The looming world demands a strong army And technological self-sufficiency. This was clarified by Chinese President Xi Jinping without needlessly mentioning the United States. He warned at the opening of the National People’s Assembly last week that the Washington-led coalition in the West was creating “unprecedented challenges” to curb China’s rise.
“People’s Liberation Army great steel wall protecting sovereignty, security And national interests”, Xi said in front of almost everyone. 3,000 delegates inside Great Hall of the People. In an increasingly unstable world, hidden threats and ways to combat them have occupied much of the world. 15 minutes The speech stressed that the current power is separating this China from the “bullying of the Western powers” in the not-so-distant times. The Communist Party, he added, “cleaned it up. national humiliation” and now the Chinese already “owners his destiny.”
Allusions that brought together that century and a half european colonialism And japanese imperialism. Those painful times persist in the collective memory and in oil nationalism because many see US hostility as its current reaction. Behind Xi’s speech are the military alliances Washington highlighted in China’s backyard and restrictions on the purchase of chips and other technological products. Beijing knows 40 years peaceful growth and how he understands inevitable And structural Tensions with the USA.
Parliament this week approved an increase in the military budget. 7.2%. Allows different readings: barely Tenth higher than last year, but the highest in the last five years. The increase comes against the background of: frequent friction with Taiwan and american bullying in the South China Sea. “Security is the foundation of development, and stability is the condition for prosperity,” Xi said.
Taiwan, short and predictable
Taiwan chapter is non-negotiable and carefully scrutinized in official discourse entomological care It has been as short as predictable, by the media. Supporting peaceful development, opposition to the independence forces, progress in the reunification process… All in one sweetened toneunderlines the turn in politics, far from past attacks. Xi even got rid of traditional implication. use force As a last resort in the headlines of the Western press imminent threat.
His intervention closed the annual session of the legislature, which served to sign resolutions at the autumn party congress. Xi made his decision official third term as president and li qiang was appointed prime minister. This is expected to boost the national economy after miserable growth. 3% from last year. Beijing has set a target for this. 5%HE more modest of the last decades. In his morning speech, he made an effort to inflate the air. trust He told a population unwilling to spend that the economy has stabilized since the end of the zero covid policy. “At one point in the last year there was a misconception about the development of the private economy that worried businessmen… Context will evolve and evolve and will more space for the private sector”. Li quoted the USA in a constructive tone. “China and the US should cooperate. if they work togetherThey have a lot to gain. HE siege And pressure They don’t give anyone an advantage,” he said.
did not offer more surprises The week of Yi Gang’s new term as governor central bank of china. No analyst was betting on him: he had left the Central Committee at Congress, had reached unofficial retirement age, and is not part of the Central Committee. hard core One of Xi’s regulars. The ten years he spent in the United States, first as a doctorate and later as a university professor, made him an exception In the landscape of Chinese high politics. one of the brightest”sea turtles”, as those who return after studying abroad are known in China. The service record is not without merit. Last year kept inflation steady %2 When the West hit 40-year highs. His re-election is understood as follows: safe bet At a time when the Chinese economy is not for experiments