China to unveil priorities for coming 5 years at major annual political meeting

BEIJING (AP) — China’s ceremonial legislature is set to meet Thursday, where it will unveil the country’s policy direction and economic goals for the coming years.

The meeting is held in Beijing, where the National People’s Congress and its advisory body gather. The National People’s Congress will ratify new laws decided by China’s Communist Party leadership. While the near-3,000-member body technically votes, the vote is always almost unanimous.

Also meeting is the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body composed of elite members of Chinese society, from business people to athletes. They also include representatives from China’s minority groups, but the body has little power on issues of public policy.

The gathering is called the Two Sessions. The political meetings have changed under President Xi Jinping, with tighter scripts and less scope for debate.

“A long, long time ago, it was a venue for policy deliberation,” and even controversial things, said Alfred Wu, a professor of public policy at the National University of Singapore. “Now it’s very much become a showcase, propaganda.”

The National People’s Congress is when the Chinese premier announces the country’s GDP target and other economic targets for the year.

This year, observers are also waiting for details for the 15th five-year plan, of which the government had revealed a draft in October. It is expected to be focused on building tech prowess and self-sufficiency.

China issues five-year plans to direct its economy, a legacy of its historical approach when it had a planned economy.

The Chinese economy remains sluggish, with high youth unemployment, weak housing prices and sagging domestic consumption. It also faces a trade war with the U.S., which has leveraged tariffs on all Chinese goods.

Lou Qinjian, the spokesperson for this year’s National People’s Congress, said Wednesday that the government would maintain its efforts to improve living standards and boost consumption. Those would include raising incomes and improving the education, child care, elderly care and health care systems so “consumers will feel freer to spend,” he said at press conference.

Experts have said China will have to strike a tough balance between its goals of boosting its tech manufacturing, such as in robotics, renewable energy and AI, and boosting domestic consumption as many ordinary people are feeling the pinch. Tech supply chains are narrow and the trickle-down effect is less pronounced.

China is likely to drop its headline growth target to a record low, predicted Neil Thomas and Lobsang Tsering, policy experts at the Asia Society. It will be significant as a step in a “shift from high-speed to high-quality growth,” they wrote.

The National People’s Congress is also expected to ratify a new law governing China’s ethnic minorities. While a final draft has not been released, experts say the latest public draft focused on assimilation, reducing autonomy for the country’s minority groups.

Lou said the legislation fosters “a stronger sense of community among all ethnic groups in the Chinese nation” and outlines steps to promote interaction, exchange and integration.

“Once enacted, we will work to implement it thoroughly and advance Chinese-style modernization through the great unity of the Chinese nation,” he said.

Lou highlighted the Communist Party’s push for unity several times during the press conference and credited past five-year plans with delivering not only rapid economic growth but also long-term stability, a major concern of party leaders.

China’s legislature dismissed 19 members last week, after a highly publicized removal of two of the country’s most senior generals in January.

Now, only one member remains of the powerful Central Military Commission, which controls the military, but policy experts say they do not expect any personnel announcements in the upcoming Two Sessions. Observers like to closely watch attendance for any signs of possible purges, however.

Xi Jinping has removed possibly up to 100 senior officials in the People’s Liberation Army in the past four years, according to the Center for Strategic Studies, with the most prominent being General Zhang Youxia in January.

Yet, there is likely no great rush from the leadership to find a replacement.

“I don’t think they’re particularly worried about this,” said Wu of National University Singapore. For example, he said, Wang Yi became foreign minister again after stepping down from the job initially because of the high-profile removal of Qin Gang, previously his replacement.

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Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report.