China sets modest growth target, increases military spending

Economic growth of around 5%, an increase in the military budget by 7.2% and the strength in the defense of that Taiwan is part of China are the guidelines that begin the third term of Xi Jinping. The first minister li keqiang The annual session of the National People’s Assembly (ANP) opened on Sunday with the reading of a government report that will mark the political program for 2023.

The transition started at the party congress in October will now be consolidated during the ANP meeting and will serve to introduce the new faces of the country’s leaders.

The clearest example is that the press conference that will end the meeting on March 13 will no longer be held by Li Keqiang, but by his replacement. It will almost certainly be the new prime minister. He is a Xi loyalist and former party chief in Shanghai where he served a harsh two-month sentence.

During the nine days of the session, approval is expected for a major reshaping of state bodies in order to further concentrate power under the control of the Communist Party and Xi Jinping.

In what was effectively his last act as premier, Li Keqiang, 67, spent much of his speech reflecting on the achievements and problems of the past five years. “Stability” was the key and most frequently repeated word in the work report, the Prime Minister assured that “in this year it is crucial to prioritize economic stability and strive for growth.” Li announced an economic growth target of around 5%. It is a conservative forecast that takes into account the difficulties the country is going through to overcome the paralysis of the economy due to the covid zero policy. Last year, China’s GDP grew by only 3%.

The figure is in line with the one presented by the IMF on Friday, according to which GDP growth was 5.2 percent. The Chinese economy is estimated to contribute one-third of global GDP growth by 2023.

The plan includes increasing spending on education and social policy as well as creating 12 million jobs in urban areas, one million more than last year, to prevent unemployment from exceeding 5.5%.

The defense budget will increase by 7.2 percent only one tenth compared to the previous year and will reach 210.685 million euros. Behind defense spending, the second largest in the world after the United States, are tensions with Taiwan.

Nothing is off the table with Taiwan

Li Keqiang warned China that it would “resolutely” fight Taiwan’s independence and reiterated that the use of force is not excluded reclaim the island. He was determined, assuring that the “combat readiness” of the Army would be strengthened.

The increase in Chinese military spending is not only a concern for the United States and its allies. Perception of the Asian giant as a threat This caused a regional rearmament. China is in dispute with its neighbors over the waters of the South China Sea and with India over the Himalayan border.

South Korea has increased its military spending by 4.4% by 2023 and India by 13%, and Japan has announced that it intends to double its defense spending to reach 2% of its GDP in 2027.

The work report foresees an increase in the budget for diplomacy by 12.2 percent. A sign that China wants to have active presence in the world and that it comes after the presentation of a peace plan for Ukraine that does not consider the withdrawal of Russian troops.

However, Ukraine did not appear once in the speech and the Prime Minister limited himself to calling for Chinese-style diplomacy that expands global alliances and defends multilateralism.