Source: AFP
China’s leaders wrapped up a week-long key conference on Monday in which they admitted more is needed to revive a sluggish economy hit by a troubled housing market, weak domestic demand and high youth unemployment.
Top officials have spoken out about the myriad challenges facing China, admitting that a modest five percent growth target will not be easy and that “hidden risks” are dragging the economy down.
But details on how they plan to tackle the problems were scant. They have also moved simultaneously to deepen their powers to deal with threats to their sovereignty and tightened a veil of secrecy around policymaking, scrapping a traditional annual press conference and pledging to include national security provisions in a raft of new laws.
On Monday morning, lawmakers met for more closed-door discussions ahead of a wrap-up and vote by the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, at 3:00 p.m. (07:00 GMT).
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Among the legislation passed will be an overhaul of the Organizational Law of the State Council, China’s cabinet, which state media said will be aimed at deepening the ruling Communist Party’s “leadership” of government.
The tightly choreographed event caps a week of high-level meetings dominated by the economy, which last year saw some of its slowest growth in years.
On Saturday, ministers pledged to do more to boost employment and stabilize the country’s struggling property market.
“Workers are facing some challenges and problems in employment, and more effort needs to be made to stabilize employment,” Wang Xiaoping, Minister of Manpower and Social Security, told a news conference.
And Housing Minister Nie Hong added that correcting the property market — which has long accounted for about a quarter of China’s economy — remained “very difficult.”
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But despite official promises of fresh support, analysts say they have yet to see the kinds of big-ticket bailouts the flagging economy needs if it is to recover.
“Reviving the economy requires boosting household wealth and income, something China’s leaders are clearly not yet ready to do,” analysts at Trivium, a research firm specializing in China, said in a note.
And throughout the “Two Sessions,” officials appeared reluctant to face questions about the myriad economic problems facing China.
Last week, they broke a decades-old tradition by canceling a prime minister’s press conference — a rare opportunity for foreign media to challenge the country’s number two official.
The topic was quickly removed from search results on Chinese social media giant Weibo, as was a hashtag that read “middle class children have no future”.
Lawmakers have also pledged to adopt a wide range of security laws in 2024 to “resolutely secure” the country’s sovereignty, further expanding the Communist Party’s powers to punish threats to its sovereignty.
Source: AFP