China’s National People’s Congress kicks off with weakened, politically-minded growth target

The Chinese growth target for this year has been cut to around 6.5%, down from 6.5 to 7% last year, Premier Li Keqiang has announced addressing the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), which has gathered in Beijing for its annual session.

China’s defense budget will grow 7 percent in the coming year, representing the slowest pace for year-on-year growth since 2010.

Fu Ying, spokesperson for the National People’s Congress (China’s legislature), said during a press conference on March 4 that China would increase its defense spending by about 7% in 2017.

Meanwhile, China’s military budget this year will rise 7.0 percent from a year earlier.

“We already control the lion’s share of the domestic market and we just can not keep pace with orders”, said Ruan.

“With China’s domestic economy still in the phase of transformation, the tasks for China’s economic growth are arduous but with great potential”, said Song.

“Slower growth has already been priced in by the market”.

Li’s report set an inflation target of “around 3 percent” for the year.

Domestically, he cited “major structural problems, prominent risks and dangers, and mounting downward pressure on the economy”.

Yin Zhuo, a rear admiral and a senior researcher at the PLA Navy Equipment Research Centre, told China Central Television that in order to protect China’s sovereignty and national interests, the PLA navy at least needs five to six aircraft-carriers to maintain presence in specific regions’.

Takashi Kawakami, professor of worldwide politics at Japan’s Takushoku University, said the small rate of increase showed China was taking a cautious approach with the new USA government, especially as Presidents Trump and Xi could meet soon.

At that meeting President Xi Jinping is expected to stack the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top leadership body, with his allies, a task which will be more hard if there is a major economic disruption.

“Whether the militaries will pose a threat to each another, we’ll need to look at their strategic intentions”, she added.

Moreover, Beijing’s budget contrasts with the recently unveiled proposal by the Trump administration in the United States that seeks to increase the US defense budget – already the largest in the world in absolute terms – by 9 percent. This would put China’s defense budget this year at 1.12 trillion yuan (US$163.5 billion), the first time it has exceeded 1 trillion yuan. The two countries should understand each other more and not let disputes stand in the way of bilateral cooperation.

Authorities have shut down various industries to prevent the country’s notorious smog from embarrassing delegates and, as every year, tightened security nationwide. The question topic had to be pre-submitted and pre-approved.

“The likelihood that next year [Beijing will announce] a large increase in the defense budget is quite low because China has its own agenda and it will probably not be dancing to [Washington’s tune]”, he asserted.