China to unveil priorities for coming 5 years at major annual political meeting

BEIJING (AP) — China's ceremonial legislature is set to meet Thursday, where it will unveil the country's policy direction and economic goals for the coming years.

The meeting is held in Beijing, where the National People's Congress and its advisory body gather. The National People's Congress will ratify new laws decided by China's Communist Party leadership. While the near 3,000 member body technically votes, the vote is always almost unanimous.

Also meeting is the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body composed of elite members of Chinese society, from businessmen to athletes. They also include representatives from China's minority groups, but the body has little power on issues of public policy.

The gathering of these two bodies is called the Two Sessions. The political meetings have changed under President Xi Jinping's rule, with tighter scripts and less scope for debate.

“A long, long time ago, it was a venue for policy deliberation,” and even controversial things, said Alfred Wu, a professor of public policy at the National University of Singapore. “Now it's very much become a showcase, propaganda."

Economy is front and center

The National People's Congress is when the Chinese premier announces the country's GDP targets and other economic targets for the year.

This year, observers are waiting for details for the 15th five-year plan, of which the government had revealed a draft in October. It is expected to be focused on building tech prowess and self-sufficiency.

China issues five-year plans to direct its economy, a legacy of its historical approach when it had a planned economy.

The Chinese economy remains sluggish, with high youth unemployment, weak housing prices and sagging domestic consumption. It also faces a trade war with the U.S., which has leveraged tariffs on all Chinese goods.

Experts have said China will have to strike a tough balance between its goals of boosting its tech manufacturing, such as in robotics, renewable energy and AI, and boosting domestic consumption as many ordinary people are feeling the pinch. Tech supply chains are narrow and the trickle-down effect is less pronounced.

China is likely to drop its headline growth target to a record low, predicted Neil Thomas and Lobsang Tsering, policy experts at the Asia Society. It will be significant as a step in a “shift from high-speed to high-quality growth,” they wrote.

Personnel movements are not expected

China's legislature dismissed 19 members last week, after a highly publicized removal of two of its most senior generals in January.

Now, only one member remains of the powerful Central Military Commission, which controls the military, but policy experts say they do not expect any personnel announcements in the upcoming Two Sessions. Observers like to closely watch attendance for any signs of possible purges, however.

Xi Jinping has removed possibly up to 100 senior officials in the People’s Liberation Army in the past four years, according to new research from the Center for Strategic Studies, with the most prominent being General Zhang Youxia in January.

Yet, there is likely no great rush from the leadership to find a replacement.

“I don’t think they’re particularly worried about this,” said Wu of National University Singapore. For example, he said, Wang Yi became foreign minister again after stepping down from the job initially because of the high-profile removal of Qin Gang, previously his replacement.