As China trims its economic growth prediction, its leadership admits that businesspeople — and ordinary folk — are unhappy with its failure to implement policies in many areas.
He noted that the word “reform” was mentioned 105 times in the report and the term “opening up” appeared dozens of times. He said that was designed to send the message that China was committed to becoming a market-based economy open to international business.
Li studiously avoided any reference to China’s “Made in China 2025” policy — its central ambition to emerge as a global leader in 10 key high-tech sectors — which triggered alarm in Washington and contributed to trade tensions. The policy is key to China’s plan to transform from a nation based on low wages and the mass production of cheap goods to a superpower that dominates in areas including robotics, rocket science, aeronautics, driverless cars and artificial intelligence.
Li’s speech Tuesday referred repeatedly to Xi’s role as the “core” of the ruling Communist Party, suggesting that the president is unlikely to leave power for the foreseeable future. Li called on delegates to “follow the guidance of Xi Jinping thought,” in a reference to a vote last year that enshrined Xi’s thinking into the party’s constitution, elevating him to a status similar to that of Mao Tse-tung, who founded the People’s Republic of China 70 years ago this October.
Since he became president in 2012, Xi has sharply centralized power, removed political rivals, cracked down on dissent, appointed allies to key military positions and ramped up internet censorship. Authorities have jailed human rights activists and lawyers, detained an estimated 1 million minority Muslim people in western Xinjiang province, and launched a sweeping anticorruption campaign that saw 621,000 government officials punished last year.
Chinese policymakers have striven not to allow growth to fall below 6%, but in a rare admission, Huang said China’s growth figure “does not matter,” and a lower growth was “acceptable” as long as targets on jobs and high incomes were met.
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