alleyways of Haizhu district have long beckoned to China’s strivers, people like Xie Pan, a textile worker from a mountainous tea-growing area in central China. Home to one of the country’s biggest fabric markets, Haizhu houses worker dormitories and textile factories in brightly colored buildings stacked so close that neighbors can shake hands out their windows. Once a smattering of rural villages, the area became a manufacturing hub as China opened its economy decades ago. The government had promised to step back and let people unleash their ambitions,…

At G20 Summit, Xi and Biden Offer Rival Visions for Solving Global Issues

Chin@Strategy

BALI, Indonesia — While President Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have eased tensions between their countries, they are vying for influence in Asia and beyond, offering competing stances on how to address poverty and the war in Ukraine. Mr. Xi has cast China as a steadfast partner to the region, rejecting what he described as the United States’ “Cold War mentality” of forming security alliances. At the Group of 20 summit on Tuesday, he spoke loftily about China’s “global initiatives” to fight poverty and strife, while remaining publicly…

Hu Jintao’s Departure Causes Stir as Xi Elevates Loyalists in Congress

Chin@Strategy

Poised to take a groundbreaking third term in power, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has advanced a contingent of Communist Party loyalists ready to defend him, expand state influence over the economy and bolster national security. Mr. Xi opened the new phase of his authoritarian rule with a clutch of victories at the end of a party congress on Saturday. He hurried into retirement two top officials from a more moderate political mold. He positioned allies to dominate the new leadership. He kept officials who have promoted his muscular approach in…

Growing pains: China’s faltering economy tests leadership’s nerve

Chin@Strategy

On his tour of the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen last week, Li Keqiang, the premier, tried to send some positive energy at a time many citizens have been complaining of economic hardship. “China’s opening will continue. The Yellow river and the Yangtze river will not flow backward,” Li said, striking an upbeat tone while visiting Yantian Port, a gateway to Europe and North America, two of China’s biggest markets. “The waters of Yantian Port will also flow incessantly, and not only will continue to maintain your advantages, but also…

China’s Covid Lockdowns Leave Millions Out of Work

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After over a month in lockdown, Zeng Jialin could finally return to the Shanghai auto parts factory where he had worked. He was about to be released from a quarantine facility, having recovered from Covid, and was desperate to make up for the many days of wages he had missed. But on Tuesday, the day he was supposed to be released, someone in the crowded isolation facility tested positive again. Mr. Zeng, 48, was ordered to wait 14 more days. “I have three kids, in college, middle school and elementary…

China’s Widespread Lockdowns Will Bring an Economic Toll

Chin@Strategy

Nearly 400 million people are estimated to be under some form of lockdown in China as officials try to stop a fast-moving Omicron outbreak that is beginning to weigh on the world’s second-largest economy. Hundreds of thousands of people have been sent to isolation facilities in China, and millions more have been told to stay in their homes. Officials in dozens of cities have shut down normal daily life across the country in a race to track and trace the coronavirus and stamp out China’s worst outbreak since the start…