Supporting the economy and maintaining stability is top priority, Prime Minister Li Keqiang said during the kick-off of the annual People’s Congress. He pinned China’s economic growth target for this year at “around 5.5 percent,” after growing 8.1 percent last year. The elephant in the Great Hall of the People, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was not discussed.
With musical support from the military band of the People’s Liberation Army and loud clapping from the delegates, the members of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s most powerful men, enter the hall. Xi Jinping leading the way. Without masks, unlike the majority of the 2790 deputies of the People’s Congress.
“The applause shows the support for this policy,” says one of the reporters on State TV from the Great Hall of the People, where most journalists were also not welcome this year because of covid. The speeches and tightly directed press conferences can only be watched on television and via screens in the press center, miles from the Great Hall.
‘Climbing over ridge’
Until recently, this People’s Congress seemed mostly a formality, in the run-up to the Party Congress this fall, where Xi Jinping hopes to secure his unusual third term as party chief. The Winter Games, which were successful for Beijing, were the first hurdle in this regard. Although covid is largely under control in mainland China, the number of cases in Hong Kong is still rising. But it is above all the war that Xi’s main partner Putin has unleashed in Ukraine that casts its shadow over the Two Sessions, as political togetherness is also known.
China has so far refused to condemn the Russian invasion, no words have been mined in the Great Hall of the People. “The risks and challenges facing our country at home and abroad have increased significantly this year,” was Prime Minister Li Keqiang’s most direct reference to Europe’s largest ground war since World War II.
“We have to climb over this ridge, but China will withstand the downward pressure on the economy,” said Li, also referring to the cooling real estate market in China. A growth of 5.5 percent would be the lowest growth in thirty years. Li stressed to pursue an “independent foreign policy of peace”.
Football not broadcast
Any reference to the war in Ukraine is extremely sensitive, partly because of Xi’s close ties to Putin. Premier League football matches will not be broadcast in the People’s Republic this weekend after it was announced that captains would wear ties in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. On Friday evening, during the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, Chinese state television was cut off as International Paralympic Committee chairman Andrew Parsons spoke out for dialogue and diplomacy and against war and hatred. The interpreter did not translate the apparently harmless words.
“We stand ready to work with the international community to make new and greater contributions to advancing world peace, stability, development and prosperity,” said Li, who said the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army is continuing to be stepped up. Defense spending will increase by 7.1 percent this year. Last year the increase was 6.8 percent. The total defense budget now amounts to more than 1450 billion renminbi, more than 200 billion euros. China has expanded its arsenal in recent years, including with advanced missiles.
Taiwan, as usual, was not left untouched. The independently functioning democracy is seen by Beijing as a renegade province that must be brought under the control of the communist party by force if necessary. “We remain committed to resolving the Taiwan issue in line with Party policy,” Li said in the presentation of his work report. He gave no explanation. “We firmly oppose foreign interference and everyone is pursuing Taiwan’s independence,” Li warned.
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